The Real Status of the Councilor Recall

MarcBoldt, JeanneStewart, and Julie Olson

We know this is negative—that is, it’s yet again more claims of corruption.

We know many potential readers will walk by and just don’t want to hear about it.

We’d rather not hear about it either, but it’s real and unless it’s confronted it will only get worse.

We’re seeing signs that people are increasingly taking this ubiquitous problem seriously.

At the federal level, corruption is the foundation of nearly all operations. States, counties, and cities are certainly less, but many are still a bureaucratic, self-interested mess.

WATCH out, Washington. We are entering a golden age of municipal malfeasance.’  Seattle Times

For example, look at the brazen corruption and citizen abuse by the senior bureaucrats in the city of SeaTac in Washington. The Seattle times, a big-government sympathizer, felt the need to further exposed this corruption problem. It’s real. It’s commonplace. And it’s local.

Clark County is similarly corrupt, as has been reported in dozens of articles on ClarkCounty.info.  One particular article was specifically about the statewide problems with institutional corruption and protection for whistleblowers.

Because our team is confronting the well-funded, entrenched and corrupt establishment, you can be sure they’ll try to marginalize and condemn us. However, all our articles are vetted and we’re cautious that any conclusions are based on hard facts. Notwithstanding this, our detractors are comprehensively dismissive and demeaning. With this, we keep in mind the old saying, “If you’re receiving heavy flak, you must be over the target.”

Recall of the Clark County Councilors

Clark County Councilors Marc Boldt, Jeanne Stewart, and Julie Olson are fighting a recall petition filed by fellow Councilor Tom Mielke. They’re doing so with very questionable use of county resources which they granted themselves in executive (private) session. The lawlessness and poor behavior of these three councilors is well established. One major source being numerous vetted articles on ClarkCounty.info about councilors Boldt, Olson, and Stewart.  The recall effort was based on this overt and repeated behavior.  However the local political establishment looks the other way so they can hold on to power. And the local old media is wildly misrepresenting what’s happening and making the earnest reformers look like the devil.

On Friday July 29th a Judge from Cowlitz County dismissed the recall petition, and further claimed the recall initiator, Council Tom Mielke, didn’t have standing to recall Councilor Julie Olson, even though she votes on laws that he must follow. The team at ClarkCounty.info was fully briefed on the original architecture and strategy of the recall petition and it clearly identified wrong-doing by the three councilors. Further, the ‘lack of standing’ judgment is a decision which a reasonable person would disagree with, because all these councilors affect all citizens of Clark County with their actions, not just the citizens of their councilor districts. Unfortunately if one reads the Columbian or listens to vocal establishment sympathizers, the truth about this recall and it’s merits would be completely obscured. It’s only full time smearing of the anti-establishment reformers.

Most states do not require voters to go to court and get a judge to let them recall their officials.  They can just go and collect the signatures.  But Washington is different, here you have to prove that your claim is legally and factually sufficient–and hope an objective judge is involved in this review.  Unfortunately, this discretion divests the citizens with the power to control and be in charge of their government.  Within the gray zone of judicial navigation (which is broad with activist judges) this decision clearly leaned toward the political establishment and not the citizens. We hope the filers of the petition have the energy to continue to appeal, so this decision can be reviewed. The abundance of evidence is well within the evidentiary standards. The next review should recognize this, then allow it to go to the citizens for a final decisions, as democracy would dictate if we take that concept seriously.

Corrupt politicians and senior bureaucrats must be confronted. They must be nervous and always looking over their shoulders. This is how citizens eventually win. This recall is an element in this long range process.