LETTER: Recall Efforts Don’t Pass the Smell Test

By Dudra Butler

With all due respect to both sides of the local data center and recall debate, I wanted to give my two cents on the matter as someone who has been at the forefront of civic engagement in San Angelo for over 50 years, 15 years of that on the editorial board of the Standard Times.

I have dire concerns that the efforts were not well thought out.

And though I have never said whether or not I am in favor of data centers; I have made it a mission to educate myself on the topic, attending many of the forums and the most recent legislative summit at Angelo State.

Accusations and concerns have been made against the council for not being transparent, or forthcoming in their proceedings earlier this year; implying that the city officials responses were not agreeable, and going as far to question whether they were even listening to their constituents at all.

So far, the San Angelo city council has only moved to regulate data centers, and in doing so showed significant response to the public’s requests. They have listened to almost every demand except outright banning data centers, which is not something cities in Texas have the power do in the first place.

Recall Petitions Highlight Slim Margins

The petition against Mayor Tom Thompson did not meet the threshold of signatures needed. The petition to recall Harry Thomas did. In his last election to his seat about 155 citizens of District 3 voted and 99 of those voting were for Thomas.

Therefore only 57 signatures were needed to pass the smell test.

In a recent city council meeting, the council voted 6 – 1 in favor of certifying the results of the petition against Thomas, and he will appear on the ballot come Nov. 3. His term would automatically expire in May of 2027.

This past week, the group failed to recall Councilman Joe Self. The city clerk’s office findings in the petitions were: 401 signatures were returned on August 3, and of that number 129 were invalid. The charter requires 385, 30 percent, of the 1,282 votes cast in the May 2025 regular municipal election for SMD-2.

A little over 14 percent of registered voters in SMD-2 voted in that election, from a total population of around 8,880. Out of that, only 494 eventually voted in the runoff, under five percent.

That petition in particular matters to me deeply, because I was one of Self’s opponents in SMD-2, making it to the runoff against Joe in June 2025. I wholeheartedly disagreed with the effort to remove him from office.

In my opinion; just because you have the right to do this, I don’t believe it makes it right.

We’re dealing with massive forces that might bring data centers to our part of the world whether we want it or not.

Besides my misgivings about the use of the recall here locally, I believe that those who don’t even bother to vote in local elections to begin with, have no right to then put their name on a petition to reverse that election.

Council members are given a mandate, and to recall them simply on a matter of opinion is highly irregular. I believe that the recall effort is a cynical way to take advantage of a major problem in our local electoral process. That problem is widespread voter apathy and low voter turnout.

Abysmal Voter Turnout

Let’s talk about voting in San Angelo. Not many show up to early voting, and not many show up on election day, it saddens me to say.

Have you ever been standing around on Election Day, and you tell someone “make sure you vote!” only to hear the inevitable reply:

“Well my vote doesn’t count anyway!”

“They’re going to do whatever they want to, doesn’t matter who I would vote for!”

Well, I guess we’ve proven that false. Voting in local elections really does matter, especially in the context of this recall.

If the recall vote against him fails, Thomas’ will complete his term in May of 2027, after which he will not be eligible to run again; based on the last city charter, which gives a council member two consecutive four year terms.

According to San Angelo’s 2021 redistricting report, 12,933 voting age residents live in SMD-3, Thomas’ district. Of that, just a little over 155 felt the need to vote that day.

That is as embarrassing as all get out.

I would encourage anyone who wants to run for local office to use this time between the elections to galvanize their voter base. To get involved, attend council meetings, watch board meetings.

All the recall effort does at this stage is increase hostilities.

Pandora’s Box

People are angry! Who can they take it out on?

I suppose it’s only natural that the hatred people have of politics in general spills into the closest possible stream of relief, which is aimed at local officials.

The school board, the city council, the commissioner’s court; these are all the closest avenues of political influence that we the people can access.

As a result, though local officials are often powerless to address the larger issues faced by a state and a nation, all that hatred and energy gets bottled up and turned against them first.

But the recall must be preserved and used responsibly, as it is the most powerful device in the citizen’s toolbox to deal with local officials who are abusing their power.

Theres no question that the recall efforts are based on one issue: data centers. But, when I look at Harry Thomas’ career – over 10 years on council – I have a hard time thinking that it’s okay to try and get rid of him over one issue.

If these kinds of recall efforts become successful, I fear we are opening Pandora’s Box, where every disagreement becomes cause to remove someone from office.

How are we going to recruit a new generation of public leaders if this is the treatment they can look forward to?

I know of at least one city councilmember, I won’t say who, who personally received death threats.
This council member is a good friend of mine, and I was so shocked and saddened to learn that the local debate had sunk to that level.

We shouldn’t go there. We’ve seen that kind of craziness in national politics. That is not a place that anyone has bargained for when they run for local office.

Consider if you want the recall to become just another cheap election year tool, or if you want to preserve the mandate of local governance.

I would encourage residents of SMD-3 to stick by Councilman Harry Thomas, who has served them well for many years.