Maintains council overstepped with flag issue
In response to my comment in Friday the 24th edition of The Commercial Dispatch, “Raider” who chose not to use his real name, disagreed with my interpretation of the case law I cited, so please allow me to quote from paragraph eight of the Supreme Court ruling in 722 So. 2nd 136, wherein the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that the present issue was a “‘political matter,’ the remedy for which lies within the democratic process and the voting rights of all its citizens.”
So, certainly the city council represents the city except where state case law opines differently, that the remedy is with voting rights of all citizens. The city council did not place this matter on their advance agenda, so there was very little discussion about it; and little or no citizen input on the matter. So the voting rights of all the citizens (or even a few) of our municipality were never considered by the council. But rather it was “pushed through” since it was never placed on the council’s agenda for consideration of the people to show up. The case law is clear that the Court of Appeals held it was a matter for the voting rights of all citizens. Perhaps in my original comment that was printed on Friday the 24th, I should have “quoted” paragraph eight. Personally, I don’t care about a flag. But, I still believe the city council went about this the wrong way.
Mike Cooper
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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