January 24, 2003
Rumblings of a Recall
There's discussion here and to some extent here -- both conversations at Portland IndyMedia Center -- about pushing a recall effort in response to Wednesday's defeat of an antiwar resolution by the Portland City Council.
Targets appear to be Commissioners Leonard and Francesconi, the two votes against the resolution. However, since it would seem that a recall can't be forced until and unless an elected official has been in office for six months, Francesconi would have to be the only legitimate target for such a push.
Conversants appear to admit that the threshold required for a recall -- nearly 25,000 signatures from local voters in a 90-day period -- is so high that the chances succeeding is questionable. Nonetheless -- especially since Francesconi is planning to run for Mayor in 2004 -- supporters of a recall believe that even attempting such a campaign might rattle his cage a little.
And, of course, as ably pointed out by S. Renee Mitchell in today's Oregonian, and briefly mentioned by Don Hamilton and Jim Reddon in today's Portland Tribune, Francesconi's statement in defense of his vote is eerily -- by all reports so far, extraordinarily so -- similar in phrasing to a statement against the resolution put out by the Portland Business Alliance.
A recall effort is, in all likelihood, little more than tilting at windmills. But it might be interesting to watch.
Comments (1)
The One True b!X on 24 Jan 2003
Parenthetically, it's also pointed out in one of those referenced conversations, that when Leonard was asked, at a debate held under the auspices of the local chapter of the Pacific Green Party, about his position on the USA PATRIOT Act, he said he had never heard of it, and even after an explanation had nothing to say about it.
Of course, given that Portland had already become involved in a conflict with Federal law enforcement over conducting interviews with Middle Eastern men, and given that the question was asked a full year after the PATRIOT Act was passed by Congress, and given that such new authorities very much have a bearing upon municipal issues, I'm left to wonder if Leonard actually knows much about anything at all beyond a certain narrow field of vision.