Pueblog USa
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Politicians should run in the districts in which they truly live.
Politicians should run in the districts in which they truly live.
I find it interesting that so many of our political hopefuls can’t seem to follow the basic rules of the election process. We continually have candidates who do not live in the right district trying to skirt the residency rules. They continually try to claim at the last moment that they own property in an area where they don’t truly live. The residency requirements are there to allow people who genuinely live in the district to represent their neighborhoods or region. I find any politician who tries to falsely claim he or she lives in an area where they do not truly reside to be disingenuous and not worthy of being elected to public office.
We have seen this in recent elections for School Board, City Council and now the race for County Commissioner. Now Mr. Jim Brewer has the audacity to sue the Pueblo County Clerk and waste our precious tax dollars claiming he didn’t get due process, when he openly admits he doesn’t live in the right district. What a joke! The answer Mr. Brewer is to plan ahead and move to the right area and establish residency within the guidelines. Unfortunately, that would mean that you would actually have to follow the rules and not attempt manipulate the system.
We also seem to have a bunch of politicians who can’t seem to follow the rules on the distribution of political signs. Many of our candidates have violated the rules by putting up signs and parking semi-trailers months before they are legally permitted to do so. My plan is to not vote for any candidate who posted their signs too early and openly violated the rules after being told to take them down.
If our political candidates can’t follow our simple election rules during the race, why should we expect them follow the rules once they are in office. Mr. Brewer should do the ethical thing and drop his lawsuit. He can always run next time from the district in which he truly lives. Otherwise, we can only hope for a judge that believes that candidates should follow the election rules.
Chris Nicoll
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TO: Chris Nicoll
RE: Pardon My Ignorance, But….....what do we do about people wealthy enough to own two properties, e.g., a summer home in the mountains and their home in Pueblo? And they split their time, almost equally between there?
I’m no expert on the residency requirements for being a County Commissioner in Pueblo County, but it seems to me that just requiring they stay in one place all the time is ‘odd’. Admittedly, the house in ‘town’ or in this instance the county, should be in the district they intend to run for. But does owning and residing in a home in the mountains, i.e., out of the county negate their eligibility to run for County Commissioner?
Regards,
Chuck
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/03 at 09:15 AM -
P.S. How’s the ballot initiative coming?
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/03 at 09:17 AM -
“If our political candidates can’t follow our simple election rules…”
I would submit that they aren’t that simple. Especially the regulations about things like signs, which might be covered by more than one jurisdiction and several laws, and campaign financing.
I would also suggest that Mr. Nicoll look at the various reasons why someone might try to run, even if their candidacy might be thrown out. In some cases it might be ego, in other cases it might be that the other candidate(s) is so awful that it is worth the attempt, anyway. In which case I would seriously start asking why his party can’t come up with someone better.
Now then, if you want elected officials to follow the rules, and the rule says to have a hearing, regardless of how cut and dried the outcome may appear to be, then a hearing should be held. You can’t complain about the candidate not following the rules without acknowledging that maybe the office holder didn’t follow the rules, either.
The writer says, “Mr. Brewer should do the ethical thing and drop his lawsuit. He can always run next time from the district in which he truly lives.” If the candidate is presenting a lawsuit to force the office holder to do the right thing, then he is behaving ethically. How else would you take care of the problem?
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/03 at 09:36 AM -
Okay . . while I don’t agree with Jim Brewer’s carpetbagging attempts, he’s no worse than another dude awhile back who lived in Pueblo West and sought to prove residency in his Mother’s second bedroom on the South side . . so he could run for a city office, if I remember correctly . . Or . . are they just emulating the big time politicians like Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Alan Keyes, and I suppose John McCain, for moving from wherever to where they can get elected . . . which is “Carpetbagging” . .
If it’s good enough for our Presidential and Congressional candidates, why shouldn’t the “Little People” be entitled to do the same . . ?
Again, I don’t approve of it, but the playing surface ought to be level . .
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/06 at 03:20 PM -
I agree that they should live were the belong so they can really help by firsthand knowing the needs of the area.
Honda Fairings on 09/24 at 02:43 PM -
But Honda, that is just like living in a dream. They will never do things right or things to benefit people. That is our reality.
Garden Furniture on 09/27 at 04:43 PM -
I absolutely agree that they should run in districts where they truly live. Because atleast they know the way of living there and they are familiar with the problems.
-M from Mexico
Cuatro Cienegas Coahuila on 10/08 at 04:28 AM -
Even the confidence of people in the area would be greater if the politicians are originally from the city.
Pozole Blanco on 04/15 at 07:31 AM