A recall would be difficult, but Douglas should resign

For those keeping score at home, Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas will serve out his term despite the latest e-mail scandal, if he wants to do so. It’s almost impossible to recall the Republican. Huckleberries Central got the info re: a recall from County Clerk Dan English on Tuesday. A successful recall effort would require activists to collect 14,494 valid signatures. That number is derived by multiplying the number of registered county voters in the 2004 election (72,471) by 20 percent. The late anti-tax activist Ron Rankin, a master at circulating petitions and winning ballot access, always figured he needed to collect an extra 25 percent beyond the minimum requirement because a chunk of signatures fails to pass muster. In other words, organizers would probably have to gather more than 18,000 signatures to be successful. Even with the certification of a proper number of signatures, organizers would only be halfway home when the recall effort made the ballot. At that point, they would need the votes of 43,230 county residents to dump Douglas – or one vote more than Douglas won running unopposed in the 2004 presidential year. Last month, in a nonpresidential election, only 37,973 county residents voted. Are you beginning to see why Douglas is bulletproof no matter what becomes of the illicit e-mail scandal involving Chief Deputy Rick Baughman? Or how the Idaho Supreme Court rules on his own e-mail controversy involving former subordinate Marina Kalani? That’s why this newspaper wants him to resign instead.