[Vision2020] Recall Question

[Donovan Arnold]

Saundra,

This is really interesting to watch to say the least. I would be out 
speaking against the recall effort, but it is obvious that Mr.Weitz doesn't 
have a clue what he doing and will never succeed in even getting the 
petition on the ballot.

There seems to be confusion on three major points.

1) It is 20% of registered voters in the last city election. Not the number 
of voters in the last state election.

2) It is 60 days from the time the first signature is collected, not 75 
days. That number (75) of days is required for state elected officials. city 
elected officials are different than state elected, state elected include 
country commissioners, local legislators (state senate and (2) state 
Representatives) and gubernatorially elected offices.

3) The third mistake that people are making is that they believe that they 
can collect the signatures then go to the clerk to get the petitions 
recognized. You cannot do this. All of the signatures that Dr. Weitz has 
collected are invalid and would be illegal for the uses of a recall or 
petition. Here is why;

The rules for having a recall election are not suppose to be easy if a 
candidate is doing their job correctly and has the support of 40%+ of the 
people. This is to protect the rights of the people that elected them. It 
would be unfair if every time we elected someone the minority had a recall. 
So the way to determine this is to use two factors, one the number of days 
you have to collect the signatures, and two, the number of signatures you 
collected. If an elected official was acting in a capacity to anger 51%-100% 
of the population, getting 20% would be a fairly easy task to accomplish 
within 60 days.

What Dr. Weitz is doing is wrong, unethical and illegal. The reason why is 
because by collecting signatures beforehand, he and his supporters are 
trying to cheat the system that protects the people's choice to fill that 
office with fruitless and time consuming endeavors through legal 
maneuvering.

Any idiot, given enough time, can get 20% of the people to sign against 
almost any politician. This is why the time limit is so important.

I personally don't like the recall system the way it is set up in a pularity 
election. Let me explain why.

In our system of electing city council members (a pularity system), we cast 
1-3 votes for three seats. The top three vote getters get the three seats. 
The problem with this is that most elected officials in a pularity system 
never get to 50% of the vote in a 4 or more person race.

So a candidate can get elected with just 35% of the vote then be recalled by 
the 65% that didn't vote for them. That is why I don't like the recall laws. 
I would like to see a system that requires that a member not be removed 
unless they get less votes (percent wise) than the next person on the ballot 
that didn't win. This makes more sense. Our current system makes it so a 
candidate getting 35% of the vote can easily get elected then recalled, then 
elected again, then recalled, and on and on. That is stupid, and people like 
Dr. Weitz are the ones trying to take advantage of that weakness in our 
legal system.

Take Care,

Donovan J Arnold


>From: "Saundra Lund" <sslund at adelphia.net>
>To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Recall Question
>Date: Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:01:21 -0800
>
>Visionaries:
>
>In yesterday's Daily News, it was reported that:
>"Petitioners have 60 days from the date of authorization to gather 
>signatures
>from 20 percent of the voters registered in the last general city 
>election."
>
>Even though the recall effort doesn't seem to be making any progress (an 
>effort,
>BTW, I wouldn't/won't be joining), I'd like to have a better understanding 
>of
>the process.  Nothing new here, but I'm confused.
>
>According to Idaho Code 34-1704:
>"Upon approval as to form, the secretary of state, county clerk, or city 
>clerk,
>shall inform the person or persons, organization or organizations under 
>whose
>authority the recall petition is to be circulated, in writing, that the 
>petition
>must be perfected with the required number of certified signatures within
>seventy-five (75) days following the date of approval as to form."
>
>While I know the City of Moscow allows only 60 days for referendum & 
>initiative
>petitions (Title 1, Section 5-5 of the Moscow City Code), my understanding 
>was
>that we follow state statutes with respect to recall efforts.  So, I'd 
>think the
>75 day deadline (once form is approved) would hold.
>
>Can anyone please clarify for me?
>
>
>TIA,
>Saundra Lund
>Moscow, ID
>
>The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do
>nothing.
>-Edmund Burke
>
>
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