Eugene weekly., October 13, 2022, Page 2, Image 2

letters
THE BEST JUSTICE
MONEY CAN BUY
I am very dismayed that Claire Syrett
felt forced to drop her lawsuit (David Fi-
danque’s Viewpoint, “After the Recall,”
9/29).
I am very familiar with these legal tac-
tics that allow people with money to so
greatly raise the risks of pursuing matters
of principle that even someone who is will-
ing to risk a great deal cannot seek a day
in court. Eff ectively, this means that mon-
ey wins. If one has enough money, one can
do anything they want to our elections
and other civil processes and buy not only
the outcome, but also buy their way out of
responsibility for their actions.
I do not live in town, but the integrity
of elections, including recalls, should be
of concern to every citizen. Next time it
could be in my community. It might even
be perpetrated by the same people. Nor-
mally, I would be very cautious about
drawing conclusions on such matters, but
the evidence that something is not right
about what happened in the Syrett recall
is quite objective and publicly available.
If the conduct in the recall was just,
let it be judged in court.
Perhaps the ACLU should look at the
case? After all, what is more a matter of
civil liberty than the integrity of elections?
Steven Berkson
Veneta
BUY 3 PAIRS
GET 1 FREE
ENDS 10/31
541-342-6107 181 E Broadway, Eugene
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O C T O B E R
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SYRETT RECALLED BY A
SLIVER OF THE ELECTORATE
The offi cial returns for the Ward 7
recall election have been posted, and 71
percent of registered voters in the ward
did not cast a ballot. Claire Syrett was re-
called by only 17 percent of eligible voters.
Democracy only works when the
electorate is actively engaged. If you ab-
stain from voting, you are relinquishing
the decision to a small group of voters.
Special elections, like this recall, tend to
have low turnout, and that turnout con-
sists mostly of those behind the petition
for the election and others whom they
have riled up during their petition drive.
In this era of Trumpism and the Jan. 6
Commission that underscores the fragil-
ity of democracy, I thought more voters
would have taken this election seriously.
I believe a recall should be the tac-
tic of last resort, used only when egre-
gious actions deem an offi ceholder unfi t
for offi ce. Instead, we appear to have a
group of zealots with an off -with-her-
head mindset over one issue, which is
a huge, multi-year project on which no
major decisions have yet been made.
This whole aff air has a bad smell to it,
and we lost a good Eugene City Council
member.
James Stauff er
Eugene, Ward 7
REAL DIVERSITY
IN CITY GOVERNMENT
Now that Eugene City Council will be
selecting a replacement for Clair Syrett,
maybe they could honor diversity and
bring some equity into City Hall. Some-
one who favors smaller government and
lower taxes would be about as diverse as
it gets around there.
Don Richey
Eugene
Editor’s note: Since Eugene still doesn’t have a city
hall but instead the council meets in the downtown
Lane Community College building, we know you
meant a metaphoric rather than physical city hall.
MONEY COULD HAVE BEEN
BETTER SPENT
Since the encampment at Wash-
ington Jeff erson Park was removed
on March 16, the park has been closed.
The city of Eugene has estimated the
renovation cost to be $810,000 or more.
I can't make sense of why this is so ex-
pensive. In my opinion that money could
have been better put to use by providing
services to our homeless, rather than
kicking them out into our community.
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M