Voters in one Poway City Council district will decide Tuesday whether their representative, who is facing felony charges in San Diego County, should remain in office or be removed.
Elected last year to the city's 2nd Council District, Tony Blain is the subject of a formal recall over what backers say are unethical actions.
A U.S. Army Reserve doctor, Blain has been accused of vote trading, threatening recalls against colleagues and attempting to use law enforcement to silence critics.
Blain earlier described the recall effort as "political backlash ... designed to block me from fully participating in council meetings and to punish me for asking the tough questions taxpayers deserve to have answered."
As of Oct. 28, Blain was deployed overseas and unavailable to comment, according to his former campaign manager and a spokesman.
"He's in a difficult situation being on active duty," Steve Marietti, a contracts manager, told City News Service in a phone interview. "I don't know anything about this criminal case, other than it's very, very unfortunate. He's a good man."
Marietti referred questions about the legal case against Blain to attorney Robert Salgado.
Blain's attorney didn't respond to a request for comment as of Sunday evening.
Blain was slated to appear in a downtown San Diego courtroom on Monday for arraignment on charges including perjury and soliciting bribes, but because of his overseas deployment, the hearing was postponed until Jan. 12.
Neither the District Attorney's office nor Blain’s attorney would comment on the continuance or the charges.
Poway Mayor Steve Vaus came to court for Monday’s hearing.
“I had heard a rumor he wouldn't be here, but make no mistake — justice may be delayed but it won't be denied,” Vaus said.
The recall election for the Poway District 2 councilmember takes place Nov. 4.
“The voters of Poway are going to have their say,” Vaus said. “Blain has embarrassed Poway from the time he took office. And we don't take kindly to embarrassment. We're going to get back on our feet and get back to doing the things we do well.”
If a simple majority of residents votes “no,” the recall has failed, and Blain will remain in office.
If a simple majority of people vote "yes," Blain will be removed from office, and the position will remain vacant until it’s filled.
According to a pro-recall spokeswoman, Blain "has proven himself time and again to be unfit to serve public office, so we know the case for recall is rock solid."
Anita Edmondson, a former Poway City Council member, noted that Blain's criminal charges "are for the very conduct that prompted the recall."
Edmondson told City News Service on Oct. 28 that within weeks of taking office late last year, "there was evidence of Blain attempting bribery and vote trading."
She said that Blain "also misused his position to attempt to silence critics, demanding that the city initiate law enforcement action against private citizens with whom he disagrees and, when denied, calling the (county Sheriff's Office) himself."
Edmondson accused Blain of being abusive to Poway government colleagues, including City Manager Chris Hazeltine and City Attorney Alan Fenstermacher.
Edmondson said that Blain has "demonstrated he was not interested in following the city's code of ethics — behavior that earned him the city's first (and second) censure by fellow council members in its 45-year history.
"This was all within the first six weeks of being in office," Edmondson added. "There was no doubt Mr. Blain would continue his abusive, unethical and unprofessional behavior if left unchecked."
In February, the Poway City Council voted 4-0 to censure Blain, the first time in that governing body's 45-year history. Blain was absent from that meeting.
In April, the city of Poway filed a lawsuit against Blain for allegedly destroying public records and failing to comply with the California Public Records Act. The lawsuit alleged Blain conducted city business on private email accounts, through text messages, and on the encrypted Signal app, then deleted some of those messages.
A Poway city spokeswoman said Oct. 29 that the city "does not have an official position on the matter of the recall ballot measure and will not be official monitoring of results on Election Day."
Located in eastern Poway, District 2 comprises a considerable chunk of the city, and is home to numerous communities such as Bridlewood Country Estates, The Farm and Summerfield. It also contains the popular recreation sites Iron Mountain and Lake Poway.
