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minutes 03-18-00Page 25 of 27
<br />PRANKE: Mr. Smith only got 2,400 votes to get elected. Ms. Jacobson only got 2,200 votes to get elected. That seems rather
<br />onerous.
<br />IRVINE: You can go island-wide to get them, the way it’s written.
<br />PRANKE: I understand that, but here’s the problem. When you look at the impeachment statute, it says that ‘the Court shall
<br />sit without a jury and shall follow the form of the court’. I assume that means the Rules of the Court. The Civil Procedure
<br />Rules and the Rules of the Court all have a concept called ‘standing’. You have to have standing to be able to bring
<br />something before the court. In other words, if I were a French citizen, I couldn’t come here and say I want to remove this
<br />person. If I were a citizen of Puna, or a resident of Puna, I couldn’t remove the person from Kohala, and I don’t think we can
<br />change the Court Rules with the Charter. And if that’s the case, then I don’t think you can allow people from outside of the
<br />district to sign a petition, and I told these folks back here, when they went after all the Council members, I said you can’t do
<br />that. You can’t put people on a petition to remove Mr. Smith if they don’t live in this district. I said the only person that you
<br />can get all those signatures for -
<br />IRVINE: It was suggested to us that, indeed, Council people are ruling island-wide. I mean they are making island-wide
<br />decisions and therefore, people from without that district would have standing.
<br />PRANKE: I don’t know. If you don’t vote for them, I don’t see how. You know, I don’t vote for the President of France, or I
<br />don’t vote for the Governor of Oregon.
<br />RAY: Yes, I’m not entirely comfortable with this so we need to explore it.
<br />IRVINE: Correct. I agree. It’s problematic.
<br />PRANKE: Yes, so that’s the legal point, I would say. Now, when I talked to Mr. Chung about this, he says ‘I never thought
<br />about standing’, when I told him about this. Now, the third thing about changing this impeachment thing. There’s only been
<br />one impeachment try that I remember. So we’re trying to fix something that really isn’t broke, I think. And the thing that
<br />holds people back from this is that you have to go to court, and if you act per se, you’re not going to win, and if you don’t,
<br />you’ve got to spend a lot of money for a lawyer. So, I don’t think changing it from a simple 100 people - Now, you want to
<br />tie this to the number of registered voters, but a lot of people don’t vote, but they are citizens, and I know that the courts have
<br />held that you can do that. But why should a person have to be a registered voter to sign a petition about their own
<br />government?
<br />Back in the part where you talk about non-partisan elections, I would support that if, at the General Election, you have ‘none
<br />of the above’. If ‘none of the above’ wins, it doesn’t mean that we wouldn’t have somebody. You’d take the person who got
<br />the most votes, but perhaps, they wouldn’t be able to veto a bill, or something like that.
<br />SANTANGELO: Just have the election again.
<br />PRANKE: Well, I know it gets complicated, but the point of the fact is I often times don’t vote for either candidate. That
<br />doesn’t mean that I’m not a public spirited citizen.
<br />SANTANGELO: Good point.
<br />PRANKE: Okay, I’ll pass on that. And I thank you again for the work you’ve done. You’ve got a great secretary there. I
<br />think, and I know this sort of takes away from it - they have petitions and memorials here. I think when this is all over, she
<br />should get recognized before the Council. I know you all should but -
<br />SANTANGELO: So, we have an unusual ability, with the Chairman we have, the Counsel, and the secretary, it’s a heck of a
<br />staff, I admit, Del. That ‘none of the above’, If you have anything on that, I’d love to get it because I’ve opposed that, in my
<br />own mind, for years, and then more and more people are winning me over.
<br />PRANKE: Yes, I don’t know how that would work because, obviously, you’ve got to have somebody in the office.
<br />SANTANGELO: Well, they’re doing it elsewhere. I think you redo the election.
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