Michael writes: > > The conventional (and ethical) way to remove council members you are > unhappy with is by recall election, not a contrived special election > initiated by legislative manipulation in local politics.
Huh? Conventional where? Not in Minnesota. The state constitution (Article 8, section 6) specifically limits recall to state officers, not municipal ones. I don't believe the state has a recall provision that applies to cities, and I don't think the Minneapolis city charter includes a recall provision. Therefore, Michael's assertion is unconventional - moreso than Rep. Kahn's. While I also have concerns about the policy her bill espouses, she is at least trying to change a law in plain sight, informing the DFLers, Greens, Republicans, and No Snow Emergenciers on this list of the bill's progress. Michael, conversely, has invented a law/convention out of whole cloth. Talk about contrived. The state, by the way, has constitutional authority to grant city charters, and grant home-rule status, so there is a legal basis for local supervision - even if you don't agree with the policy goal. The state-city relationship is not like that in the US Constitution where all powers not expressly delegated to the higher-level federal government devolve to the states. In state-city relations, the higher-level state holds the cards over the cities, constitutionally. Whether that's ethical is up to you. However, I don't believe in reflexively turning legitimate policy differences into ethical one-upmanship. David Brauer King Field - Ward 10 _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
