Harney County Judge Steve Grasty

In an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive on January 25, 2016, Harney County Judge Steve Grasty spoke about the reasons he had cancelled a community meeting originally scheduled for later that night at the Harney County Senior Center.

(Dave Killen/Staff)

UPDATE: Recall election to be held against Harney County Judge Steve Grasty: 'I ask that you stand with me'

A recall petition filed against Harney County commissioner Steve Grasty has been validated, according to the Oregon Secretary of State's Office.

That means Grasty has until 5 p.m. Tuesday to resign or submit a "statement of justification" that would be printed on the recall election ballot, according to a letter notifying him of the petition's result. But Grasty said Thursday he is not resigning.

Grasty is the County Court judge -- not a judge in the traditional sense, but essentially chairman of the county commission. He has served three terms, entering office in January 1999, and his current term lasts until the end of the year.

A recall election would be held no later than June 28, according to the letter. The effort to oust Grasty comes in the aftermath of the 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by armed militants earlier this year.

He and the petitioner were notified of the results Thursday morning, said Molly Woon, a secretary of state spokeswoman. Petitioners gathered the valid signatures of 458 active registered Harney County voters, Woon said in an email.

They needed 444 to validate the petition.

Kim Rollins of Burns expressed his grievances against Grasty in a prospective petition filed Feb. 11.

He wrote, in part, that "Judge Grasty and other county officials have prevented and/or hindered US Citizens the same privileges and rights that he and other officials use and exercise themselves. These privileges and rights include: The privilege of citizens use of public buildings for peaceful assembly, the right of the people peaceably to assemble, & the unabridged right of freedom of speech."

Grasty said he's not ready to say what he'll include in his statement and that he wasn't surprised to see the petition validated.

"He worked his tail off for 90 days to get those signatures," Grasty said of Rollins.

Grasty had been adamant that Ammon Bundy and his supporters leave Harney County after they took over the refuge outside of Burns on Jan. 2 to protest federal land-use policies and the imprisonment of local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond.

"Many of us are frustrated by state and federal regulation of land use. Some here are mightily angry about our economy which we cannot control," Grasty said in a statement in January when the occupation was about three weeks old. "Most of all, many of us are appalled by those who were neither invited nor welcomed, but who purport to speak for our county's residents."

The standoff ended with the arrests of Bundy and more than two dozen others and the death of occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy'' Finicum, who was shot by Oregon State Police during a confrontation at a roadblock between Burns and John Day.

-- Jim Ryan

jryan@oregonian.com

503-221-8005; @Jimryan015