Community Activist Drops Effort To Recall Lake Elsinore Councilman

A petition drive to collect signatures that, if successful, would have forced a recall election of Lake Elsinore Mayor Pro Tem Daryl Hickman, has ended.

Chris Hyland, the Lake Elsinore resident who initiated the recall effort, told Lake Elsinore City Council Tuesday night that she dropped the campaign due to the amount of time and exertion it was taking.

Hyland, who is in her 80s, also told the council she decided to abandon the recall effort because of lack of promised cooperation from citizens and organizations.

Despite her decision to drop the recall effort, Hyland did not waiver on her criticism of Hickman Tuesday night, calling his practices “unethical.”

Hyland said she is endorsing candidates Natasha Johnson, Craig Turner and incumbent Bob Magee in the

“I will be out there ranting and raving until they are elected,” Hyland said.

Hickman's current term on the council does not expire until 2014.

Hickman did not publicly comment Tuesday night on Hyland’s decision to abandon the recall. A call to the mayor pro tem Wednesday was not immediately returned.

Councilman Peter Weber showed support for Hyland’s decision Tuesday night and publicly congratulated Hickman.

Wednesday, Weber stated in an email that Hyland’s recall effort was spurred by . Hickman, along with council members Weber and Melissa Melendez, voted in support of Brady’s termination.

Although Hyland never mentioned the firing in her recall effort, Weber said in his email, “The very mean, nasty and untrue comments made by the people who signed the recall petition should make them feel ashamed. They let their anger and emotion over having their good friend … fired overtake their common sense.

“This recall was doomed to fail because the grounds that they based it upon didn’t justify a recall,” Weber continued. “This recall was small city politics at its worst. The accusations were false, mean-spirited, and don’t justify a recall.”