YoYoMoMa t1_jbehi2j wrote on March 8, 2023 at 1:54 PM

Reply to comment by Cryptizard in Group backed by Sinclair Broadcast Group chair likely to push for referendum to allow Baltimore recall elections by aresef

Recalling a politician every time they do something you do not approve of is exactly the issue. Tons of people think the action he is taking with BGE is good, and many do not. We elect people to make these tough choices, and we live with the consequences of our collective votes. Cutting every politicians knees off at every turn will make it so no politician ever makes an unpopular or difficult decision. No one will ever sacrifice short term for long term. And special interests (like Sinclair) will have a TON more power, since they have the money to organize a recall; a threat they can constantly dangle.

It is not like we elect people for life or anything. If you don't like Scott, you will have the chance to replace him soon. It is not like recalls are swift. They simply gum up the works.

And the answer to corruption is within the justice system, not by blowing up the elections system.

Cryptizard t1_jbehya0 wrote on March 8, 2023 at 1:58 PM

I have never seen a single person that wasn’t on his payroll say the move is good. He didn’t even try to justify to us why it would be good, he just forced it through over the objections of the comptroller and the city council. It seems like an obviously corrupt action that we are going to be reading about in two years when it comes out that BGE bought him a vacation house or something.

You make a very good point about short term vs long term goals, but what do we do then? How do we get politicians to actually do what they promise? How do we stop them from being so nakedly corrupt? It’s so frustrating.

YoYoMoMa t1_jbeigx8 wrote on March 8, 2023 at 2:02 PM

Politicians are generally driven by the same thing as all of us: they want to keep their job. So elections are still the way to hold people accountable for their promises.

Corruption is a justice system issue. Blowing up the election system will not fix it. I think it will make it way worse because every mayor will know they are going to get kicked out of office in a year or two, or at the minimum have to raise money for constant elections (so we simply get more politicians in corps hands).