By Art Johnston I mean – an attempt to remove a Board member on insufficient grounds.
I had told Art that I would go down with him again on Monday this week to lobby for the Senate File 539 that would put an end to the 1858 wording that gives School Board’s authority to vote off a dissenting member for “proper cause.” I had too much going on to accompany Art but he called with good news. This Senate Bill now has a companion House Bill HF1962 to go along with it making it more possible for passage. Both bills have sponsors on both sides of the aisle.
As Art and school board members from other stricken districts circulate they are finding a receptive audience among legislators. As Senator Terri Bonoff said during her testimony last week before the Senate subcommittee on elections, she couldn’t imagine that legislators would accept a system in which a group of legislators could remove another elected representative with so little fuss and bother. Elections should be close to sacred. So, now the law has found sponsors in the House.
I don’t know whether the law will pass this year and frankly I’m a too preoccupied in Duluth with ISD 709 and personal projects to lobby weekly at the moment. Besides, the law can be pushed next session if it fails this time.
