Petition organizers fail to collect enough signatures in Gunter recall effort
A recall effort to remove Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter ended this week after organizers did not gather enough signatures to move their effort forward.
The recall was organized by Kyle L’Hommedieu, of the Take Out the Trash Committee of Cape Coral.
In Florida, the recall process requires organizers to first collect signatures from 10% of the electorate to start the multi-step process for removal from office.
Organizers collected 3,867 votes from among the city’s the 139,371 registered voters, which L’Hommedieu said was a pathetic number.
“We didn’t expect the fear of retaliation from so many people. I can’t imagine there aren’t 7,000 angry people in this community. It was very disheartening but shows we have a bigger problem,” L’Hommedieu said.
Gunter, who is on vacation, could not be reached for comment.
He denied the petition’s grounds publicly at a Council meeting in May after the recall effort was announced.
He said that while not all of his votes have been popular, he has never done anything illegal or unethical in his government role.
“I know I have not done anything illegal in the seven and a half years I have sat here,” Gunter said.
Gunter encouraged anyone who thought he had done something illegal, or unethical, to go to the State Attorney’s Office or the State Commission on Ethics and file a complaint.
The recall petition had listed two allegations it claimed were grounds for recall.
The first statement of grounds alleged that Gunter had violated Florida Statute 112.311 (6) because he “repeatedly voted against the people.”
The second statement of grounds cited Florida Statue 286.011.
“On March 25, 2025, John Gunter intended to violate Florida’s Sunshine Law insisting members of the public were not welcome at a public meeting telling Councilmember (Rachel) Kaduk ‘this isn’t bring your friends to work day’ and Kaduk relayed that ‘the mayor doesn’t want you in our meeting.'”
Grounds for recall are limited to those defined by state statute:
Grounds for recall – The grounds for removal of elected municipal officials shall, for the purposes of this act, be limited to the following and must be contained in the petition:
1. Malfeasance;
2. Misfeasance;
3. Neglect of duty;
4. Drunkenness;
5. Incompetence;
6. Permanent inability to perform official duties; and
7. Conviction of a felony involving moral turpitude.
Statute 100.361 also dictates the petition process.
Petitions must contain the name of the person sought to be recalled and a 200-word statement, maximum, as to the legal grounds for recall limited solely to those specified in the statute.
The process also requires two petition drives.
The first requires 10% of the city’s electorate to sign petitions, while the second includes an opportunity for the subject of the recall to challenge the alleged grounds. A second round of petitions then follows, requiring signatures from 15% of the registered voters.
If enough the signatures are gathered, they are submitted to the City Clerk’s Office and then certified by the Lee County Supervisor of Elections.
There is a window 30 days after the date on which the first signature is obtained on the petition.
According social media posts regarding the recall effort, organizers listed a June 17 date for return of its petitions.
The city confirmed Thursday that the City Clerk’s Office had not received any such documents.
L’Hommedieu said the group will remain an active watchdog and that, through the collection of signatures, a lot of things were uncovered, which they are actively looking into.
“It did bring a lot of information to life. We found out a lot of stuff. I submitted a bunch of public record requests today,” L’Hommedieu said. “The team is not stopping – there is a lot more information to look into that has not been uncovered yet. We are going to continue to fight.”
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email news@breezenewspapers.com