Daily Archive
Stories Posted on August 14, 2008
Ballot initiative hangs in limbo: Approximately 1,500 signatures gathered to limit compensation for commissioners
Category: City Government · State: Michigan · Source: Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
Clear as mud. Those three words pretty well sum up the status of a local petition drive to limit the compensation of individual Chippewa County Commissioners to $8,400. “We all know the value of petitions,” said one of the key members of the grassroots organization, Debbie Sirk, in presenting the signatures to the board. “Now let’s work together to find a way to put this on the ballot.” The commissioners, however, expressed a reluctance to give their approval and, from all indications, they weren’t even sure if they could. Commissioner Scott Shackleton said that while he had a tremendous amount of respect for the democratic process and the citizen petition, he didn’t feel it was the county commission’s responsibility to put the question on the ballot. Shackleton said he would have the same reservations if the group was asking for a park designation or petitioning for taxes to go up or down.
English-only petition gets 12,500 signatures
Category: English · State: Tennessee · Source: The Tennessean
Metro Nashville Councilman Eric Crafton, one of the driving forces behind the English-only ballot initiative, will deliver about 12,500 signed petition cards to the Metro clerk at noon tomorrow, Crafton said. Crafton also has filed a bill that calls for individuals to pay a fee if they need translation to deal with Metro government. On Tuesday, the council will have the option to take the first of three votes on the translation fee measure. Since mid-June, Crafton and a small group of English-only policy supporters have worked to revive an effort to make English Nashville's official language and restrict government business, publications, meetings and communications to the English language. A similar measure passed the Metro Council last year but was vetoed by then-mayor Bill Purcell. To bypass the possibility of a mayoral veto, Crafton opted this time to attempt to amend the Metro Charter.