(No) Total Recall

Before I dig into today's news about the Charter Review Commission I'd like to take a moment to thank those members who took on the responsibilities that the voters bestowed upon them two years ago. It literally is a thankless job (until now) and I for one appreciate the efforts of those who gave the necessary time and effort.

Now, the news.

Daily News had a report today on the final project that will go before the City Council and ultimately the voters in November. (The council does get to vote on the plan, the vote isn't binding. Voters will get their shot on the regular ballot.)

I'll admit. I'm disappointed the Commissioners didn't include a recall provision to go along with the suggested adoption of a four-year term (instead of  two.) As I stated previously, the four-year term would be easier to swallow if voters had some ability to remove someone truly unfit from office.

Personally, I wasn't worried about recalls efforts being launched for frivolous reasons. I've got enough faith in the populace to believe that no legitimate mayor would be removed unfairly. I also didn't think any illegitimate effort would have a chance to get off the ground if the bar were set high enough to ensure broad general support of any recall push.

But four of the eight attending commissioners at the last meeting felt such a device could be abused. In my mind, they're putting their faith in one person - a future mayor. The lack of a recall mechanism suggests no mayor would be bad enough to warrant premature removal or could do enough damage in four years to risk the divisiveness of a recall campaign.

 Not to get all Mr. Smith, but I'd prefer to cast my lot with the general populace.

It'll be interesting to see how much heat this discussion generates. Mayor Donna Holaday is doing a good job in my eyes. As I offered last year, a good job by her will defuse at least some of the argument that we need a four-year term to attract a qualified candidate.

If people are satisfied with the Holaday, they may just decided to take the easy route and stick with the status quo.