Effort to recall SLO County Supervisor Bruce Gibson fails after committee misses deadline

The Committee to Recall Supervisor Bruce Gibson missed its Thursday deadline to file a petition with the necessary signatures — effectively ending the recall effort.

In order to continue the recall process, the committee was required to submit a petition signed by 7,375 registered voters in the old District 2 by Thursday at 5 p.m., according to County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano.

As of Friday morning, the group had not filed the petition, Cano said.

“This is the result that I expected,” Gibson told The Tribune on Friday. “I was sure that the voters of this county saw this whole thing as an abuse of the recall process and they weren’t going to get diverted by the lies and the misrepresentations.”

Gibson, first elected in 2006, defeated Atascadero resident Bruce Jones for the District 2 seat by 13 votes in 2022.

Since his re-election, Gibson said he’s been working with his colleagues on the Los Osos Community Plan, balancing the county budget, restoring the Cayucos Veterans Hall and increasing the county’s efforts to combat homelessness.

Gibson thanked his constituents for their support.

“I think the vast majority of citizens of this county know what good governance looks like, and I’m just very appreciative of all their expressions of support,” he said. “I look forward to continuing all of our good work.”

The Committee to Recall Supervisor Bruce Gibson did not immediately respond to The Tribune’s requests for comment.

The group has not announced whether or not they will launch another recall effort.

Second recall effort fails

The group originally filed a notice of intention to recall Gibson in October, but the effort ended when they failed to meet an early deadline in the recall process.

The committee launched another recall effort in November, then spent the following months collecting signatures.

In order to trigger a recall election, 20% of registered voters in the old District 2 would have needed to sign the petition to recall Gibson, according to Cano. That’s 7,375 signatures, she said.

When Gibson was elected in 2022, the district included Atascadero, Cambria and Cayucos. The petition could only be signed by voters in the District 2 boundaries that elected Gibson.

The board adopted a new county district map in October, which reunited the coastal communities of Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cambria and Cayucos in District 2, while transferring Atascadero back to District 5.

Among their grievances, committee members opposed Gibson’s support for settling a lawsuit that selected the new district map and his support for repealing the planting ordinance, a move that further limited irrigation in the overdrawn Paso Robles Groundwater Basin, committee member Linda Quinlan told The Tribune at a recall event in January.

The group also disagreed with Gibson’s statements on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 1.

In November, California voters will have the chance to vote on the amendment, which would lower the voter approval threshold for increasing taxes from two-thirds to 55% for initiatives that fund public infrastructure or affordable housing projects.

The committee said the amendment threatens Proposition 13, but Gibson disagreed.

At a California State Association of Counties press conference on Aug. 17, Gibson said lowering the threshold would make it easier for counties to generate revenue. He said he supported putting the amendment on the ballot.