Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-12
DEMAND RECALL
OF FRED |. FORD
FIRST WARDERS IN ARMS OVER
RIVER BED FRANCHISE
Petition Of counellnan's Constituents
Accuses Him Of Absence From
District and Neglect
Of Duty

A thunderbot fell on the city coun-
Gil while It was in session yesterday
afternoon when city Clerk Lelande
sent word to that body that a recall
petition had just been filed with him
demanding that Councilman Fred L.
Ford of the First ward be unseated.
No sooner was the word recall mem
toned than Dock Houghton, who was
occupying the presidents chair In the
absence of President Summerland,
turned as pale as his pongee silk shirt,
for he has had some experience with
the recall himself and whenever the
Sixth warders want Dock to behave
himself they whisper recall Houghton
breathed deep sigh of relief, however,
when he found that it was Ford's scalp
the merry recalers were after and not
his own.
The recall petition specifies that
Councilman Ford has been negligent
In looking after the interests of his
constituents and especially jumps all
over the member from the First be-
cause he voted to give E. w. Gilmore
the river bed franchise.
League Is Responsible
The vote on the franchise was taken
March 20 and the Public ownership
league, which is responsible for the pc
llIlOll, mas DGel COllGClillS plSucibui
in the First ward during the last ten
weeks. In all that time they have sue
ceeded in inducing 55S persons to sign
the petition, but whether they are
duplicates remains for the city clerk
to find out.
According to the charter the city
clerk must search the great register
within the next ten days and verify
the signatures to the petition. In the
meanwhile there is nothing in the
charter to prevent those who have al
ready signed from withdrawing their
names.
Many of Ford's friends expect that
when it becomes known that the petit
ton for the recall has been presented
there will be a rush of the signers to
withdraw their names 1t is said the
agents of the Public Ownership league
represented to First ward voters that
there was no intention of filing the
petition and forcing an issue on it,
but that it was to be held in the Of
flee of the league and used as a club
to force Ford to behave himself on
future river bed franchises
Is Made Scapegoat
Why Ford is especially singled out
as the scapegoat for the entire coun-
Gil on account of it's action in voting
to give Gilmore the river bed and then
reconsidering it's vote and taking the
franchise away from him is not quite
clear, It is said. The Public Owner
ship leagues petition fails to elucidate
this point.
Ford voted for the franchise and
then voted against it. He was one of
the few members of the council who
ddi nothing but vote. Other members
took the floor and explained why il
would be a good thing to give Gilmore
the franchise. Ford did nothing but
answer yes when his name was
called.
Some Of the petitioners claim Ford
has been neglecting his constituents
shamefully, that he has not been with
in the confines of his ward for weeks
at a time and that he does nothing in
the council that is of particular bene-
fit to the First warders Ford denies
this and says he has looked after the
interests of his district like a father.
IF, however the signatures are all
found genuine and there are not
enough duplicates to render the petit
ton valueless the council must order
an election held in the First ward,
in which event Ford says he will be
reelected to office.