[Vision2020] Term of Office

[Donovan Arnold]

"Perhaps the legislative intent of this statute is to
install in office as quickly as possible a person who
clearly and directly represents the current will of
the electorate, not one who serves, once removed by
appointment rather than by election, according to the
past will of the electorate."--Wayne Fox

Exactly Wayne, well put. That is what happens in case
of a vacancy in the US House and the US Senate. That
intent has been around for a long, long time. And that
is exactly why I disagree with what the city of Moscow
is doing. They are trying to create a non-existant two
year term every time there is a vacancy rather than
filling a seat until the will of the people is known. 

-DJA



--- Art Deco <deco at moscow.com> wrote:

> Election Debaters,
> 
>  
> 
> I stopped by the city library on the way from the
> post office.  
> 
>  
> 
> Donald Huskey cited the below as the applicable law.
>  
> 
>  
> 
> To see quickly if there was any case law on this
> particular statute, I checked the Annotated Idaho
> Code.  There was only one annotation and that did
> not deal with the issue which the city now faces. 
> No all cases may be referenced by the annotations.
> 
>  
> 
> Unless things have changed, anyone with a UI
> computer ID can go to the UI Law Library Site and
> make a careful and complete search with relative
> ease to see if there are any other cases dealing
> with IC 50-704.  They can then read, copy, and paste
> to Vision 2020 all applicable cases.  {Anyone can
> use the computers in the lobby of the law library
> for the same purpose.}
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> However, if the city wants to be squeaky clean and
> aboveboard on this issue, it should ask the district
> court for a Declaratory Judgment on an expedited
> basis.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Since I am not an attorney, my opinion is not likely
> to be very persuasive.  That said, maybe we should
> look carefully at the statute at issue.
> 
>  
> 
> 50-704.  VACANCIES -- APPOINTMENT. A vacancy on the
> council shall be filled by appointment made by the
> mayor with the consent of the council, which
> appointee shall serve only until the next general
> city election, at which such vacancy shall be filled
> for the balance of the original term.
> 
>  
> 
> It may be helpful to break the statute down:
> 
>  
> 
> [A]  A vacancy on the council shall be filled by
> appointment made by the mayor with the consent of
> the council,
> 
>  
> 
> [B]  which appointee shall serve only until the next
> general city election,
> 
>  
> 
> [C]  at which such vacancy shall be filled for the
> balance of the original term.
> 
>  
> 
> There does not appear to be any controversy about
> [A].
> 
>  
> 
> [B] appears to be saying that the appointee serve
> only until the next general city election.  Perhaps
> a more exact way of reading this is:
> 
>  
> 
> shall serve only until the {date of the} next
> general city election,
> 
>  
> 
> This means, in my opinion, that once the election is
> held, the appointee's term of service has ended. 
> The use of the word "only" in the context of the
> statute and particularly in the context of phrase
> [B] seems determinative to me.
> 
>  
> 
> That being the case then [C] should be read as:
> 
>  
> 
> at which {date of the next general city election}
> such  the vacancy {for which the appointee was
> appointed} shall be filled for the balance of the
> original term {which is the interval between the
> date of the general election and the date elected
> officials are normally sworn in}.
> 
>  
> 
> If it was intended for the appointee to fill the
> entire remaining term of the position to which they
> were appointed until the seating of those elected in
> the next city general election, the language of the
> statute would read:
> 
>  
> 
> which appointee shall serve the remainder of the
> term of the councilperson whose departure created
> the vacancy; or if there is a general city election
> before the end of the vacator's term, shall serve
> until a new councilperson can be elected and seated
> in accordance with the other applicable statutes of
> this section.
> 
>  
> 
> Perhaps the legislative intent of this statute is to
> install in office as quickly as possible a person
> who clearly and directly represents the current will
> of the electorate, not one who serves, once removed
> by appointment rather than by election, according to
> the past will of the electorate.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> My opinion could easily be wrong in this matter. 
> However, I urge the city to seek a Declaratory
> Judgment from the district court on an expedited
> basis.  Perhaps by Monday next, we could have an
> answer.
> 
>  
> 
> 
> Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
> deco at moscow.com
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jeff Harkins" <jeffh at moscow.com>
> To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 11:09 AM
> Subject: [Vision2020] Term of Office
> 
> 
> > Visionnaires:
> > 
> > It seems to me that elections are for "terms of
> office"
> > 
> > I suspect that the state law deals with two issues
> - filling the 
> > remaining term of Hill (to January) and election
> of the replacement 
> > for the new term - (which is seated in Jan),
> > 
> > A consistent interpretation  - leading to seating
> in January 
> > seemingly consistent with the will of voters ....
> > 
> > Thus voters for Hill get their full term and
> voters against Ament 
> > don't have to endure someone they didn't vote for
> more than his 
> > elected term.  Seems rather straightforward to me.
> > 
> >
>
_____________________________________________________
> > List services made available by First Step
> Internet, 
> > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>   
> >               http://www.fsr.net                  
>     
> >          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> >
>
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> > 
> >>
_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step
> Internet, 
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. 
>  
>                http://www.fsr.net                   
>    
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
> 


	
		
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