UPDATE: Councilman Shaw Resigns, Adams Calls His Candidacy a 'Big Lie'

Former Councilman Clarence Shaw resigned his seat on the Monrovia City Council Thursday, the day after the filing period closed for candidates to run for two open council seats in April.

Shaw sent an email to City Manager Laurie Lile Thursday afternoon explaining that he was resigning effective immediately, Councilman Tom Adams said.

Shaw said in a telephone interview with Patch Tuesday that he had pulled the paperwork to run for re-election and intended to reclaim his seat. But, according to city records, Shaw did not file the paperwork by Wednesday's deadline.

He has not returned several calls requesting comment on this story.

A major in the U.S. Army Reserves, Shaw has been deployed in Washington state since July 2011. His seat was filled on an interim basis in Dec. 2011 by Larry Spicer, who has filed to run for one of the two open seats on the City Council in April.

Adams said Thursday that he believes Shaw never intended to run for re-election.

"My understanding is that Clarence Shaw has a new home in Washington state and a new family in Washington state and it appears as if it was never his intention to return to Monrovia," Adams said.

In a comment on Patch, Adams alleged that Shaw's statements about his candidacy were intended to benefit the electoral chances of Spicer.

"The really sad part is that this big lie was apparently done to help Mr. Spicer retain the seat that he didn't feel he could get on his own," Adams wrote. "We all know that incumbancy is powerful and had the public known that two imcumbants were not running there would have been more candiates filing."

Spicer said in an interview Friday that Adams' allegations are "absolutely wrong."

"Clarence had planned on running all the way up to when he made the decision that he made," Spicer said. "All of this about Clarence and I working together, that's absolutely untrue."

Since only Spicer and one other candidate--local attorney Alexander Blackburn--filed to run for the open council seats, the council could decide to cancel the election and appoint people to the two open seats.