In 2017, there was an attempt to recall City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn by a group who argued his constant expressing of concern over refugee resettlement in the city was a xenophobic dog-whistle meant to rile up anti-refugee sentiment in the community. While the group says it did reach the required number of signatures, it ultimately chose not to submit them because they did not know how many signatures would be eliminated in the review process, and Commissioner Piepkorn threatened to obtain the list of signers via FOIA request, which was interpreted as a political threat by the group.
in 2017 there was an attempt to recall city commissioner dave piepkorn by a group who argued his constant expressing of concern over refugee resettlement in the city was a xenophobic dog-whistle meant to rile up anti-refugee sentiment in the community while the group says it did reach the required number of signatures it ultimately chose not to submit them because they did not know how many signatures would be eliminated in the review process and commissioner piepkorn threatened to obtain the list of signers via foia request which was interpreted as a political threat by the group