[StBernard] Throw The Louisiana Bums Out Legislation Has Issues

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Wed Apr 4 21:55:53 EDT 2007


Throw The Louisiana Bums Out Legislation Has Issues

Written by: John Maginnis

In these times of instant gratification and faster rewards, politics lags
behind when the urge arises to throw the bums out. Waiting until the next
election can be such a drag, which leaves only two options for early
termination: indictment or a recall election.

The former course can be time-consuming and not applicable unless an
officeholder's offenses are provably criminal. Recalls are even harder,
having never occurred statewide and not on a local level since Franklin
Parish voters booted a school board member in 2004. Not that disgruntled
voters aren't trying. According to the secretary of state's office, 16
recall petitions have started so far this year, but their prospects aren't
good, with recallers going 0 for 22 in in 2006.

Forced early retirements could become more common if legislation put
forward by state Sen. Walter Boasso, R-Chalmette, a candidate for governor,
makes it through sausage factory this spring.

Currently, to trigger a recall election, organizers have six months to
gather petition signatures from one-third of the registered voters in a
jurisdiction, whether a local council district or statewide. Boasso wants to
lower the bar to one-third of the number of voters in the last election for
that office.

"No elected official who is accountable to his or her constituents and
who serves for the right reasons will oppose this," read the statement by
Boasso. We might never find out if the bill's first stop, at the reform-wary
Senate & Governmental Affairs Committee, is its last.

But just because the maverick Boasso's plan makes his colleagues nervous
does not make it without flaw. Assuming he is more serious about making
things better than making a name for himself, Boasso might rethink his plan,
which, for larger jurisdictions, does not go far enough to make a real
difference, and, for smaller ones, could easily do more harm than good.

Take it by the numbers. For a statewide office, such as governor, for
which only 50 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the last
election, the threshold would be cut in half, from about 900,000 to 450,000
signatures. Yet the new goal would still be well out of reach of even
well-organized efforts that are funded on a shoestring and manned by
volunteers.

Where such a law could really make a difference, though not necessarily
for the better, is at the local level, particularly after specially-called
elections to finish the terms of officials who have died, quit or gone to
jail. If a special parish council election draws only 24 percent of the
district's 10,000 voters, under Boasso's bill it would take only 800
signatures, or 8 percent of registrants, to force the official back onto the
ballot for a yes-or-no recall election.

At that level, no election would be final but always subject to a re-do
by any organized opposition, such as the opposite party, a racial minority
or any well-organized band of single-issue voters. Yes, it would make
officials hyper-sensitive to voters but also timid about making any decision
that is going to tick off anyone with a good-sized Rolodex.

Also, what is the fairness or the sense in it being harder to remove
Legislator A than Legislator B just because turnout was heavy in A's area
but light in B's?

Boasso's plan would not do much to encourage turnout, either, since the
more that people vote the harder it would be to recall the elected. The
all-but-chronic voter could be more inclined to skip the real election,
knowing he could have a second shot if not pleased by the outcome. There
should be consequences for not voting instead of consolation prizes.

If Boasso wants to tinker with percentages, he might drop them even
lower, to 25 or even 20 percent, but the common denominator should remain
the total number of registered voters.

The senator from St. Bernard Parish is to be commended for wanting to
hold his political colleagues to higher standards, but they must be the same
standards. Lousy or not, elected officials cannot be equally accountable
unless they are equally vulnerable to the displeasure of the people.








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