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March 18, 2024

Push to Recall Wheeling’s Mayor Pat Horcher –

By John Kraft & Kirk Allen

On September 17, 2018

WHEELING, IL. (ECWd) –

We have been notified over the past several days that there is an active push by local Wheeling residents to collect signatures on a petition to recall Wheeling Mayor Pat Horcher.

Tonight, local activist Deborah Wilson will inform the Wheeling Village Board that petition signature collection will begin in order to put this recall question on the Spring 2019 ballot.

Wilson will file the Notice Of Intent To Recall prior to circulating any petitions.

This comes after Wilson claims she found information related to improper real estate tax exemption paperwork filed for years on real estate Mayor Horcher has been a part owner of. His story has allegedly changed from meeting to meeting, about the real ownership of those real estate parcels.

We will detail her findings in a future article, and suggest to Mayor Horcher that if those allegations are true, he should resign from his office as Mayor of Wheeling and seek to immediately remedy the alleged faulty real estate tax filings.

There needs to be at least 800 signatures collected before the question will be submitted to the voters.

Under Wheeling City Code 2.05, “RECALL OF ELECTED OFFICIALS“, the village has an ordinance authorizing recall when certain conditions are met. Wheeling is a Home-Rule unit of local government, and as such, possesses the authority to provide thru Ordinance a method of recall. Wheeling passed this Ordinance in 1980.

Ordinance 2.05 vests the power in the electorate to recall those officials elected by them. No specific charges need be brought against the official, the individual reasons of each elector for signing the recall petition or voting accordingly shall be deemed sufficient cause for recall.

2.05.010 – Purpose.

This chapter shall vest the power in the electorate to recall officials elected by them so that the officials may be directly responsible for their behavior in office to the electorate.

The electorate is entitled to expect the proper discharge of those responsibilities. The power of the electorate to recall should serve as an impetus to elected officials to be faithful to this trust. It is also intended to serve as an expeditious and effective means for removing from office an elected official who has failed to sustain such trust. While no specific charges are required to be lodged formally against an elected official to subject him to recall referendum, the individual reasons of each elector for signing a recall petition or voting accordingly shall be deemed sufficient cause for a recall.

We will provide a more detailed response to this situation in a later article.

UPDATE: Video of Wilson’s public comment (here).

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1 Comment
  • Dave
    Posted at 19:27h, 17 September

    Where is the county state’s attorney on this issue?

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