z43\doc\web\2000\07\recall.txt To: From: "Bob Williams" Date sent: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 14:18:23 -0700 Send reply to: wa-ed-deform@egroups.com Subject: RE: [wa-ed-deform] Pitbull Tactics & Questions [ Double-click this line for list subscription options ] Article 1, Section 33 of the State constitution. The petition must recite "some act or acts of malfeasance or misfeasance while in office." If it is a first class school district you need eligible voters equal to 25% of the vote in the last election for that position. If it is not a first class school district you need 35% of the vote. (Article 1, Section 34). Normally petitions are challenged and you need to go to court to have a judge confirm that the alleged acts, if true, would be malfeasance or misfeasance. To recall the SPI, you would need signatures equaled to 25% of the total vote in the last SPI race. So you would need about 500,000 valid signatures (initiatives only need 8% of the vote vs 25% for recall). If you obtained the signatures, a special election would be held and the individual would be up for a recall vote. FYI. In 1996 about 250,000 people voted for the gubernatorial candidate and voted for no one for SPI!!! Governors race had a little over 2.2 million votes; SPI had just under 2 million. It is not an easy task. bob williams -----Original Message----- From: David Blomstrom [mailto:GeoBear@geobop.com] Sent: Friday, June 30, 2000 1:23 AM To: wa-ed-deform@egroups.com Subject: [wa-ed-deform] Pitbull Tactics & Questions Does anyone on this list know the law that governs recalling public officials, both on the state level and on local school board levels? Although I embrace bigger issues, I'm a big believer in ramming ideas home by focusing on symbolic individuals. I've been thinking of mounting a drive to recall one or more Seattle School Board directors. Don Neilsen's the most evil, but Barbara Schaad-Lamphere and Nancy Waldman are right behind. Waldman makes a tempting target because she also represents the Mariners and the lawfirm of Perkins Coie. But Don Nielsen has close ties to Terry Bergeson, while Lamphere is perhaps Seattle's finest symbol of "bureaucratic incest." Maybe I'll go after the Big Three. The idea is to get a petition and carry it with you whenever you attend a campaign or school function. Every time you learn of a schools scandal or a community uprising (every other day in Seattle), you contact the ringleaders and ask if they're angry enough to sign a Recall Nancy Waldman petition. As a bonus, you're collecting names and addresses of people who you can network with later. Even if you never collect enough signatures to actually get rid of Waldman, the very idea of such a petition would be terrible publicity for the school district and the Mariners, and it might inflame voters. Also, I would advise people not to focus on the WASL alone. If Bergeson beats you on that issue, you're sunk. Furthermore, if the WASL is the ONLY issue Bergeson is attacked on, here's what the public's going to think: "Hmmm... Bergeson seems to get really high ratings for everything but the WASL, which appears to be controversial." We need to get out the message that she's a derelict! See her Report Card at http://www.geobop.com/Education/People/Bergeson/Issues.htm. Look at the WASL as just part of a package deal that probably originated with corporations, and campaign against the WASL + corporate welfare, which could in turn be expanded into an assault on the greater establishment. Governor Locke, legislators, the WEA, and the media are also behind the WASL and corporate welfare. At the same time, campaign FOR independent performance audits and accountability for school officials. Someone just told me that Seattle is the only district in Washington State that did away with teacher seniority. Does anyone on this list know if that's true? I was just notified that a newspaper is considering printing my letter to the editor regarding the Associated Press article on the TERRY BERGESON campaign, in which I blasted them for, among other things, not including the URLs of candidates' websites. So are they going to include my URL in the letter? "Probably not." We're not going to get a reformer in office unless we can get a couple hundred people mobilized to blast the media and publicize candidates' websites. Maybe we should contact some folks at Evergreen State College. They have a reputation for inciting controversy and latching onto unpopular causes - like education. Isn't it amazing how much publicity Gary Locke and Maria Cantwell are getting, while the SPI campaign is ignored? The Seattle Times has an Education section, but I don't see an Senate section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Are you paying too much for your International Calls? Join beMANY! and pay less each month. 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