Troy Recalls Mayor Janice Daniels

The people of Troy voted 52 percent to 48 percent to recall Mayor Janice Daniels on Tuesday.

The votes were 20,763 to 18,993, according to unofficial results from the Oakland County Clerk, with all precincts reporting.

It all started with a Facebook status update containing a gay slur that then-private citizen Daniels posted on her wall in June of 2011.

Then, on Dec. 2, 2011, just weeks after she was sworn in as mayor of Troy, the Facebook post was found, shared, and shared some more, quickly garnering national media attention.

Residents were angry. A recall effort was mounted. Nearly 9,000 valid signatures were collected to trigger the Nov. 6 recall election.

"I'm elated, over the moon," Recall Janice Daniels co-founder John Kulesz said as recall volunteers celebrated into the night at Joe Kool's in Troy. "It's amazing to do something that the majority of the people of Troy responded to in such a positive way."

“We’re so happy that the people of Troy have realized that Janice is not the best person to represent them, and that Troy can and will do better," Recall Janice Daniels co-founder Matt Binkowski said.

“I’m cautiously optimistic," said Neil Yashinsky, a recall supporter who ran for a seat on Troy City Council a year ago. "I feel like we’re still a very evenly divided city in terms of pressing issues, and I hope that we have the foresight as a community to stay focused on what we agree on than what we disagree on.”

Once the election is certified, the mayor will be removed from office. Then, Troy City Council will begin the process of finding a replacement.

“We’re ready to start the next chapter in the City of Troy," Mayor Pro Tem Maureen McGinnis said.

Councilman Jim Campbell agreed, saying, “We’re going to put all this stuff behind us and start thinking about the citizens instead of the ideology of Mayor Daniels.”

“It feels good. We’ve gone farther than we ever expected to," Kulesz said.

Daniels could not be reached for comment late Tuesday and did not return calls from Troy Patch.

Complete coverage

Since her anti-gay Facebook comment went viral, Daniels has remained the center of controversy after voting against the Troy Transit Center (a scaled-down version was later approved), telling the Troy High School Gay-Straight Alliance she would bring in an expert to tell them  comparing the dangers of homosexuality to the dangers of smoking cigarettes on a radio show, writing a lengthy position paper some viewed as personally attacking city employees and council members, and engaging in an argument with 2012 Troy Distinguished Citizen Mary Kerwin over the origin of her award while while presenting Kerwin with a proclamation during an October Troy City Council meeting.