>>In the interest of openness, I will mention that I am a plaintiff in the Kahn suit.
>> I joined this suit because I believethat a 3+year gap between adoption of the new
>>ward boundaries and elections congruent with those boundaries undermined the
>>intention of timely adoption and implementation of the Y2000 census redistricting.
>>In addition I am a resident of the "new" 8th ward which lives under the cloud of
>>representative ambiguity given that 8thW Councilperson Lilligren had been
>>redistricted out of the 8th (through no fault of his own) and it is unclear at best
>>how residents of the noveau 8th W could hold him accountable for his council work
>>and its impact on the noveau 8th.<<
Ann, thank you for at least being willing to chime in and voice your reasons for
joining the suit and why you think it is the right thing. While I disagree with you,
I respect that you at least showed up and said your position.
In the subject of that disagreement, though, I would first refer you back to
Subdivision 1 of Minnesota Statute 205.84, of which your legal team is using
Subdivision 2 to now plead your case. Subd. 1 states that a change in ward boundaries
does not disqualify a Council Member from serving the remainder of the term. As this
is the current law, attempting to force early elections is attempting to break the
law. This is what was envisioned when the law was proposed, and you may have stood
against it then, but that was the best time to say it was wrong. The really ethical
thing to do would be to somehow lobby to change the law through an elected official.
If only there was someone in the House who could propose such a thing
Kidding aside though, your second point is what has me a little confused. You state
that you're unsure how the residents of the noveau 8th Ward can hold Robert
accountable. Since Robert is in the new 6th, the premise of holding him accountable
by way of election has no merit because whether elections are tomorrow or in 2005, he
still would not be running in the 8th (unless he moves back). However, I disagree
with this point of voting being the only way to hold him accountable, residents have
many more tools available to them including, as we saw in CA, recall elections and
even lawsuits like the one you're doing now. There are plenty of ways of holding
elected officials accountable, to plead that you can't because of elections seems
disingenuous to me. Further, there's plenty you can do to influence his election
elsewhere too.
Again, I have to refer back to the illogic of saying that someone can't serve a ward
or district because they don't live there. If an official is limited in this
capacity, they shouldn't be in office. If you insist on this, then one has to question
the ability of elected officials to be able to represent the wards that are part of
their districts that they don't live in or to represent new parts of their district
added after Redistricting. One day they wake up and they have a new section of
geography added. If an official cannot represent an area they don't live in, why
would another care about a chunk of land they have no relation to being added. That
just doesn't hold water. A good elected official will focus on the needs of their
ward or district and will talk and work with the residents of such to best represent
their needs.
Finally, to all those calling this a DFL conspiracy I would hope that you remember
that I am a DFL member and there are many others that voice opposition from within our
ranks, as well as the fact that the heat kicked up against Don Samuels, another DFLer,
as he ran his race. This isn't about trying to crush the Greens as much as I think
this is about people being mad that the status quo change. It has more to do for some
of the plaintiffs about seats lost by comrades not by parties in my opinion.
Jonathan Palmer
Victory
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