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The Marietta journal.
September 17, 1920
Image 3
The Marietta journal., September 17, 1920, Image 3
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About The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 17, 1920)
Newspaper Page Text
The “Joker” in th
e “Joker” in the Recall
_You have been told that under the new charter you
will have the right AT ANY TIME to recall the Mayor
and Council, any one or all of them. :
_ As a matter of fact, under the new charter, your
right to even participate in a LEGAL recall election is
dependent wholly upon whether or not the Mayor and
Council are willing to let you have such an election.
Under the new charter, the Mayor and Council can
;igny you the right to even have a LEGAL recall elec
ion.
The Mayor and Council ALONE can fix the date
for a Yecall election. Section Eleven authorizes them
to fix the date for a'recall election not less than fifteen
days nor more than thirty days from the date the recall
petition is presented to them. .
The officer sought to be recalled is allowed five
days AFTER the recall petition is presented to the
Mayor and Council within which to resign. Of course,
the Mayor and Council ecannot order the election until
after these five days have passed.
If the officer does not resign, then the Mayor and
Council order and fix the date for the election which
date may be any day they may choose provided it is not
- less than fifteen nor more than thirty days from the
date the recall petition was first presented to them.
..~ Now, here’s the “joker.”
Look at Section Five of the new charter. It says
that: “Fifteen days PRIOR TO THE DATE OF ANY
ELECTION FOR ANY PURPOSE held in and for the
said City of Marietta, the Clerk and Council SHALL
~ turn over to said registrars the books of registered vo
ters.” This is for the purpose of having the registrars
purge the registration lists. ;
Now, let’s see how it works,
A recall petition/in due form is presented on Sep
tember Ist to the Mayor and Council and on the same
day the officer sought to be recalled is notified. He has
until September 6th to resign. He doesn’t resign. On
September 7th, the Mayor and Council order a recall
election to be held on September 18th, which date is
not less than fifteen nor more than thirty days from
September Ist, the date the recall petition was first
presented to them. :
PERFECTLY REGULAR, PERFECTLY LEGAL
ACTION ON THE PART OF THE MAYOR AND
COUNCIL.
BUT, WOULD SUCH ELECTION BE LEGAL?
CLEARLY NOT, for before that election could be le
gally held, Section Five must be complied with fully.
You can’t get fifteen days between September 7th
and September 18, and yet Section Five says that fif
teen days PRIOR TO September 18th the registration
lists must be turned over to the registrars.
ISN'T IT SIMPLE NOW
If the Mayor and Council don’t want you to have
a recall election, all they have to do is to act clearly
within their authority and fix a date when it would be
IMPOSSIBLE to hold any LEGAL ELECTION OF
ANY KIND.
BEAUTIFUL RECALL MACHINERY, isn’t it?
SOME PRIVILEGE the new charter is going to
give you.
.Hands it to you with one hand, AND TAKES IT
BACK WITH THE OTHER. 5
ADVERTISEMENT
THE MARIETTA JOURNAL
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER ‘l7, 1920
