GROVES — As voters in Groves prepare to go to the polls and decide whether to recall Cross Coburn from his Ward No. 1 seat, issues surrounding the recall remain contentious.

These points of contention include alleged irregularities in the petition for the recall, including issues with some of the signatures, to the reason the issue even made it this far have divided residents.

The back story

Coburn, 19, who is openly gay, took the Groves ward 1 seat when Jim Rasa withdrew his bid for reelection in 2017. Then, earlier this year, city hall and local media outlets received anonymous envelopes containing semi nude and nude photos of Coburn taken from a dating app called Grindr.

A statement included in the envelope said: “Is this in any way proper behavior of a councilman to represent himself online or a ‘dating’ app? I felt the city council should be made aware of the situation.”

There was a meeting between Coburn and his attorney, a representative of the city’s human resources office, the mayor and police in which it was deemed that nothing illegal had occurred.

The longtime mayor, Brad Bailey, said at that time Coburn’s actions were unbecoming of a public official, regardless of age.

Groves resident William Lane Howlett came forward with a petition to recall Coburn from his seat and not long thereafter Bailey contacted the Rev. Joe Worley of First Baptist Church in Groves who acted as middleman between the mayor, Coburn and Howlett, who penned the petition — with the deal that if Coburn made a formal apology and resigned then the recall petition would not be circulated. This was on or about May 4.

The petition was turned in with the city clerk identifying a number of deficiencies. Howeltt brought it back within the designated timeframe and the petition was certified and the recall election scheduled to occur during the general election.

Coburn’s side

Coburn’s attorney and family friend Jill Pierce found fault with a number of “irregularities” in the petition.

“This is a governmental election document and should not be changed after it has been sworn to,” Pierce said while reviewing pages she believes were altered. They included:

• Woman 1 was counted twice
• Man 1 was counted twice and a woman with the same last name used the man’s voter registration number on one of the pages.
• Man 2 was counted twice
• On pages 36 and 37, the notary public stamp confirms the pages were circulated by Darla Bailey. The pages show the name Darla Bailey was scratched out and the name changed to David Greig but, Pierece contends, the notary did not stamp a second time to show the correction.
• Anther page has the name “Chris” Coburn as the name of the person to be recalled along with a number of certified signatures after the page was notarized. The issue was noted by the city clerk and Howlett agreed there was a problem with the page but the clerk counted the signatures anyway even after the name was scratched out to say “Cross” Coburn as the name of the person to recall.

Pierce contends the whole page of signatures should be thrown out and deemed invalid.

• A handwriting expert noted that a person signed for their spouse, which is a violation of the Election Code.
• A caregiver signed for the woman she cares for.
• Pierce contends there are a number of forgeries in the petition.

The other side of the story

Howlett, in a statement to The Port Arthur News, said he has no idea what Pierce is referring to when speaking of inconsistencies in the petition.

He also believes Pierce is putting unfounded speculation in front of the public to cause confusion and sway people from voting to recall Coburn.

“The petition was certified by the city Clerk of Groves. Then Mr. Coburn’s lawyer filed a petition to stop the recall, but the judge ruled in favor of the city for the recall vote to take place,” he said. “Even though both the city and a county judge agreed that the recall shall take place, Mr. Coburn and his lawyer continue to spread these false claims.”

Pierce did file for a temporary injunction and a request for a declaratory judgment was also filed because Pierce found “numerous improper signatures” on the recall petition.

Judge Donald Floyd of the 172^nd District Court dismissed the case with prejudice last week.

The reason for the recall

While Coburn and his attorney claim there is a smear campaign against him, Howlett believes differently.

“I have said from the beginning that this is only about the fact that Councilman Coburn showed very poor judgment when he posted nude photos of himself on the Internet,” he said. “He and his lawyer have tried to make this case about other things, but I stand by the original statement that I made to the city council. This is only about poor judgment, which has resulted in the citizens of Groves losing their trust in him as their representative.”

Howlett said he himself initiated the petition and that no conspiracy has occurred as is the insinuation. He also recruited about 30 people throughout the city to help him circulate the petition.

“They helped me because I asked them, and because they agreed with me, not because of some conspiracy,” he said. “Well over 1,000 citizens of Groves signed the petition, and now we need to let the voters decide.”

Coburn’s words

Coburn contends his sexuality is the reason behind the entire situation and that should not be a priority for the city.

“We need to take into account where we live and how people’s minds play and what their beliefs may be and I believe this has to deal with me being gay,” Coburn said. “From the beginning it was quite clear to me, that this is was it was done for. My sexuality and a little bit because I’m so young. I think the old are afraid of new ideas, if anything.”

Early voting begins Oct. 22 and Election Day is Nov. 6

The ballot says:

• Shall Cross Coburn be removed from the office of Councilmember, ward No.1 by recall?

For

Against