Letter to the Editor - Total Recall
Kirkland Views received the following letter to the editor from John Michael Gilday on July 10, 2008:
Dear Editor,
Total Recall? Probably not. Partial Recall? Most likely.
Nine days after the infamous meltdown in the Kirkland council chambers, interested citizens met the evening of July 10th to discuss their options and what was required of them regarding the futures of Mayor James Lauinger and Councilman Thomas Hodgson.
All participants had studied available video of the events at the City Council meeting of 07/01/08 at length. Not all participants saw the same actions or recalled specific actions the same way.
There were many more questions posed than answered. Of those answered, here are the results;
1) Did either Hodson or Lauinger commit an infraction that rose to the level of malfeasance or misfeasance? Resulting vote 100% Yes.
2) IN THE OPINION of the participants, were the actions of Thomas Hodgson in regards to the condfidential documents orchestrated in advance? Resulting vote 100% Yes.
3) IN THE OPINION of the participants, were the actions of James Lauinger in regards to the condfidential documents orchestrated in advance? Resulting vote 100% Yes.
4) IN THE OPINION of the participants, if Lauinger and Hodgson DID discuss plans to release the condfidential documents with each others and/or others not named without the full council present, would that rise to the level of violating the Washington Open Meeting laws? Resulting vote 100% Yes.
5) Did Lauinger knowingly abet, assist or support Hodgsons actions in regards to the condfidential documents? Resulting vote 100% Yes
6) IN THE OPINION of the participants, could #2 & #3 be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt? Resulting vote 100% No.
7) Should Hodgson be forced to resign his position? Resulting vote 50% Yes.
Should Mayor Lauinger be forced to resign as both Mayor and Councilman? Resulting vote 100% Yes.
and finally,
9) Should a online petition be created to measure and log public opinion on this matter? Resulting vote 100% Yes.
The petition is in the works, the ramifications of the first meeting are being sorted out and new questions have arisen.
The most important of which are;
1) Under what circumstances can the Mayor and councilman Hodgson be forced to answer specific questions under oath?
2) Can representatives/lawyers for both the appellant and the applicant be forced to answer questions under oath?
What do YOU think?
John Michael Gilday
For more info, go to www.KirklandRecall.com
Letters to the Editor can be sent to KirklandViews@gmail.com
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5 Responses to “Letter to the Editor - Total Recall”
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OMG! An interview with Kirkland’s Jason Mesnick from “The Bachelor”
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Bob Hodgson, Joan McBride and Mary Alyce Burleigh should ALL be forced to resign due to incompetence and hidden agendas.
In addition, the entire City Staff, espcially Eric Shields and Jeremy McMahon, should be fired due to gross negligence for all the problems with development and appeals in Downtown Kirkland due to the vague and formless written Comprehensive Plan (which they are proud about) that has led to all this chaos!
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Mr./Ms. Chavez:
I can see no reason to recall Mary Alyce or Joan McBride, but who is Bob Hodgson? We have Tom Hodgson and Bob Sternoff, but no Bob Hodgson. If you can’t keep the names straight, why should we listen to your opinions?
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Bonnie, that would be Mr. Andrew Chavez, who was one of the 12 appellants in the McLeod office development case. The view from his own Portsmouth condo unit will be blocked by that building.
[Reply]
Sanction? Fire them and be done with it.
As far as Mary Alice, Bob and Joan are concerned, they deserve a medal for going up against The No-Growth Four (Dave, Tom, Jim and Jessica) and for standing up to Civik, a group I don’t remember electing.
Mr. Chavez, your Portsmith building has been a blight on Kirkland’s landscape for many years - it was slipped in by hook AND crook by Westwater / Stabbert and we all are paying the price. It’s time to tear it down and build it according to current height regulations.
Hire an attorney or five. We might be coming after YOUR private property.
Also, Bob Hodgson was in Roger Rabbit I think
[Reply]
I agree Portsmith should have NEVER been built and if up for a vote today, I would vote against it! Being a transplant, had I know what I know, this would have been the case.
Having that said, I think we need to fix what is broke and move forward so everything is predictable for citizens and developers!
[Reply]