Yankton Officials Grasp at Legalisms to Stop Election

Yankton Mayor Curt Bernard and City Councilman Dan Rupiper are asking the First Circuit Court to stop the recall election called against them by 1400 Yankton citizens. They base their legal challenge on SDCL 9-13-30, which lays out the rules for municipal recall elections. SDCL 9-13-30 requires that the recall petition "contain a specific statement of the grounds on which removal is sought." Bernard and Rupiper argue the petition circulated in Yankton fails to meet that criterion.

The rambling and annoyingly anonymous* folks at NewYankton.info provide a scan of the petition text. "Gross partiality, oppression and/or misconduct... forcing the resignation of City Manager Jeff Weldon... conduct resulting in multiple City of Yankton employees resigning or quitting...." The mayor and his friends at NewYankton.info point toward a lengthier recall petition from Hot Springs that goes into much more detail on the reasons for recalling then mayor Carl Oberlitner.**

Bernard and Rupiper justify their court challenge in a media release:

In a media release issued by Bernard and Rupiper Tuesday afternoon, they wrote that "this is not about this one recall. It is about setting precedence. With the new tools of e-mail, blogs and Internet attacks, anyone may be able to just blitz the public hard enough to get the signatures without time for full truth or real grounds.

"If this stands, recalls will be more common and no commissioner will ever feel they can stand for what is right for the whole community against any bullying self-interest group," they wrote. "Commissioners would then just dumb down and stay safely within the herd" [Nathan Johnson, "Bernard, Rupiper Challenge Recall," Yankton Press and Dakotan, 2007.11.21].

Elected officials must be terrified, just terrified of the possibility that new technology might actually empower citizens to challenge authority and exercise their democratic rights. Welcome to the 21st century, Curt and Dan. The only special interest group you have to fear is the general public itself. 1400+ people signed the petitions; a few thousand more need to show up to vote you out. That's not bullying or subverting the will of the people. That's democracy.

As for the claim that the petition is vague, Bernard and Rupiper are grasping at straws. SDCL 9-13-30 doesn't impose a minimum-word count on the petition (this isn't my English classroom); it just says "a specific statement." The petition clearly stems from the commission's firing of the city manager. Good enough. Let Yankton vote.

Hot Springs mayor Oberlitner also resorted to the courts to try blocking his recall. Public officials understandably will do anything they can to protect their reputations (Rupiper himself says he's trying to protect "the credibility of our own names and reputations here" [Johnson 2007.11.21]). The judge rejected Oberlitner's claim, but Oberlitner didn't need to raise a legal ruckus; he survived the recall. Instead of tying up the courts with a thin legal argument, Bernard and Rupiper should simply let their records stand for themselves and make their case in the court of public opinion. They have NewYankton.info to argue their case for them; all those new-fangled Internet tools can work for them just as well as against them.

*A WHOIS search shows the "writers" at NewYankton.info have taken great care to hide their identity. No names, no physical address, even disguised e-mail addresses. Just a P.O. Box in Vancouver, Washington. The only name available on the site is in the e-mail address linked to rsbailey@newyankton.info. Even if rsbailey is a real person, the site speaks as "we." The original New Yankton group that successfully organized the recall put their names to their effort; who else is NewYankton.info? Emotions are high in Yankton, but it's a shame when neighbors can't just talk to each other.

**Puzzlingly, the NewYankton.info folks go to the trouble of whiting out Mayor Oberlitner's name on this public document, though not that of land developer Steve Simunek.