Volume 2 Issue 125
August 19, 2003
Recall This!
More recall madness, non-blackout New York stories, and stay home - it's safer
So here we go. A wire story today reports that people in Pittsburgh are beginning a campaign to recall their mayor, Tom Murphy. Never mind that Murphy has been elected to three terms as mayor or anything like that. Local civic unions began the campaign after Murphy laid off 700 city workers to help ease a budget deficit. Of course the Gray Davis fiasco was going to bring more recalls out of the closet, but what is incredible is how easy some of these rules are to throw duly elected people out of office.
In Pittsburgh, for example, only 20 signatures are required to begin the process. It is a bit more controlled in that a court must agree with the petition (which has to accuse the officeholder of some official malfeasance). If the court decides that the petition has merit, they appoint a committee to recommend to the City Council that the mayor be removed. The Council seems to have the final say. This is better than California's ridiculous rule, where 1% of the people who voted for Gray Davis' opponent in the last election can force a costly chaotic recall, but it still is misguided. The case will obviously goto the city council, because in Pennsylvania, the judges are elected, so no judge wants to have the people gunning for the mayor gunning for him during the next election, or worse, recalling him.
The fact is that once someone is elected, they should be able to serve out their term, and not be removed for political reasons. After all, we pay our public officials to make decisions, that's what they do. Instead of recalls, impeachment by legislative bodies should be the only way to remove public officials. Then, other public officials have to stand up or shut up and take a stand on whether or not someone should be removed. Because of this, it is unlikely that an official would be removed unless there was a major abuse of office, and not because a political decision went against a party. After all, these officials have to then face the same voters, who would probably be quite pissed if someone had been removed irresponsibly.
Proponents of recalls say that opponents think that the people are stupid and can not be trusted with such a decision. Rather, I think that it is the fact that the recall rules allow a small minority of the public to manipulate the rest of them, forcing situations like that in California. Further, when the public elects someone, they pledge to give them a certain amount of time to try and accomplish their goals. They should be given the opportunity to do so, except in cases of exceptional abuse and fraud. After all, if we're going to kick our politicians out every time they make a decision, why not just get rid of the Republic all together and just run the nation off of opinion polls?
Iraq: The United Nations Headquarters was bombed today in Baghdad, killing at least a dozen and continuing to show the US may have won the war, but is losing the peace. This bombing however, shows that despite US assurances that conquering Iraq would help ease terrorism, it may have made terror worse. The UN was highly respected in Saddam's Iraq, meaning that it was likely an outside terrorist organization that was responsible for today's bombing. Yet another Bush lie exposed -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/international/worldspecial /19CND-IRAQ.html?hp
Trapped in the rubble is the head of the UN mission in Iraq, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, an accomplished and well-respected diplomat -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/international/worldspecial /24MELL.html?ex=1061438400&en=f54cadda3b8f79c9&ei=5070
Corporate Blackout? FirstEnergy, the Ohio utility thought to be responsible for last week's blackout, has had a bad year. But that hasn't stopped the executives from lining their pockets or holding fundraisers for Dick Cheney -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/business/19PLAC.html?hp=&a mp;pagewanted=all&position
Governors Gone Bad: At a national meeting of Governor's yesterday, NJ Governor Jim McGreevy (2nd only to Gray Davis in unpopularity) proposed a new national transportation plan. Except no one other than him supports it -
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/states/new_jer sey/6563611.htm
Look Who's Running for President: Joe Lieberman is sticking to his risky strategy of running to the right in the Democratic primaries -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11748-2003Aug18.html
Bad John Edwards Photo of the Day:
No, I'm not driving the bus!
Fair and Balanced: Oh no, I used the FOX news slogan! They're going to come sue me! At least Paul Newman is on my side -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/opinion/19NEWM.html
Gotham Stories: It's confirmed. New Yorkers don't know how to drive. Really. In fact, only 25% of them are licensed to drive, the lowest of any jurisdiction in the nation -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11747-2003Aug18.html
And yet another crazy fad taking root in the city...parties on subway trains -
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/nyregion/19TUNN.html?hp
Get Down, it's the Pepsi-cola man! A New Jersey man is suing Pepsi-Cola after being injured by an exploding soda bottle -
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/southjersey/m081903d.h tm
Travel highlights: Parts of China are being eaten by giant mutant gerbils -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3162743.stm
A woman walking barefoot in Las Vegas was electrocuted -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/08/18/vegas.electrocution.ap /index.html
And a doctor in Texas was decapitated in a horrific elevator accident -
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Southwest/08/18/doctor.decapitate d.ap/index.html
