COEUR d'ALENE - The Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office will not pursue charges against a recall petitioner who used incorrect information while soliciting signatures on Tubbs Hill.

A letter released Tuesday by Prosecutor Barry McHugh said there is insufficient evidence whether petitioner Rodney Bitterman knowingly used false information April 29 while trying to get people to sign petitions to oust four city incumbents.

"Mr. Bitterman acknowledges that some of the statements he made during his efforts to obtain signatures on the recall petition were false, but he denies knowledge that they were false," McHugh's letter to the investigating Kootenai County Sheriff's Office states. "He indicates they were either a result of his lack of understanding of what certain terms meant, such as 'commercialization,' or his misunderstanding of information read by him in preparing for the signature collection effort."

Idaho code makes it a felony for people to gain signatures by knowingly using false statements.

Bitterman was recorded by an anonymous male saying that the McEuen Field project would raise property taxes for residents by 18 percent - which is not true.

He also says in the recording that the McEuen Field plan would cost $40 million, and the plans include re-doing all the trails on Tubbs Hill, which would make the hiking destination more "commercialized."

While the $40 million figure has been a point of controversy between recall opponents and supports since the recall effort launched in early April, re-doing Tubbs Hill's trails is not a part of the McEuen Field plan.

The recording was posted online at www.cdapress.com in May, after which the sheriff's office began its investigation.

But "the recorded conversation doesn't provide sufficient independent evidence" to prosecute, McHugh's letter states.

"Without evidence sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt his knowledge of the falsity of his statement, a charge under (Idaho code) 34-1714 cannot be justified," the letter states.

Bitterman, reached by phone Tuesday, said he thought he was using the correct info as it was relayed to him after he was hired by RecallCdA.

"Everything I said I thought was true," he said, before declining further comment. "I guess I just wasn't knowledgeable enough in what I was talking about."

Frank Orzell, RecallCdA organizer, declined comment Tuesday.

After the recording was posted online, Orzell told The Press the recall group does not condone using wrong information, and that petitioners were properly trained to accurately convey the situation at hand.

MULTIPLE COMPLAINTS

McHugh's office is looking into another complaint alleging recall supporters are using wrong information to collect signatures. That complaint was filed last week by Stop The Recall, the group opposing the recall effort.

McHugh said Monday his office will look into the most recent complaint largely based on the volume of allegations in it, but that's not to say the allegations have merit, or charges will be forthcoming.

"I'll likely ask someone to do some investigative work," he said. "There are a number of assertions in it."

Similar pieces of misinformation heard in the recording also appear in Stop The Recall's complaint.

Bitterman, in the recording, also said that if the recall is successful, voters will be able to choose the officials' replacements in a November election - another statement that could be construed as inaccurate. If all four are recalled, the remaining council would appoint all but one of the replacements. Those seats would be up for election, however, in November 2013.

Citizens "being allowed to vote for a new mayor and council members in November" is one of the statements in the Stop The Recall complaint.

"We respect their decision, but that is only one piece of a much larger pattern of deceit on the part of RecallCDA," wrote Jennifer Drake, Stop the Recall organizer, about McHugh's decision not to pursue charges in the recording incident. "It was a small part of our much larger complaint and there are many other instances of misinformation to look into."

Organizers, meanwhile, have said they have at least 5,000 signatures. The petitions must have at least 4,311 valid signatures from registered Coeur d'Alene voters to prompt a recall election for City Council members Mike Kennedy, Deanna Goodlander, Woody McEvers and Mayor Sandi Bloem.

The Kootenai County Clerk's office said Monday it will hire part-time help to assist certifying signatures once the petitions are turned over to the county.

The county wants the petitions turned in by Monday, June 11, to begin that process.

Clerk Cliff Hayes said the county will bring on six to eight people for around $4,000 to help ensure the office has enough staffing to certify all the signatures by June 19 - the absolute deadline for the petition drive.

His office wants the petitions by June 11, which would give them eight days, including a weekend, to do the work.

He said the agreement on the Monday deadline was made with recall organizers because the statutes governing recall procedures don't specify when petitions should be turned over. Statute says the county clerk's office has 15 business days to certify signatures, but doesn't say when petitions have to be turned in to start the 15-day clock.

"I can't demand something that isn't in the code," he said of his office requiring the petitions be turned in early to give his office more time. "Do you want to shorten the petitioners' opportunity to gather petitions?"

The compromised date, however, gives his office enough time to certify, while not cutting into the signature gathering window severely, he said.

The part-time workers, who haven't yet been selected, will be chosen from a pool of people who work with the county during elections, according to Carrie Phillips, elections supervisor.