Olympia Won't Recall Port Commissioners Either, as Court Confirms Recalls Must Be Based on Facts
Last week we learned that Chris Clifford's attempt to recall Port of Seattle Commissioner Pat Davis was dead, the result of too few signatures. (For more on why he wanted to recall her, read this profile by Aimee Curl.) Today the state Supreme Court confirmed that an Olympia citizen wouldn't be able to recall two of that city's port commissioners either. Arthur West alleged that commissioners Paul Telford and Bill McGreggor approved of cargo yard improvements without having a comprehensive plan, which he argued must be a single document entitled "comprehensive plan". 
im in ur port, recalling ur commissionerz
A lower court threw the petition out, saying there was plenty of evidence of such a plan, even if not a single, so-titled document. West appealed, saying, no, there wasn't, and that it was unconstitutional to require courts to review petitions for factuality and legal sufficiency. Concluding the matter once and for all, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled today that the multiple documents are sufficiently comprehensive, and the review of petitions Constitutional, as Washington's Constitutional framers, in their civic wisdom, intended that recalls be done only "for cause."
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