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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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My 2 Cents: It Ain’t Over

State Rep. Kathy Sims is shown at her station across from Sherman Hardware, trying to attract signatures for her recall petitions.

Even if City Clerk Susan Weathers declares the Coeur d'Alene recall attempt a failure (void ab initio) at 4:30 p.m. today, the attempted takeover of City Hall ain't over. I doubt that the Souza-Orzell-Sims would waste the time and energy to launch another recall against the same officials in three months. But I suspect to see a lawsuit of some sort surface in the next few days, challenging disqualified ballots and maybe seeking an injunction against an upgrade to McEuen Field. Beyond that, the Recallers will spin the results of their failure and go back to work networking with the Tea Party & Reagan Republicans to target the 2013 city elections. Good city elected officials like Mayor Sandi Bloem and the three targeted for recall will remain vulnerable to this organized and vocal minority if the individuals who made the Decline to Sign movement successful lose focus. The 75-day recall attempt is just the beginning. The future is still up for grabs between those who applaud the upgrades along the waterfront and those who have opposed many of those projects, including state Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d'Alene, who supported the suit to stop the North Idaho College Foundation purchase of the Education Corridor. (BTW, NIC Trustee Christie Wood responded to all of Sims' claims in the link above here.) The first referendum on the Coeur d'Alene recall attempt isn't in November 2013. It is this November when Sims, an outspoken supporter of the recall effort, faces Democrat Anne Nesse in an attempt to win re-election to her House seat. Sims has an advantage in that she's a Republican in an area that votes knee-jerk Republican. A poor showing or even the defeat of Kathy Sims would serve to be a harbinger of the 2013 city elections -- DFO.

Correction: Rep. Kathy Sims supported the lawsuit to stop the purchase of the old mill site for an Education Corridor that was filed by Larry Spencer, Tom Macy and Bill McCrory.



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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