[Vision2020] Recall is the Wrong Tool But Not the Only One

[Tom Hansen]

Marty Trillhaase makes an excellent point and suggestion.

Courtesy of today's (March 10, 2011) Lewiston Tribune.

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Recall is the wrong tool but not the only one
By Marty Trillhaase of the Tribune
March 10, 2011

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna perpetrated a fraud on
the people who returned him to office last fall.

He campaigned as a defender of the public school system.

He expressed optimism about the public schools' ability to prepare your
children for the new century.

He talked about the need to restore the cuts lawmakers made in public
education budgets.

He even parted ways with his own Republican Party by outlining where to
find more dollars.

Never once during his campaign did Luna express support for - or even hint
at - his plan to radically transform the public school system.

Never did you hear Luna talk about gutting collective bargaining rights
for the state's public school teachers.

Never did he talk about killing off 770 teaching jobs, crowding more kids
in cramped classes and using the savings to create a market for his
friends in the for-profit online education industry.

Never did he engage the educators his legislation would affect.

Nor the students.

Nor their parents.

Now, much of that agenda is a fait accompli, enacted by a Republican
legislative majority that is either too politically protected or out of
touch to believe that the voices of protest out there reflect the majority
view.

For this, retired Mountain Home Air Force Secretary Nancy Berto of Boise
thinks Luna should be recalled from office.

Idaho's equivalent of impeachment, recall should be reserved for the most
egregious public misconduct.

Judge for yourself: How close does Luna's behavior waltz toward
malfeasance in office? As defined, malfeasance is "hostile, aggressive
action taken to injure the client's interests."

Luna's actions certainly have been hostile.

So says Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls, who voted against Luna's bill to
gut the Idaho Education Association. "This is a mean-spirited bill. It
goes beyond bashing unions, it bashes teachers. ... It turns teachers into
powerless pawns of the political system."

Aggressive? How else would you describe Luna's blitzkrieg-like tactic of
seeking a massive overhaul of your child's public schools without first
asking your opinion?

No less than Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels refused to play this game when
members of his party promoted right to work legislation. Said Daniels: If
Republicans didn't raise the issue with voters during the campaign, they
shouldn't spring it on them now.

The problem with recalling Luna isn't whether he deserves it.

The problem is it won't work.

Just to force a recall election, you need to round up 20 percent of the
790,531 people who were registered to vote last year - or at least
158,107.

You get 75 days to collect them.

If that isn't tough enough, then look at the next hurdle. In what is
guaranteed to be a low-turnout special election - either Aug. 30 or Nov. 8
- you have to mobilize at least 268,853 people to vote for removing Luna
from office. That's one more vote than the number that re-elected him last
year.

And what if you succeed?

Luna's collaborator in the school overhaul, Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter,
appoints Luna's successor.

And the people who endorsed Luna's package in the Senate will vote to
confirm.

The overhaul package? What happens to that if Luna is deposed?

It remains on the books.

You need a better tool.

And you've got one.

Sixty days after this dreadful legislative session ends, round up at least
47,432 signatures from registered voters - or 6 percent of the electorate
- and demand a referendum on Luna's legislation.

That would provide what Luna denied you -empowerment. A chance to be heard.

It would be only the fifth time that the voters could repudiate or sustain
the actions of their Legislature - the others being sales taxes (1936 and
1966), right to work (1986) and term limits (2002).

This would become the defining issue of the 2012 state election. The GOP
legislative majority and its agenda would be on trial.

Majority vote wins.

For weeks now, we've been told Luna's union-busting bill means the demise
of the IEA and its friends in Idaho's Democratic Party. If the IEA's
13,000 members can't organize a referendum campaign and engage an Idaho
electorate that has awakened from its complacency, then it deserves what
Luna has delivered. - M.T.

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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown