Recall bid targets Dixie trustee Marnie Glickman

Recall bid targets Dixie trustee Marnie Glickman, a leader in name change effort

Intent to launch petition drive filed in Marin County elections office






By KERI BRENNER | kbrenner@marinij.com | Marin Independent Journal
PUBLISHED: March 5, 2019 at 4:23 pm | UPDATED: March 6, 2019 at 6:11 am





Dixie School Board member Marnie Glickman speaks during a board meeting in San Rafael, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

A recall drive was announced Tuesday against Dixie School District board member Marnie Glickman, a leader in the movement to change the name of the district.

“Trustee Glickman’s failure to act in the best interest of the Dixie School District as an elected fiduciary and trustee has caused her constituents, district staff and fellow board members to lose trust in Ms. Glickman’s ability to serve in a representative capacity to further Dixie School District’s goals,” according to a notice of intention filed Tuesday with the Marin County Registrar of Voters office by a group of Dixie School District residents.

“Ms. Glickman continues to disrupt board meetings by monopolizing their agenda with her own personal goals.”

Glickman has seven days to file an optional 200-word “answer” to the notice. If she files an “answer,” it must be included in the final petition format that would be approved by the elections office before any petitions are circulated.

Glickman declined comment on the recall effort on Tuesday. Others in the community, however, said the attacks on Glickman will not alter or improve the situation as long as the district has a name that some people of color and others find offensive because of its ties to the slavery and racism of the Civil War-era South.

“This is truly sad, but not shocking,” said district parent Teri Bleiweiss. “Marnie advocates for underrepresented voices in our community.

“Recalling Marnie Glickman will not silence people who oppose anti-Semitism and racism, nor will it halt their efforts,” Bleiweiss added. “The local community has been activated and the eyes of the nation are on us. Although the recall petitioners are acting within the law, history will not look back on them kindly.”

Marin County elections official Dan Miller said the petitioners would need to collect 2,851 signatures, or an estimated 20 percent of the more than 14,200 registered voters in the district, for the recall process to be successful. Beyond that, it was not immediately clear what steps would be taken, such as whether there would be a recall election or a ballot measure or some other option.

“We just got this today, so we need to review the elections code,” said Lynda Roberts, Marin County registrar of voters, on Tuesday.

Miller said the last drive to recall a public official in Marin was for then-county supervisor Susan Adams in spring 2013. That effort was curtailed after it was determined that a special recall election would cost up to $250,000 and that Adams was up for re-election in June in any case — which, at that time, was only a few months away. Adams, who had served 12 years in office, was ousted in the June elections by Damon Connolly, who replaced her as county supervisor representing District 1 in January 2014.

Glickman’s current term expires in 2020.

The recall petition drive is being led by Terra Linda residents Laurie Ann and Joseph Roy Pirini and eight other residents who all signed the notice of intention filed Tuesday. It is separate from the We Are Dixie group, which opposes a name change for the district, according to a statement on the recallmarnie.com website set up by the petition drive organizers. They say that all costs for the effort will be borne by private donors and that no district funds would be used.

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