While a recall effort in Westminster took one step forward, another fizzled in neighboring Huntington Beach.

On Saturday, Feb. 5, activists looking to oust Westminster Councilman Carlos Manzo left petitions bearing 2,873 unverified signatures – about 700 more than legally required but well under what is recommended by voting experts – at City Hall.

But two days later, no one showed up at the Huntington Beach City Clerk’s office to meet the Feb. 7 deadline to submit signatures in the recall of Mayor Barbara Delgleize and Councilwoman Natalie Moser.

Save Surf City, the Huntington Beach organization pushing to oust most of the council, published a statement Tuesday saying, “Our all-volunteer efforts did not achieve the 13,282 minimum requirement to force a recall election of these two,” referring to Delgleize and Moser. A deadline to submit recall petitions against three other members of the council — Mayor Pro Tem Mike Posey and council members Kimberly Carr and Dan Kalmick — is Feb, 23.

In Westminster, the Feb. 5 delivery of the recall petitions intersected with the festive Tet Parade rolling down Bolsa Avenue just blocks away. Coincidentally, it was the last day that signatures could be collected, and proponents wanted to keep pounding the pavement until the last possible minute rather than turn in names Friday.

“The more people we could get the better,” said organizer Dao Tran, who lives in Garden Grove.

The Orange County Registrar of Voters recommends that petitioners secure another 50% on top of the requisite to make up for signatures potentially found to be invalid. Based on that formula, the group came up a little short.

The same activists turned in 4,045 signatures for the recall of Councilwoman Kimberly Ho three weeks ago. The minimum number of signatures required to get Ho’s recall on a ballot is 2,666, roughly 20% of registered voters in her district.

The Registrar has 30 working days to certify names. If enough names are deemed valid for both, Ho and Manzo could appear on a recall ballot as early as the June 7 primary.

Huntington Beach holds at-large elections, so petitioners had to obtain signatures on two separate petitions for 10% of all registered voters..

However, Westminster transitioned to by-district voting in 2020. With four council members each representing a smaller area, recall advocates needed to lobby just one-fourth of total voters in the city.

Ho represents District 3, covering much of Little Saigon. She was elected at large in 2016, and reelected within her newly drawn district in 2020.

Elected to his first term 15 months ago in District 2, Manzo said he is “disappointed but not surprised” by the organizers’ success.

“Their tactics were shameless,” he said.

Proponents use Vietnamese-language media to spread false information about him, said Manzo, who currently is the only non-Vietnamese council member.

“They say I’m racist, and that I don’t like Vietnamese people. They say I hate Buddhists. They just make stuff up,” Manzo said. “Because I don’t speak Vietnamese, I don’t have the means to get in front of Vietnamese news outlets to tell my version of the story.

“They are putting me and my family in danger,” Manzo added. “There’s no guarantee that some unhinged person isn’t going to take these accusations seriously.”

Recall advocates claim that Manzo has let down the Little Saigon community.

“I don’t want to say he is racist, but what he did, and is doing, is against Vietnamese wishes,” Tran said.

Detractors remain angry over the postponement last July of a monument that had been headed for Sid Goldstein Freedom Park.

After some residents and Vietnam War veterans complained that the park has become overcrowded with memorials, Ho and Manzo joined Westminster Councilman Tai Do in putting a pause on the Quang Tri Monument.

Recall proponents also complain that the trio repeatedly show disrespect toward Westminster Mayor Tri Ta and Councilman Charlie Nguyen. The trio recently approved resolutions of censure for both men, asserting that they take part in misinformation.

“What they are saying about Tri Ta is fake news,” Tran said.

But Manzo’s supporters argue that, fake news-wise, it’s the other way around.

“Carlos is the perfect example of what fake news has done to us,” Councilman Do said. “He is a good, upstanding, hardworking, honest man now being labeled a racist.”

City watchdog Terry Rains said Vietnamese-language media portray Manzo as “a racist Mexican who is against the Vietnamese community.”

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” Rains said. “Carlos is the most respectful and inclusive member we have on the City Council today.”

The picture is different a few miles away in Huntington Beach, where Delgleize and Moser can now breathe easier with the six-month threat of recall behind them.

“It was a big distraction, but I made a decision early on that to fight it would be futile,” Delgleize said. “Whatever you might say just brings more attention. The fact is, this council has accomplished an awful lot.”

Elected in 2020, Moser attributed the recall push to “a small group with an out-sized voice that wants to divide us and force us backwards.”

“It’s a great feeling to have the recall over with,” Moser said. “A large portion of my term in office has had this cloud over it. However, I am still standing with my fellow council members and waiting for the day that all of us will be out from underneath this cloud.”

The deadline for Save Surf City to submit recall signatures against Posey, Carr and Kalmick is later because the organization missed a previous deadline to file paperwork.

The group claims that the five Huntington Beach council members ignored the will of the people last summer when the council voted to replace Tito Ortiz, who had resigned, with someone unlike him politically. Recall supporters also criticize city plans for high-density developments and say the council has overstepped its authority regarding elected City Attorney Michael Gates.

Kalmick said he does not believe activists will raise enough signatures for the remaining targets, either.

“They didn’t get anywhere near what they needed (for Delgleize and Moser) or they would have publicized the number,” Kalmick said.

Recall proponents did not respond to emails asking for a count.

Manzo expressed “optimism” that he could survive a recall vote. “People will see through these antics,” he said.

But he worries that the growing popularity of recall efforts — Ballotpedia.org currently lists 21 active recall drives in California cities, counties and school districts — might have “a chilling effect” everywhere on local politics.

“You have to think twice about running for office: ‘Do I really want to deal with this? What kind of toll would it take on my family?’” Manzo said. “It certainly gives you pause.”