COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The clock is now ticking for backers of a recall effort against Branch County Prosecutor Ralph Kimble.
Kimble did not file an appeal during the ten days following the approval of language in a recall petition that was filed by Alexia and Stephen Rish of Coldwater by the Michigan State Board of Canvassers.
The petition had to be rewritten after the first one was voted down.
Now that the petition language has been approved, over 2,800 valid signatures will have to collected from Branch County registered voters over the next 60 days for the recall to get on the ballot.
That figure represents 25 percent of the ballots cast in Branch County during the 2014 gubernatorial election.
The petition states, “In consideration of the recent consensus/News Release of ALL of the local judges of Branch County in their combined request for the necessity of an official Investigation of Ralph W. Kimble II by the Michigan Attorney General and the Michigan State Police concerning alleged improprieties engaged in by the Chief County Prosecutor in the discharge of his official duties; and in consideration that Ralph W. Kimble II has been named as a Defendant in an ongoing lawsuit alleging sexual Harassment in the Branch County Courthouse by a former employee of the Branch County Prosecutor’s office: We, the undersigned, request a RECALL of Ralph W. Kimble II as Branch County Prosecutor.”
According to state law, a county prosecutor can only be removed from office by the governor or by a recall election.
Kimble has been investigated over his conduct in recent months by the State Attorney General’s Office and the Michigan State Police. He has also denied accusations made in a sexual harassment lawsuit that named him and Branch County as defendants which was filed last October by former county employee Evon Staley. A jury trial in that case has been scheduled for January 2019.
