I’ve not talked about Issue 5 much, but that’s because there isn’t a whole lot of information out there to talk about. Issue 5 will create a voter-approved charter commission with voter-approved charter commission members who will have a few months after the election this November to come up with another charter to put on the ballot for 2010. That’s all of the actual-factual information that’s out there apart from campaign promises antagonistic to Issue 6.
Here’s the Real Reform Done Right slate of candidates
In a smart tactical maneuver, the Issue 6 fans got their own slate of candidates set up to be on the Issue 5 charter commission as a hedge in case both issues pass. It’s probably safe to assume that if the CRACC-(terrible acronym, by the way)-heads are chosen to be on the charter commission that they’ll just meet for pizza one night, toss some campaign finance reform into the current Issue 6 charter, and adjourn for the year.
Here are the CRACC candidates.
So, there’s nothing concrete about Issue 5 to grapple with. It is obvious, however, that both slates for the charter commission were assembled to fulfill a definite political agenda. I don’t buy for a second that the folks so chosen were plucked from the unwashed masses of Cuyahoga County. A legitimate, transparent, inclusive charter commission selection process would have taken place this past year and we all would have known about it. Instead, a couple months out from the election, I’m given a list of people I know little about. The Issue 5 campaign seems haphazard and on that basis alone it makes me leery of their capabilities and motives.
Also, if I were Issue 5, I would have produced my own charter, not as a completed document (making that explicitly clear), but as something tangible for voters to compare against the Issue 6 charter. Right now there’s nothing to compare except promises versus an existing charter. Those aren’t very good terms of engagement.
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