MAYOR,PETITIONS,ORGANIZERS AND CALUMNY!
Until the election is set recall petitions should be challenged. Once the election is set it is a vote of confidence or no confidence on the mayor by the people. How more democratic and fair can that be. Walling should invited the community to give him a mandate on his policies. Or they could show him the door.(gmf)
MAYOR WALLING WILL STOP THE VOTERS CHANCE TO CAST A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE OR NO CONFIDENCE ON HIM
Flint Mayor Dayne Walling says the recall effort against him will be stopped before it ever gets to a vote. [1]
WHAT RESOURCES WILL THE CITY USE TO PERSONALLY DEFEND THE MAYOR?
Walling made those comments today as he geared up for his challenge to the petition signatures.[1]
DAVID DAVENPORT, JUST ONE OF MANY.
It's been three weeks since the petition signatures targeting Flint's mayor for recall were turned in to the city clerk's office. At the time, David Davenport, the author of the recall language, said his group had validated 10,000 signatures. [1]
14,000 PEOPLE SIGNED THE PETITION ASKING FOR A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE
More than 14,000 signatures were turned at the end of July. Only 8,004 signatures are required for a recall election. [1]
[T]he petitions state that Walling should be recalled for laying off 23 firefighters and 46 police officers last spring.[4]
NOBODY THREW OUT SIGNATURES, IT SIMPLY WAS A GRASS ROOTS PROCESS FROUGHT WITH PROCEDURAL ERROR THE CLERKS CAUGHT
Since that day, the county clerk's office has thrown out 900 signatures.
Q: DID THE CLERKS CHECK EVERY SIGNATURE OR SIMPLY STOP THE PROCESS WHEN ENOUGH WERE FOUND PROCEURALLY VALID?
Just before last weekend, the city clerk threw out nearly 5,800 signatures, giving recall organizers a 263-vote margin of error.[1]
CLERKS EXPLAIN THE PROCESS.
According to information from the city clerk's office, those signatures were thrown out for a variety of reasons.
SIGNATURES WERE COLLECTED IN PUBLIC PLACES NOT ALL OF THE SIGNERS LIVED IN FLINT. DID YOU KNOW YOU COULD HAVE A FLINT MAILING ADDRESS BUT NOT LIVE IN THE CITY LIMITS
More than 1,400 were disqualified because they were from outside the city and nearly 1,600 were thrown out because the person signing was not a registered voter.[1]
WILL WALLING BE OFF THE TAX PAYER SUPPORTED CLOCK
Walling told us today that he's starting work tomorrow looking over the remaining signatures.[1]
And now Walling, in office for just barely one year, who had a multi-million dollar city deficit dumped in his lap, must turn away from the essential tasks of keeping the city out of state receivership, restructuring city government and payrolls and in getting some embers of economic promise glowing here in a city yearning for jobs.[4]
PEOPLE REALLY ANGRY WITH THE MAYOR COULD HAVE SIGNED TWICE
"There may be signatures that are disqualified for being duplicates, and there's not even a need to get into the more difficult issues of forgery and fraud. So those are things that could get resolved quickly this week," Walling said.
TARGETS CHALLENGING THE PROCESS IS STANDARD PRACTICE
The Chattanooga politicians who have been targeted for recall from office have hired attorneys and are vowing to fight the recall effort in court. Election Commission attorney Chris Clem said the recall effort has been riddled with legal issues, most notably the number of signatures actually required to force a recall election.[3]
FRAUD OR FORGERY IS A JUDGES DECISION NOT THE CLERKS
"The more complicated issues that would involve going before a judge would obviously take place at a later time."[1]
ALL RECALL PETITIONS SHOULD ALWAYS BE VIGOURSLY CHALLENGED
Should they not be able to identify enough signatures to be thrown out, Walling says he will pursue a legal challenge based on fraud or forgery.[1]
YOU CANNOT CASUALLY CALL PRIVATE CITIZENS CRIMINALS
His accusations have already spurred threats by an attorney hired by the Committee to Recall Dayne Walling. [1]
The group claiming to lead the recall against Walling is now threatening legal action against the city for what it calls slanderous statements made by the mayor.[1]\
Defamation—also called calumny, vilification, slander (for transitory statements), and libel (for written, broadcast, or otherwise published words)—is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business,products, group, government or nation a negative image. It is usually a requirement that this claim be false and that the publication is communicated to someone other than the person defamed.).[5]
NAME CALLING WILL NOT GET US ANYWHERE
The committee leading the recall effort against Flint Mayor Dayne Walling is threatening legal action, claiming the mayor made "slanderous" statements about the group. [2]
COMMITTEE GIVES PUBLIC NOTICE TO THE MAYOR
The attorney for the group told city leaders Monday night at council that if the mayor does not retract the statements, then it could be the foundation for a legal fight. [2]
The signatures to recall Walling were turned in last week, and will be examined this week.[2]
WHAT LAWYERS?
The mayor says he is working with lawyers about these accusations being made, but more than anything, right now he's focused on stopping this recall in its tracks.[2]
"The mayor had wrongly characterized as the crew," said attorney Anthony Lubkin, who represents the Committee to Recall Dayne Walling.[2]
WRITTEN NOTICE, PRE EMPTIVE!
Lubkin read a letter at the Flint City Council meeting Monday, urging council members to speak out and distance the city from claims made by the mayor in the media.[2]
WHY COST THE CITY MORE MONEY!
"If not retracted by the mayor and repudiated by City Council, it could be the basis of legal action against the city," Lubkin said.[2]
THE ORGANIZERS BROUGHT THE “ WILL/OPINION” OF 14,000 FORWARD TO BE HEARD.
Dan Parks, John Carpenter and Craig Smith are on the committee. Author of the language, David Davenport, is not a member.[2]
THIS IS A DEMOCRATIC PROCESS AMERICANS HAVE A RIGHT TO BE INVOLVED
"We would like to make sure that it is clear that our people aren't being called criminals," Lubkin said.[2]
MANY WILL SUPPORT THE MAYOR AND IF RECALLED QUESTION FLINT
But recall the one guy, Mayor Walling, who is actually trying the right-size city government, and what will Flint have proven?[4]
In the words of Flint native Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics, “It’s getting to a point that you really wonder if Flint’s governable.”[4]
JUST WHAT HAS BEEN THROWN ANYWHERE
Fourteen-thousand signatures were collected. At a community meeting, the mayor said he is planning to work with a handwriting expert and challenge the ones that have not been thrown out.[2]
REGULAR ELECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT AND THE PETITIONS SHOULD BE RIGIOURSLY CHALLENGED
"There may be signatures that'll be disqualified for being duplicates, and there's not even a need to get into the more complicated issues around forgery or fraud," Walling said.
"I'm very confident this recall will be stopped even before it gets to the ballot."
CITY COUNCIL, NO COMMENT
City Council President Delrico Loyd says the council does not plan on commenting on this matter.[2]
THE COURT PROCESS COULD DELAY AN ELECTION BEYOND THE HIGH TURNOUT NOVEMBER GENERAL. WHICH WOULD BE BETTER A HIGH TURNOUT ELECTION OR A SPECIAL ELECTION? FOR WHOM?
The mayor says if he cannot find enough signatures to disqualify the recall by the end of the week, then he plans on pursing legal action.[2]
TO START A RECALL DOES NOT REQUIRE FORMALITY IN FACT TRUE GRASS ROOTS EFFORTS ARE MESSY.
The group calling itself The Committee To Recall Dayne Walling says it is now leading the fight to recall the mayor.[1]
ONCE A BALLOT QUESTION IS ESTABLISHED AND MONEY IS USED TO PERSUADE THE PUBLIC HOW TO VOTE A COMMITTEE AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IS REQUIRED.
They made a point to tell ABC12's Cathy Shafran that the author of the recall language, David Davenport, is not a member of their committee, but just one of the many people collecting signatures.[1]
NOBODY REALLY HEADED THE PETITION DRIVE
Davenport confirmed today he is no longer leading the drive.[1]
NOW THAT AN ELECTION DATE IS IMMENENT THE COMMITTEE IS DOING THE RIGHT THING IN A TIMELY MANNER
The new committee members are real estate owners Dan Parks and Craig Smith. They say they've hired an Owosso attorney to represent them.[1]
LEGAL NOTICE IS THE FIRST STEP
That attorney says he has written the mayor and city council threatening legal action if the mayor does not retract statements suggesting the signatures were gathered in a fraudulent manner.[1]
WHO WILL PAY FOR THE HANDWRITING EXPERT
The attorney is expected to repeat that threat again at tonight's city council meeting.
Walling, meanwhile, is moving ahead with his challenges to the remaining signatures, planning to work with a handwriting expert over the next few days.[1]
HEAVEN FORBID THAT THERE BE A VOTE OF CONFIDENCE/NO CONFIDENCE
"That will be done this week in preparation for a legal challenge. The clerks don't have the ability to make any legal assessment about handwriting, so that's something we're doing in preparation for a legal challenge. I'm very confident that this recall will be stopped before it gets to the ballot."[1]
GRASS ROOTS DEMOCRACY CAN BECOME EXPENSIVE
No one on the recall committee would comment on the funding source for recall drive or attorney fees.[1]
THE RECALL IS NOT ABOUT School Board members or former mayors. Walling spinners will have you believe the recall is about anything except true PUBLIC NO CONFIDENCE with the Mayor. We can only hope the neutral media is aware of this political dynamic.
NOT ME SAYS ONE
We asked former Mayor Don Williamson, who had been rumored to have some money in the effort, about his potential financial involvement.[1]
He told us flatly that he has not put "one penny" or "one dollar" in the effort to recall Walling.[1]
BRILLANT !
When ABC12's Cathy Shafran asked him about his future political plans, however, Williamson did tell her that he is seriously considering running in the primary next August for Flint mayor.[1]
Since this is a blog and not a neutral media fact finder My declared position is I do not support recall initiations and petition signing. My opinion is that a recall is diminishment of the electoral process. Recall petitions should be vigorously challenged. Once on the ballot I am a defender of this process of democratic accountability. The election is caused by the people not an individual or committee . Attacking them after the election is set is fruitless. When on the ballot the election is best described as a vote of confidence or a vote of non confidence. The official the focus of a recall once on the ballot must defend his or her record.
Posted here
Terry Bankert
http://goodmorningflint.com/
[1]
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7625148
[2]
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=news/local&id=7625154
[3]
http://chattanoogapulse.com/newsfeatures/news-feature/politicians-at-heart-of-recall-fight-vow-legal-action123/
[4]
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/index.ssf/2010/08/torn_from_the_front_page_flint_5.html
[5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010
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