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Toledo
Blade Editorial...
No recall vote
IT DIDN’T take Gov. John Kasich long to alienate a lot of Ohioans. But
that’s not a good enough reason to give disgruntled voters the ability
to recall state officeholders at the drop of a hat.
Two Democratic state lawmakers say they plan to introduce a bill in the
Ohio House this week that would allow election do-overs whenever a few
hundred thousand angry voters are willing to sign a recall petition.
The legislators cite the new state law that limits the
collective-bargaining rights of public employees, the Republican
governor’s proposed two-year budget, and a recent poll that pegged Mr.
Kasich’s approval rating among Ohioans at 30 percent.
The proposal would make Ohio the 20th state to allow the recall of
state officeholders. It will be dead on arrival in the
Republican-controlled General Assembly. That’s as it should be.
Under the bill, it would take 577,870 signatures -- just 7 percent of
eligible voters -- to force a vote to recall Mr. Kasich. This is not a
road Ohioans should want to go down. It would lead to a future in which
there’s a new election every time a voting bloc doesn’t get its way or
is momentarily disillusioned with an elected official. That would
defeat the purpose of representative government, which exists
specifically so that citizens don’t have to decide every issue by
popular vote.
The prospect of recall could make elected officials even more afraid to
do anything at all. Ohio needs officeholders who do the right thing,
whether or not it raises the ire of part of the electorate.
Governor Kasich hasn’t done anything to justify a recall vote. He’s
done pretty much what he told voters he would do during last year’s
campaign.
The current anger is about policy differences, not criminal behavior in
office. The remedy should not be to change the rules that protect
elected officials from the momentary passions of voters.
There are a couple of better solutions, neither of which requires
legislative action. The first is for more Ohioans to vote in regular
elections. Not quite half of Ohio’s eligible voters cast ballots in
last November’s general election.
Of the nearly 4 million ballots that were cast, more than 100,000 did
not include a vote for governor. Mr. Kasich got about 49 percent of the
vote for governor to Democratic incumbent Ted Strickland’s 47 percent.
The rest of the votes went to three minor candidates.
So Mr. Kasich won the election with the votes of fewer than one-fourth
of Ohio’s eligible voters. The complaints now of those who didn’t vote
are hollow.
While it’s too late to change the results of the last election, you
always have the opportunity to let elected officials know how you feel
about the job they’re doing. Mr. Kasich won’t pay much attention to
angry partisan Democrats, but the 70 percent of Ohioans who say they
aren’t happy with the governor today includes many who voted for him.
Their displeasure will be noticed. Count on it.
Read it at The Toledo Blade
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