Should We Change the Way We Recall Our Elected Officials?
State Assembly approves proposed amendment to the state Constitution that makes it harder to recall elected officials but measure still has long way to go.
Under what conditions should residents be able to recall their elected officials? According to state Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), the reasons need to include more serious offenses than just disagreement.
The state Assembly on Tuesday approved a proposed Constitutional amendment that would limit recalls to malfeasance in office or for other serious criminal offenses. The vote was 60-37 along party lines, with the exception of one Democratic representative from Milwaukee siding with Republicans.
Last fall, Vos communicated with residents via his e-newsletter about the amendment, saying: "The legislation puts forth real grounds for a recall, which includes being charged with a serious crime or violating of the state code of ethics."
His reasons, he wrote then, included the high cost of the summer recall elections of nine state senators; six Republicans and three Democrats. In January, Vos received word from the Government Accountability Board that a single recall election with Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch could cost taxpayers as much as $9 million. Add in a Democratic primary and the recall elections of the four state senators targeted - including Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) - and the price tag could jump to $20 million.
Amending the state Constitution isn't easy. Vos' measure still needs to be passed by the Senate this session and then approved again next session by both houses of the Legislature. And then has to be approved in statewide referendum.
Rep. Cory Mason (D-Racine) voted against the amendment because he said the state Constitution is deliberately open-ended about how and why citizens can recall since there are already measures in place to deal with malfeasance and ethics violations.
"The right to recall has been in the Constitution for nearly 100 years for a reason; to hold officials accountable," he told Patch on Saturday. "The irony of those under recall voting against that right is something citizens won't miss."
Mason also said the drafters of the state Constitution understood the seriousness of a recall which is why they put high benchmarks in place. In the end, though, recall is available to the public when the public feels their elected officials have violated their trust.
"A high threshold of 25 percent of the electorate and waiting for an official to have a year in office are safeguards put in place so the law isn't used frivolously," he added. "But I caution Republicans in their support of this amendment because it is not impossible that a day will come when the public is frustrated with Democrats. Do they really want to take away the public's right to hold them accountable?"
In a story by The Associated Press, Joshua Spivak, a recall expert and senior fellow at Wagner College in New York, say getting the public to support an amendment that restricts recall will be a tough sell.
"Any time there's a controversial recall, there's discussion of changing the recall," he told AP. But, overall, voters like recall and he points to measures to curb the right to recall that failed recently in both California and Michigan.
James R Hoffa
9:05 pm on Saturday, March 10, 2012
Attention Fellow Walker Backers - This Is A Call To Arms:
Proudly show your support for Governor Scott Walker, Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, and our fellow State Senators at a rally being held at Brookfield Square Mall on Saturday, March 24th from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
For more information on this event, brought to you by the same grassroots team that organized the highly successful 'Celebrate Walker' rally, please visit the official homepage for the event here:
http://www.facebook.com/events/307338025994069/
Hope to see you all there!!!
Tim Scott
9:20 pm on Saturday, March 10, 2012
This is a good start to a new era in Wisconsin when Governor Walker is re-elected.
NEXT: End the discriminatory and unconstitutional Domestic Partner Registry and Benefits.
Special rights for same-sex partners clearly discriminates against opposite sex partners - and Wisconsin Citizens don't want legal advantages given to those outside of Marriage.
For those without any legal sense- DPB has NOTHING to do with sexuality - it is purely a legal contract that offers big advantages and privileges.
"(b) If a party to a domestic partnership enters into a marriage
that is recognized as valid in this state, the domestic partnership
is automatically terminated on the date of the marriage."
Tim Scott
9:24 pm on Saturday, March 10, 2012
People are abusing Domestic Partner laws to discriminate against unmarried opposite sex partners and to gain unfair legal/financial benefits while making questionable claims otherwise.
"Able to Hold a Gun ... and Her Husband's Hand
It was a condition that affected her job, her relationships and every human contact, but doctors told her, “It’s just nerves,” and “You can live with it.” But they didn’t have to live with it … Christine Cronin did.
The best part of all? “Now I can hold hands with my husband.”
http://www.froedtert.com/HealthResources/ReadingRoom/IncredibleStories/GeneralThoracicSurgery/AbletoHoldHands.htm
James R Hoffa
9:58 pm on Saturday, March 10, 2012
Yes, the recall laws clearly need to be changed!
But personally, I like my idea of requiring the posting of a pre-recall bond with the state in the amount of the estimated costs of the proposed recall certification and election, as well as holding the recall committee members personally liable for the costs and expenses associated with a recall election if the incumbent is victorious in such a recall election.
I laid out all the statutory language that would be necessary to enact my proposed changes a while ago on Patch - those posts should still be somewhere in the archives!
Tim Scott
6:17 am on Sunday, March 11, 2012
"I like my idea of requiring the posting of a pre-recall bond with the state in the amount of the estimated costs of the proposed recall certification and election, as well as holding the recall committee members personally liable for the costs and expenses associated with a recall election if the incumbent is victorious in such a recall election."
That's going a little too far - it would crush a TRUE grass roots effort to throw out a corrupt and criminal elected official.
The proposed changes, "would limit recalls to malfeasance in office or for other serious criminal offenses" are more than enough to end the abuse of recall elections and attempts at election nullification by the losers.
WLM
8:42 am on Sunday, March 11, 2012
If Mr. Vos doesn't consider the downgrading of our educational system a crime against our children, an assassination attempt against our Wisconsin economy, and jeapodizing our national security as serious; then he should be recalled too!
jt
9:01 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
i agree!
Tim Scott
10:38 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
There has been no downgrading.
I propose we lower teacher salaries by 50%, reduce their benefits by 75%, increase the retirement requirement by 10 years. Therefore we will be able to hire TWICE as many Teachers.
Win for the Taxpayers. Win for the Teachers. Win for the Children.
Midwest George
3:09 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
No Wisconsin tax paying citizen should support making it harder to recall elected officials regardless of what camp you belong to. As tax payers, we pay their salaries and therefore have the right to recall them when they are not performing up to expectations. There are always groups who do not like what one party or candidate is doing, but it doesn't always lead to recalls, does it? So one can hardly argue recalls are being abused. Think business – we hire them, through elections, to do a job for us, the citizens. We are the true bosses, not them. If we do not feel they are working up to our expectations; we should be able to fire them, just as is done in business. They should not have the right to change the rules to their benefit - then they, regardless of what party, are no longer working for us and why would you pay for that? I am all for reform of things broken, but not when it takes control from the people. Our government isn’t supposed to be set up like that.
jt
9:03 pm on Sunday, March 11, 2012
well said!
Tim Scott
10:41 am on Monday, March 12, 2012
"Our government isn’t supposed to be set up like that"
NO George - it's not suppoused to result in a recall every time you are unhappy with an election or a vote. If it were so - we would have a dictatorship.
Saying things like that only demonstrates you have the mind and understanding of a child - gimme dat! My way or no way! Grow up.
WFBuckley
11:09 am on Thursday, March 29, 2012
Well said, Midwest. Vos is so far out of line on this it reveals a profound ignorance of what politics must be about. It's about the citizens. Just ask George Petak. He promised he would represent the overwhelming majority of people in Racine county and not support the stadium tax (aka, corporate welfare). When he lost his spine and his ethics, we recalled him. I wouldn't have it any other way. And right after that he wound up in a nice job in Milwaukee. Go figure. Money looking after money. AGAIN.
And we're still paying the tax and it's increasing. Where's the TEA party outcry against something like that?
Mr. Vos, "malfeasance in office or for other serious criminal offenses" should be grounds for immediate dismissal and jail time. If a politician is guilty of something like this, why would a recall be needed? That politico should be out. Period. I can't believe you said something like that publicly. How naive are you?
This is an attempt by some politicians to be out of reach of any accountability. Vos should be recalled just for suggesting something like that.
Let me finish by saying I am a conservative. I've been voting Republican all my life. But if there's a Republican in office that isn't doing his job to represent the interests of the citizens that put him/her in office, I want to be able to do with him/her exactly what we did to Petak.
People need to realize, this cuts both ways.
Lexi Noble
1:38 pm on Monday, March 12, 2012
I think recalls are a waste of tax payer money, I guess I always thought that's what we hold elections for, if you're not happy with the current administration then vote them out. What happens if these recalls take place and these same people are voted back in (as I think they will be) are we going to have another recall or are all these cry babies going to finally grow up? Or what happens if they're voted out, then does the other party get to have a recall then too cause they're not happy with the outcome...does it ever end?
Walker Backer
12:53 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
You should Knot be able to recall someone just because you disagree with them. Walker will win and they will bitch about something new on June 6th.