> Neal Krasnoff writes: > > "Thank you for clarifying your point. Has the State Legislature ever > passed any other bill containing unrelated subjects?"
> Garwood, Robin responds: > Who cares? Yes they have and we should all care. The State Supreme Court has on several occaisions declared such laws void for containing unrelated subjects. We should all care that all government bodies are following the rules. Those rules are there for our protection. I'd like to thank Greg Abbott for his thoughful legal analysis (both of them) of the election issue. His answer to "who cares?" applies a number of places. Greg says: This whole "what's the problem, let's just ignore it" response lays the groundwork for an apathetic reaction the next time constitutional issues are at stake. And the next time, and the time after that. It won't take too long before some hyped-up partisans in a state legislature somewhere use the Minneapolis precedent as a justification for some seriously bad behavior. Adding: "It is reasonable to debate the merits of how to address this constitutional problem -- a special election is particularly controversial, I understand that objection. But to argue that discussion of a probable violation of the constitution is a waste of time, because "there are more pressing issues" -- well, to me that sounds a lot like John Ashcroft defending the Patriot Act. Gotta like comparing our Council to Ashcroft. Greg's earlier suggestion about drawing ward lines by computer would have been a good idea to. No reason that a Redistriction Commission couldn't do that. Terrell Brown Loring Park __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
