La. residents seek Blanco recall
October 2, 2005
Enraged La. residents seek Blanco recall
By Gannett News Service
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana has found a new outlet for its rage and frustration over the slow response to Hurricane Katrina and the monumental cleanup job ahead.
"It's a popular thing to want to recall people these days," said Frances Simms, director of the Louisiana secretary of state's election division.
Since the hurricane, the election division has fielded regular calls from angry residents looking to recall first-term Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Simms estimated that her office has mailed out 10 do-it-yourself recall petition packets since Hurricane Katrina, and directed the rest of the callers to the election division's Web site, which has a page devoted to recall drives.
So far, she said, there have been no queries about impeaching any other officials, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
It remains to be seen whether voters' anger will translate into action. State election law would require petitioners to collect handwritten signatures and addresses equal to a third of the turnout in the 2003 election Blanco won — at least 243,786 signatures. Only two states in history have ever recalled their governors — North Dakota in 1921 and California in 2003.
For those who prefer the instant gratification of the Internet, protest sites began to spring up before the floodwaters in New Orleans had begun to recede.
Among the best known are the dueling "Impeach Blanco" sites — one of which is actually pro-Blanco.
It began Sept. 2, when the Internet domain www.impeachblanco.com was purchased and registered to a Polly Stewart of Lake Charles, La. On Sept. 10, the conservative blog Wizbang took note of the sale and speculated that Stewart — who they identified as a sometime Democratic activist — bought up the name to prevent Blanco critics from using it to launch an attack on the governor.
That same day, the domain names www.impeachblanco.org and www.impeachblanco.net were snapped up and registered through a Dover, Del., corporation, InTouch Communications. The site operator, who identifies himself as Chuck DeWitt, posted a blistering critique of the governor's handling of the crisis, along with links to news stories and video and an online "recall petition" — which would do little good in an actual petition drive, since state law requires handwritten signatures on recall petitions.
"Kathleen Blanco, the Governor of Louisiana is completely responsible for our state's lack of preparedness and for mishandling the rescue and relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," DeWitt's Web site begins.
Meanwhile, over at impeachblanco.com, the Democratic governor's name is crossed out and Republican names — President Bush, White House adviser Karl Rove and Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff — are substituted.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWS0110/510020416/1260
Enraged La. residents seek Blanco recall
By Gannett News Service
BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana has found a new outlet for its rage and frustration over the slow response to Hurricane Katrina and the monumental cleanup job ahead.
"It's a popular thing to want to recall people these days," said Frances Simms, director of the Louisiana secretary of state's election division.
Since the hurricane, the election division has fielded regular calls from angry residents looking to recall first-term Gov. Kathleen Blanco. Simms estimated that her office has mailed out 10 do-it-yourself recall petition packets since Hurricane Katrina, and directed the rest of the callers to the election division's Web site, which has a page devoted to recall drives.
So far, she said, there have been no queries about impeaching any other officials, including New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
It remains to be seen whether voters' anger will translate into action. State election law would require petitioners to collect handwritten signatures and addresses equal to a third of the turnout in the 2003 election Blanco won — at least 243,786 signatures. Only two states in history have ever recalled their governors — North Dakota in 1921 and California in 2003.
For those who prefer the instant gratification of the Internet, protest sites began to spring up before the floodwaters in New Orleans had begun to recede.
Among the best known are the dueling "Impeach Blanco" sites — one of which is actually pro-Blanco.
It began Sept. 2, when the Internet domain www.impeachblanco.com was purchased and registered to a Polly Stewart of Lake Charles, La. On Sept. 10, the conservative blog Wizbang took note of the sale and speculated that Stewart — who they identified as a sometime Democratic activist — bought up the name to prevent Blanco critics from using it to launch an attack on the governor.
That same day, the domain names www.impeachblanco.org and www.impeachblanco.net were snapped up and registered through a Dover, Del., corporation, InTouch Communications. The site operator, who identifies himself as Chuck DeWitt, posted a blistering critique of the governor's handling of the crisis, along with links to news stories and video and an online "recall petition" — which would do little good in an actual petition drive, since state law requires handwritten signatures on recall petitions.
"Kathleen Blanco, the Governor of Louisiana is completely responsible for our state's lack of preparedness and for mishandling the rescue and relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina," DeWitt's Web site begins.
Meanwhile, over at impeachblanco.com, the Democratic governor's name is crossed out and Republican names — President Bush, White House adviser Karl Rove and Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff — are substituted.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051002/NEWS0110/510020416/1260
posted by impresario | 9:45 AM
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