Opinion: Why Total Recall is Necessary

The Mountain Democrat Editorial Friday December 11, 2015 titled “Total recall a total waste of time” on page A5 is far below the minimum standards of an honest newspaper. The article uses accusations of gossip, vague personal attacks, and sneering degradation of “some of the people” to dismiss the serious issues plaguing our County government.

At the meeting July 29th 2014 on Item 28 the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors denied the people the right to vote on the Yellow Petition, “Restore Measure Y – No More Paper Roads”. They violated the 1st Amendment right to free speech and right of the people to petition the government, the 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law, and the 26th Amendment, the right to vote.

They also violated County Ethics Codes #1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12. The motion was made by a Supervisor with a direct conflict of interest (his son worked for a conflicting campaign), then seconded and voted on by another whose planning commission appointee (Tom Heflin) recorded political ads to defeat all three voter propositions.

This action crushed the rights of over 10,000 citizens who signed petitions to place those items on the ballot. See for yourself at https://eldorado.legistar.com. This is business as usual in our County.

Since then our 1st and 14th Amendment rights continue to be violated, the Brown act has become a joke, and whole segments of citizens are bullied into silence. The consent calendar is still used to sneak policy into law, and County contracting practices continue to be corrupt. Public record act requests are worthless as government evades civic oversight, ignoring the law. Changes in Board procedures promise even less public scrutiny.

This isn’t about any single issue like development, but did you know the BOS just changed the zoning on 37,000 parcels without notice to the property owners?

What about public safety? Our elected officials say they have no responsibility for fire funding, yet they continually meddle in department operations. This causes chaos, confusion, and now apparently, lawsuits. The people voted Prop 172 to help fund fire, but our Supervisors refuse. Citizens’ lives and resources are destroyed as a result.

I could list more but space does not permit. Visit www.edctotalrecall.org for more.

Those who should be standing up for us, don’t. Our newspaper won’t do investigative journalism, or follow up what their columnist, Larry Weitzman, writes. In fact the Publisher has just been made President of the Chamber of Commerce, a key special interest lobby. Our District Attorney is AWOL, or perhaps he lost the will to prosecute after the Ray Nutting fiasco.

We the people have lost control of our local government. This is why I signed the petitions for recall. I believe a clean sweep is our only chance to restart our County on an honest path. This is the essence of the democratic process. Only Tyrants fear it. Our efforts may fail, but surely we have failed if we do not try.

Mark E. Smith
Garden Valley