Tag: Menifee

Categories
initiative, referendum, and recall

Blackmail and Ballots

Councilman Rick Roelle in Apple Valley, California, says that Wal-​Mart “blackmailed the town.”

Blackmail is no small matter. So, what did Wal-​Mart do, specifically?

Wal-​Mart worked with citizens of Apple Valley, including supplying money, to gather enough petition signatures to place a measure on the local ballot for voters to decide whether Wal-​Mart could build a store.

“The initiative process was an opportunity that allowed voters to voice their support for the benefits that Wal-​Mart would bring their community,” a spokesperson for Wal-​Mart argued, “including jobs, affordable groceries, increased tax revenue, and infrastructure improvements.”

Who’s right?

Aside from the fact that there are many issues the majority has no right to decide, including whether a law-​abiding business can open its doors, why not let the people decide? At least a vote of the people is a clearer expression of the public will than a city council decision.

Some complain that even when a local petition qualifies the voters often don’t get a vote. Under state law, if 15 percent of the electorate signs a petition, the matter must be placed on a special election ballot … unless the city council enacts it, instead.

Special elections cost big money. Cash-​strapped city councils have voted to allow Wal-​Mart development, simply (they say) to save the expense of holding an election.

But such “caving in” doesn’t seem like blackmail in light of Menifee’s experience. The Wal-​Mart measure there won with 76 percent of the vote.

Unless, like some politicians, you think doing the electorate’s will is “blackmail.”

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
ballot access initiative, referendum, and recall term limits

The One-​Man Petition Drive

Hurray for John Smelser!

After five months of unfailing footwork, in late February, the 67-​year-​old celebrated his 5,500th signature for a petition to limit the terms of council members in Menifee, California. That’s over 2,000 more than the 3,382 he needed to qualify the measure for the ballot. But he didn’t rest on his laurels. He kept working right up until the March 12 deadline, submitting nearly 6,000 signatures.

Smelser believes every elected official’s tenure in office should be limited. If his term limit measure passes in November, Menifee council members would be able to serve only two four-​year terms consecutively. They would be able to run for office again after two years out of office. Smelser believes it’ll pass with an 80 percent majority. 

He may be right. He’s certainly taken the pulse of the town on this issue.

Incumbent Menifee Mayor Wallace Edgerton insists that regular elections are all you need to bring new blood into government. But he admits that Smelser has a point: Two terms should be enough to achieve what you ran for office to achieve.

Smelser’s one-​man show is obviously not a feat you could replicate in Los Angeles or New York City. But it’s still pretty impressive. It shows not only the dedication and conviction of Mr. Smelser, but also the enthusiasm for term limits of so many voters.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.