| The sun will rise tomorrow. In related news, unless Thad McCotter levels of petition fraud were commited, the recall of Troy mayor Janice Daniels will go to a vote in November. Since her election last November, Daniels has been a lightning rod of controversy. She refused to swear an oath to the city’s charter at her inauguration, calling it a “whimsical document.” During one Council session she read a rambling statement ostensibly about the transit center that, among other things, accused Troy city employees of reading her mail. Then-Troy City Manager John Szerlag defended city workers in an open letter. The acrimony between mayor and manager led Oakland County Executive Brooks Patterson to wade into the controversy, issuing an open letter of his own defending Szerlag as a first-rate public servant. Szerlag eventually left for a job in Florida.
For those playing along at home, the first paragraph provides you all the acceptable reason you need to vote yes. Refusing to swear an oath to the city charter because you believe it to be a "whimsical" document is the same thing as a Congressman refusing to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. Again, in a constitutional democracy, consent from the governed is given to government by a vote of the people in support of -- at the city level -- the city charter. Refusing to swear to uphold it is the same thing as saying that you don't really need to consent of the governed to rule them like a king. In a totalitarian state, you can get away with it. In America, however, it's a pretty basic violation on the social contract; and if you aren't aware of that, you're just simply not fit to serve in any office at any level. And that, sunshines, is precisely what they made recalls for. To that, you can certainly pile on that she's made the city a national laughingstock and made it more unfriendly to business development, which seems to violate the spirit in which suburban communities like to see themselves. |
