Jillian Rayfield February 8, 2012, 12:14 PM

Members of an Alaska Tea Party group successfully pushed for a recall of Wasilla City Councilman Steve Menard, after he admitted to drunkenly trashing a hotel room he was staying in during a trip on city business.

The Conservative Patriots Group had been collecting signatures to force a recall of Menard, and on Tuesday he was ousted 70.1%- 29.9%, according to KTUU.com in Alaska. This amounted to 216 votes in favor of the recall, and 92 against it.

On the recall petition, the CPG wrote: “We don’t expect our politicians to be perfect but we do expect them to exhibit accepted standards of integrity and decency. We want Menard and other politicians to understand that ‘we the voters’ will no longer tolerate this type of conduct. Character does matter.”

Menard said of the recall: “It’s a hard lesson for me to learn publicly, obviously, but I’m a better person for it coming out at the other end of it and I just look forward to moving forward and putting this behind me and trying to redeem myself.”

In August, the Anchorage Daily News reported that Menard was forced to repay the city $350 for damages to a Sitka hotel room that was found trashed after his stay there. The damages “included urine on two mattresses and a chair, vomit on the carpet, ruined bedding, and a burned mattress,” according to the ADN.

Menard said at the time that he wouldn’t resign, and planned to serve out the rest of his term until October 2013. He was appointed to the Alaska Railroad’s board of directors by then Gov. Sarah Palin in 2009 after the death of his father, who was a close family friend of the Palins and previously held the post. Menard also worked as an administrative assistant to Palin when she was governor, before he was elected to the City Council.

Alaska, Sarah Palin, Steve Menard, Wasilla