Is there a way a sim can pass leadership of a club off to another?

Well, that is not true the leadership role does not always go to the person next on the list, most of the time its the person with the youngest age. Anyway, if your a leader of a age limit club or event limit club you can influence the new leader by talking up to the club member, but its no guarantee though.

Edit: Also if the leader refuses you can use the talk about other sim social in mean and there should be a option that says trash sim or talk down about sim.