By RYAN DAVIDSON
Ryan Davidson, of Bellevue, is the chairman of the Liberty Lobby of Idaho
For those who missed me on "Perspective with Gene Dallago" (Wednesday, Dec. 22) let me reiterate the reasons we have started the process of trying to recall Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon from office. The main reason: The Liberty Lobby was denied the right to collect signatures for an initiative petition. It's pretty simple. The right of direct legislation must be protected.
Remember when the Idaho Legislature repealed the Term Limits Initiative in a desperate attempt to hang on to their power? Remember how that made you feel? If you're like me, you probably lost the last shreds of hope you had in a principled government. What the cities of Ketchum, Hailey, and Sun Valley have done is even worse than the Legislature's repeal of a citizen's initiative. You see, for years the courts have recognized the Legislature's (or City Council's) right to repeal a citizen's initiative after enactment. So while sleazy, the Legislature's act was legal. But the courts have also ruled that to give initiative "rights" any significance, the people's ability to place whatever they want on the ballot must be protected. The courts have stated numerous times that they won't interfere with the legislative process. That means they won't interfere with the Legislature's or Council's right to pass a law, even if it potentially unconstitutional. To do so would be a violation of the separation of powers. The people of Idaho have the same legislative powers as legislators or councilmen through the initiative. Therefore, the Supreme Court has ruled that they will not interfere with any proposed initiative. Like proposed legislation, they will wait until after enactment to rule on constitutionality, but only if someone brings a complaint.
For the three cities to refuse to even allow The Liberty Lobby to collect signatures for an initiative petition flies in the face of the Supreme Court and violates both local ordinances and State Code. We certainly have cause to recall every mayor and councilman in the three cities, and to fire all three city attorneys for giving illegal advice. But this would be impractical. We have focused on Ketchum Mayor Ed Simon for a few reasons: 1) The city of Ketchum polled most favorably out of the three for marijuana law reform. The majority of the people of Ketchum wanted this initiative. 2) The mayor himself is an attorney, and should have known better. Ketchum City Attorney Ben Worst is new and inexperienced, never having dealt with initiative law prior to the YMCA petition, which immediately preceded ours. The mayor should have advised him to follow the law. Ben Worst gave bad advice to the City Council, who are not attorneys, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and simply consider them innocent dupes (except Baird Gourlay, who was incredibly antagonistic in general towards the initiative process.) 3) The mayor is the City Clerk's boss, and should have advised her to follow the law and certify our petition. 4) The mayor placed on the council's agenda a discussion of our initiative, and got their rubber-stamp approval to deny our petition. This violates both the letter and the spirit of the initiative law. 5) On "Perspective," the mayor took the rather elitist position that he is the gatekeeper of the initiative process, and knows what is best for citizens. I think the residents of Ketchum can speak for themselves, and should be allowed to do so at the polls. 5) If I'm to believe what I read in the Express, this is not the first time Ed Simon has acted inappropriately, and the fact that he always seems to lose in court after he goes after someone would seem to bear this out.
I believe we have more than enough cause to recall Ed Simon. It's time to send a message to our elected officials that we will no longer tolerate the degradation of our initiative rights. If you feel the same way, and would like to help, contact us at 309-2554. Many people I've talked to are nervous about being public in their support of the recall. But luckily, people can get involved anonymously. Idaho law only requires campaign disclosures in cities with populations above 5000. Ketchum is not that large, so your support will be held under the strictest confidentiality.
