Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Recall fever hits ID

Who knew? Angry Idahoans are jumping into the recall fray. They're joining the ranks of citizens who want to recall state senators in Wisconsin (and Koch whore Gov. Scott Walker in 194 days), repeal SB 5 in Ohio, recall corporate stooge Gov. Rick Snyder in Michigan and state senators and repeal the state's emergency financial manager law.

Idaho citizens launched a campaign to collect enough signatures to recall Tom Luna, Idaho superintendent of schools, because he pushed through education "reforms" that will harm ordinary people. Short version:
Luna is a protector of the corporate special interests at the expense of the Idaho families who will suffer under his leadership. (We've heard that before, too.)
His "reform" plan also takes away teachers' collective bargaining rights.

This is how angry Idahoans are at Luna, according to the Associated Press:
At the height of the firestorm over the reforms, vandals went to Luna’s home, spray-painted his truck and slashed the tires. The anger of hundreds of teachers, parents and students filled the halls of Idaho’s Capitol during hearings this spring.
According to LocalNews8.com,
The referendum against Tom Luna's Students Come First plan has made it on the ballot.
But for many opponents of Idaho's education reform are still working on what they call priority No 1....

The petitions on the new laws required 40,000 signatures, but the bar to recall the superintendent is much higher.
The recall campaign needs 158,000 signatures to put a recall option on the ballot.