“No” to recall

Published 5:00 pm Monday, August 31, 2009

In 1908 Oregon, along with Michigan became the first two states in the nation to grant citizens the right to recall an elected official, another first for our great State. While we should all be proud of this progressive thinking from our early politicians, we should also ask ourselves what those forefathers of ours were trying to achieve with this radical new law. Hopefully, this brand new legislation was enacted to protect our citizens against malfeasance in office, misuse of public funds, violation of the public office or a violation of the law. While all of these criteria would make perfect sense, over the years we seem to have lost what must certainly have been the original intent of the law itself.

Do we really think that our 100 year old, first in the nation law to allow citizens to recall a public official was actually intended to be used simply because we didn’t agree with how that person voted on an issue? This is certainly how it looks with the attempt to recall Commissioners Ann Samuelson, Jeff Hazen and Patricia Roberts. They have committed no crime nor broken any law. What they have both done is spent countless hours away from their jobs and their families, working for pennies per hour doing what we the citizens of Clatsop County elected them to do.

Knowing what we expect from all of our Commissioners, do we also have the right to expect them to agree with each and every one of us as individuals and should we have the right to remove them from office if they don’t?

The Board of Directors of the Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of their members, says NO. Commissioners Samuelson, Hazen and Roberts have done nothing wrong to warrant a recall.

If folks do not agree with the decisions our Commissioners are making or the direction our County is going, they already have a procedure for change and that is by supporting a candidate, of their own persuasion, during the regular election process.

Granted, there are no specific criteria that need be met for recall in Oregon as there are in other states and that is an issue the Chamber will challenge via our Government Affairs Committee. We plan to work hard with our Senator Betsy Johnson, Representatives Boone and Witt and the Oregon State Chamber of Commerce to seek the changes necessary to reduce the senseless, expensive, divisive, disruptive, time consuming and unwarranted recall elections that are plaguing our State.

Please join your Chamber in supporting Commissioners Samuelson, Hazen and Roberts. Reject the recall and instead, thank all of our Commissioners for the job they do.

Board of Directors

Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce

Skip Hauke

Executive Director