I fully agree there are more important things to worry about in this election year. But I'm starting to think that signing a recall petition is a statement I want to make. The issue is not malfeasance, but misfeasance. As I understand it, that means doing something lawful in an unlawful or improper way, such that it infringes on the rights of others. Of course, Kelly has the right to vote for whichever candidate he chooses; he can even write in his own name. But he was elected by St. Paul voters as a Democrat and is paid a salary as a Democratic mayor. Voters don't have the right to expect him to go out of his way to support Kerry, but we do have the right to expect him to keep a low profile. He would never have been in a position to campaign with Bush if he hadn't been elected mayor by people who thought they were electing a Democrat.
I would think Republicans would be troubled by this, too. True, they're rejoicing because it's a Democrat turning Republican, but how did they feel about Sen. Jeffords? We Democrats were rejoicing then, but the action is something that I think should have consequences. Watching Kelly introduce President Bush and seeing the picture of The Hug, I was repulsed. That man was able to manipulate all that press attention and political influence ONLY because St. Paul citizens elected him to office. He could have just kept quiet and resolved to vote his conscience in November. Instead he strutted and puffed out his chest and paraded his defection like new gang colors. I don't know the minutiae of the law, but the PP this morning made a recall sound pretty tough. Frankly, I don't much care if it succeeds. As others have pointed out earlier, we can vote him out in a year. Still, I was disgusted by Flaherty's saying, "Because an elected official endorsed another elected official would not under anybody's definition rise to the level of malfeasance." Maybe not, but it certainly could rise to the level of misfeasance, especially since he used his position to materially advance both his own and the candidate's interests to the disadvantage of the people who elected him. I'd like a recall petition to tell the Republicans that tens of thousands - way more than the minimum required signatures - of St. Paul citizens are going to remember whenever the time comes for the promised payoff. Kelly's gambit ought to boomerang. Gail O'Hare St. Paul _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
