Tea Party Mayor Who Turned Down Fed Loan Tells The Blaze About the Recall Effort Against Her

Mayor Janice L. Daniels

Tea Party Mayor Janice L Daniels of Troy, MI, voted to reject an $8.5 million federal loan that was supposed to finance a transportation center connected to the Detroit to Chicago Amtrak network, The Blaze reported earlier this week.

Now, after having one of two petitions approved by "clarity committee," a PAC called Recall Janice Daniels is determined to collect approximately 8,000 signatures within a 90-day period to place a recall question on the ballot, according to the Ann Arbor-based news outlet MLive.

“The Oakland County Election Commission – Oakland County Clerk Bill Bullard, Oakland Probate Judge Linda Hallmark and Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner – voted unanimously to approve the language of the group's first  petition during a clarity hearing in Pontiac,” TroyPatch's Jen Anesi reports.

What’s the stated reason on the petition for recalling Daniels? You guessed it: turning down the fed loan.

“My political opponents have filed paperwork to recall me even though I am only 3 months into my first ever term as an elected official,” Daniels told The Blaze in an email. “One of the reasons for the recall is my vote against accepting the $8.4M from our federal government for a project that will be a debt burden upon people who are not yet born for a transit center that even the proponents agree there is limited demand.”

Matt Binkowski, the petition’s sponsor, says they plan to move forward with the recall efforts.

"We're pleased we can move forward," he said. "We have plans to begin collecting signatures mid-month."

Binkowski said Recall Janice Daniels has a “core group of about a dozen individuals,” according to Anesi, though "hundreds have written or called to voice their support and volunteer to collect signatures.”

"We do have a plan in place" for collecting signatures, Binkowski told Anesi. "It's going to be a lot of leg work."

Despite what may prove to be a lengthy and costly distraction, Mayor Daniels told The Blaze she plans to focus on what she considers the more serious issues at hand.

“I am continuing my work on providing full disclosure to the taxpayers of Troy with regards to the important uses of their tax dollars. The recall is a distraction but I simply refuse to let the politics of personal destruction get in the way of my goals of fiscal responsibility, transparency in government, and open communications with the citizens of Troy,” Daniels told The Blaze in an email.

A few examples?

“So far, this new council and I have been able to get the city check register, employee salaries, and union contracts online for examination by the people,” she added.