Really?
Just because of a recall effort in a town of fewer than 50,000?
ADDENDUM on 05-28-2012: Here is a link to the FBI’s criminal complaint.
May 25, 2012
May 21, 2012
Correct Information
Those of us who have been out gathering signatures on the petitions for recall of Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem, Council President Mike Kennedy, Councilman Woody McEvers, and Councilman Deanna Goodlander have become accustomed to people expressing both agreement and disagreement with the recall effort.
Sunday afternoon between noon and 4 p.m. my wife and I were twirling recall signs and gathering signatures just north of the Midtown Shopping Center (Safeway, Joann Fabric) between Birch and Miller on 4th Street. A man whom I recognized as a high-level employee of the Coeur d’Alene Public Library left the shopping center parking lot, and as he drove past me at a distance of 8-10 feet, he shouted, “You’re responsible for taking away my vote, A__h___e!” Then he went north on 4th and turned right on Birch. (more…)
May 8, 2012
“It Isn’t Logical”
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After reading Secretary of State Ysursa’s letter dated May 1 in OpenCdA’s post titled Is He Believable?, commenter “Chouli” responded by saying of Ysursa’s letter, “It isn’t logical.”
“Chouli” is correct — Ysursa’s opinion is illogical. It is also inconsistent with the way laws are written by citizen legislators. It is also completely inconsistent with Ysursa’s testimony in a hearing before the House State Affairs Committee in 2004. (more…)
May 3, 2012
Is He Believable?
The More-or-Less Press news/views/skews online posting on May 2 titled County drops suit, wants petitions by June 11 indicated that Secretary of State Ben Ysursa’s letter of May 1 to City Clerk Susan Weathers and County Clerk Cliff Hayes had played an important role in the County’s decision to dismiss its petition for declaratory relief.
In his May 1, 2012, letter, Ysursa stated that his determination [now] is that Recall CdA has some unspecified amount of time but clearly fewer than 75 days to gather valid signatures on its recall petitions. (more…)
May 2, 2012
Does Ysursa’s Opinion Really Matter?
According to this morning’s article in the More-or-Less Press, the CdA Ministry of Disinformation has persuaded Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to help them defeat the effort by a large number of Coeur d’Alene citizens to recall Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem, Council President Mike Kennedy, Councilman Woody McEvers, and Councilman Deanna Goodlander.
The MinDis induced the Secretary of State Ben Ysursa to sign a very official-looking and -sounding letter in which he suggests that he and no other should be considered the supreme and final authority on the interpretation of the state’s election laws. (more…)
April 27, 2012
The Perfect Slogan
“Decline to Sign” is the perfect slogan for those who don’t want you to be able to vote to recall Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem, Council President Mike Kennedy, Councilman Woody McEvers, and Councilman Deanna Goodlander.
“Decline to Sign” is catchy and easy to remember. It also hints at the underlying philosophy of those named in the recall: Never trust the voters.
Next time you see or hear “Decline to Sign,” remember that behind it is an organized effort to keep you and your friends and neighbors from voting to either retain or remove those named in the recall petitions. You will only get to vote for the recall if there are sufficient qualified signatures on the recall petitions.
Preserve your right to express your preference in the privacy of the voting booth. If you’re legally eligible to vote in Coeur d’Alene City elections, please sign the recall petitions so you, your friends, and your neighbors will be able to vote.
April 26, 2012
A Shining Example of Community Excellence
This morning’s Coeur d’Alene Press included a guest opinion column written by Coeur d’Alene resident Bruce MacNeil. His thoughtful and insightful work was titled Recall a matter of accountability.
Bruce can hardly be characterized as one of those naysayers, anarchists, and rabble-rousers who hate parks and the people who appreciate them. Follow this link to the City’s webpage titled Parks Master Plan, and on the second page of Acknowledgements under the heading Master Plan Planning Advisory Committee, you’ll see his name (misspelled, but still there).
April 25, 2012
Kootenai County Petition for Declaratory Judgment
On April 24, 2012, at 3:40 p.m. the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, acting as counsel of record for Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes, filed with the District Court a Petition for Declaratory Judgment and a Motion for Expedited Hearing on Petition for Declaratory Judgment in the Coeur d’Alene recall. The Respondents are Recall CdA, Inc. and its registered agent Frank Orzell; the City of Coeur d’Alene, a municipal corporation; and City Councilmembers Kennedy, McEvers, and Goodlander as well as mayor Sandi Bloem. (more…)
April 24, 2012
County Press Release – Recall Election Violations
Kootenai County Clerk Cliff Hayes has just issued a press release outlining potentially unlawful practices associated with the recall action underway in Coeur d’Alene.
This information was previously reported in our OpenCdA post on April 9, titled Hey! Let’s Be Careful Out There… . Our OpenCdA post went further and described how merely soliciting someone to commit the violations itemized in the County’s press release could be a separate criminal violation of Criminal Solicitation.
April 20, 2012
“Facts Rule” — Coeur d’Alene Press Editorial
On Sunday, April 15, 2012, the Coeur d’Alene Press published an unsigned editorial titled “All eyes on recall.” The gist of the editorial was summarized by these two sentences midway through it: “Our purpose today is not to pick sides in this fight but to define some Opinion page rules as the recall effort proceeds. And No. 1 is, facts rule – yes, even when it comes to opinions.”
OpenCdA was pleasantly surprised to see what we believed at the time was an honest commitment by the Press editorial board, a commitment to not pick sides in the recall effort and to ensure that even in opinion writings such as letters to the editor, “facts rule.”
We at OpenCdA were wrong, and we sadly admit today that we, like others in the community, bought into the deception game the Coeur d’Alene Press is playing with its readers. (more…)