|
Transcript of Meeting of May 10, 2000Page 3 of 62
<br />PRANKE: Oh. If he’s signed up, I’m sure he’ll talk to you about having ‘telling a lie’ to be a violation
<br />of the Code of Ethics. Thank you very much.
<br />RAY: Okay, questions?
<br />SANTANGELO: Del, you said you’re opposing non-partisan?
<br />PRANKE: I am.
<br />SANTANGELO: In ten words or less, why?
<br />PRANKE: Well, I’m going to let other people talk about it, but non-partisan elections, I believe, don’t
<br />allow for third and fourth party candidates the opportunity to actually gain a foothold into the election
<br />process. But the other thing is how do we stop the money coming from parties? How are you going to
<br />say the Democratic Party, or the Republican Party, the Green Party, cannot solicit money for somebody
<br />that they want, if that person avows himself as a Green, or such a thing? How do the citizens know that?
<br />SANTANGELO: Well, Del, the thing I would counter with that that I struggle with this, every darn time
<br />we’ve had somebody sit up here and talk about the Mayor, they want to talk about a minority vote getter
<br />serving, and this solves that problem. And time and time again, on Council races and the Mayoral races,
<br />we’ve said this guy, or this girl, did not make it, and yet they have the seat.
<br />PRANKE: We oftentimes elect a plurality President. You know. In the past, they’ve been plurality
<br />Presidents. That’s not been a problem. I don’t see the problem with the plurality – I mean, besides it
<br />gives me fodder to pick at him about.
<br />SANTANGELO: Well, that’s an honest answer.
<br />PRANKE: But, I know that some people have complained about this, but they just don’t understand the
<br />plurality. If we had something like the Israeli system where you had to get enough support from all these
<br />different parties – I mean, there’s all kinds of different systems. But I don’t see any problem with this.
<br />I’m not in favor of the non-partisan elections, but I’ll let others talk. They’re more eloquent than me.
<br />Thank you.
<br />RAY: Mai Apple McCullough, followed by Peter Martin.
<br />MC CULLOUGH: Thanks for this opportunity to speak to you folks. I came basically because it was the
<br />last chance for community input to come in, I think, on this Review Commission or proposed Charter
<br />Amendments.
<br />RAY: We are taking final votes this evening, but we will be meeting again. It’s probably not the last
<br />chance.
<br />MC CULLOUGH: Thank you. I made a list somewhere here of my yeas and nays, and I have to say I do
<br />basically agree with Del’s testimony except for non-partisan elections. I am 100% in favor of non-
<br />partisan elections. I don’t think that politics, or at least party politics, have any business in County
<br />Government, and that’s what we are here is a County. I feel real strongly about that.
<br />So, I have yeas on number 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 17, and 19, with a couple of sparse remarks. On number 4, I
<br />want to say also -
<br />file://\\coh01\cohweb\council\charter_commission\minutes\minutes 05-10-00.html7/1/2011
<br />
<br />
|