Recall of Christian Board Trustee Falls Short
by Jim Brown
October 27, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Christian board trustee who refused to adopt a pro-homosexual non-discrimination policy for her Southern California school district has survived a union-financed recall effort.
Westminster School Board member Judy Ahrens found herself the target of a recall after she and two other trustees rejected a California law that requires school districts to allow students to define their own "perceived" gender, regardless of physical anatomy. However, organizers failed to collect the 7,200 signatures needed to get the recall initiative on the November 2 ballot.
Aherns says it was a "historic" defeat for the wealthy teachers unions. "God just moved Mount Everest for us," the board member says. "I just can't believe it." She explains she had spent considerable time distributing flyers to counter the campaign waged against her and, therefore, was quite relieved when the recall failed. "So I didn't even have to stress out for three weeks [before the potential recall date]."
She says she had turned the matter over to the Lord. "The verdict was in His hands -- but I had worked very hard for six months and I was really tired," she says.
The Westminster school board member credits the victory to God and to the prayers of other Christians.
"I received calls from just all over, and if I'd meet somebody in another location, they'd say, 'You're Judy Ahrens? We've been praying for you [that] this recall would not go through.'" She adds that such encouragement sustained her. "I just didn't know if I was going to have any even one more week of energy to get out there and pass out flyers to counteract their slanderous lies that they said about me in order to collect the signatures."
Whether it was the prayers, the flyers, or a combination of the two, the recall effort failed. "No matter all the king's horses and all the king's men, they just could not get the signatures in," she says, "and that was totally a blessing and a miracle from God."
The recall election would have cost Westminster taxpayers $80,000 or more. Ahrens is not up for re-election until 2006.
