Kaiser-Sheriff1

Jamestown (CSi) A committee has been formed to organize a petition drive to force a recall election of Stutsman County Sheriff, Chad Kaiser. Kaiser is in his second term as Stutsman County sheriff and would not face a re-election challenge until 2018.

Recall committee, Chairman, Tom Greshik says his group was prompted to act by what he called “corruption” in the Stutsman County Sheriff’s Office when Deputy Elizabeth Kapp was terminated in February.

Greshik said the recall process is an attempt to restore trust in the Sheriff’s Office.

Kapp had accused Deputy Falk of using a Sheriff’s Office vehicle to pull a personal boat verbally in October and in writing through her attorney in January. A review of the accusations by Fritz Fremgen, Stutsman County state’s attorney, resulted in no criminal charges.

Kapp’s letter of termination, signed by Kaiser, said she was terminated for violations of the Peace Officer’s Code of Conduct and Stutsman County policy.

Greshik said Kapp was not associated with the recall effort.

Lee Ann Oliver, the election specialist for the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office, said the office had received a proposed petition Wednesday and was reviewing the document.

If the review finds no problems with the wording of the petition, it would be approved for the collection of signatures sometime between March 21 and March 27. The petition committee has one year to gather 2,330 signatures which amounts to 25 percent of the 9,332 people who voted in the governor’s race in Stutsman County during the last election.