YAKIMA, Wash. -- Insisting that partisan payback has nothing to do with it, two Democrats have launched a recall attempt against Yakima City Councilman Rick Ensey.

Petitioners Charlotte Jones and Gene Rupel filed recall paperwork Wednesday with the Yakima County Auditor's Office accusing Ensey of violating the state open-meetings law.

The paperwork formally sets in motion a series of legal steps that could result in a special recall election.

Jones and Rupel contend Ensey deserves to be recalled for his role in a vote to change the City Council's budget policy earlier this year.

To bolster their case, they submitted dozens of photocopies of e-mails they say proves that Ensey, along with Councilwoman Kathy Coffey and Yakima Valley Business Times publisher Bruce Smith, illegally lined up a majority of votes to change city budget policy in advance of a public meeting on April 14.

In interviews Wednesday, Jones and Rupel acknowledged being active in the local Democratic Party. They are represented by George Fearing, a Kennewick attorney and Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, last year.

Jones and Rupel also said the e-mails were provided by Ron Bonlender, a former council member and Democratic Party activist who was defeated in 2007 by Ensey, who had the backing of the Yakima County Republican Party. Bonlender obtained the e-mails via a public records request.

Jones and Rupel insisted that partisan payback was not the driving force behind the recall effort.

"I'm a Democrat, but this was kept outside the party," said Jones, a retired state employee, adding, "A lot of the party members won't know about this until it hits the news media."

Ensey, a property manager, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Asked why the recall effort targeted Ensey but not Coffey, Rupel called the councilman "the leader of the bunch" and said Coffey had apologized for her part in the controversy.

Max Golladay, chairman of the Yakima County Republican Party, questioned why the recall effort is being started now. He noted the bad blood between Ensey and Bonlender.

"If it isn't partisan," he said, "it must be personal."

A Superior Court judge must determine whether the allegations against Ensey meet the criteria for a recall petition. A hearing date has not been scheduled.

Yakima County Auditor Corky Mattingly said recall efforts are relatively rare and successful ones are rarer still.

A recall effort aimed at Tieton Mayor Norma Joiner in the spring of 2007 was the only one she could remember in recent years. Nothing ever came of it, though voters turned out Joiner in the November general election later that year.

Regionally, Spokane Mayor Jim West was recalled in 2005 over a sex scandal. The former state Senate majority leader died months later from colon cancer.

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 509-577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.

How to recall an elected official

Under the state Constitution, all elected officials, except judges, are subject to recall.

Any voter in the proper jurisdiction can file a charge demanding a recall. Grounds for recall are:

* Malfeasance -- wrongful conduct that interferes with the performance of official duty

* Violation of the oath of office -- the willful failure to carry out the job

The petition is first filed with the county auditor. A copy is sent to the county prosecutor, who writes the ballot language.

A Superior Court hearing is conducted to approve the ballot language and to determine whether the charge against a public official meets the standard for a recall.

If court approval is granted, petitioners can begin collecting signatures seeking a recall election. In their effort to unseat Yakima City Councilman Rick Ensey, petitioners would have to collect 4,157 signatures -- a rate equal to 25 percent of those who voted in his City Council race two years ago.

If enough signatures are collected, the recall measure is put before voters. A simple majority is required for passage.

This story has been updated to correct the percentage of signatures required in order to put a recall measure before voters.