LTE More on recalls

 It has often been said here, but is not true, that the recall process should rightfully be reserved for politicians who commit outright crimes. There is another process in place for that: We arrest them, prosecute them and clap them in the hoosegow. A U.S. congressman from Louisiana, caught with $90,000 in his freezer, was sent up the river just last month, as a case in point.

Recall is entirely appropriate, and very well precedented, for politicians whose offenses may not be prosecutable but are egregious, like habitual lying, gross incompetence, self-serving hypocrisy and betrayal of the public trust - not to mention embarrassing sexual shenanigans. We have now successfully recalled two out of four Clatsop County Commissioners who sold us down the river to the carpet-bagger liquefied natural gas speculators.

I, for one, am ready for the next recall, if the surviving and replacement commissioners do not reverse their course on LNG, and start doing a better job of serving the long-term interests of this unique, fragile region and the people in it whom they are supposed to represent.

JOSEPH WEBB
Astoria
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