RECALL: Taxation yes, representation no

Taxation without representation is at the heart of the recall petition by those who signed the recall petition. they believe as I do, that the right to directly elect representatives who levy our taxes is paramount to our democracy. As citizens we are suspicious when that right is by-passed as it has with the city’s relationship with Lake City Development Corp. Approved funding of such a massive project can only be attained with the approval of an informed, interested, legal voter. That is what democracy is all about. We know that our rights can only be protected by a representative elected by us.

We learned at a very early age in school that hundreds of men lost their lives in the Revolutionary War to give us the right to have no taxation without representation. Thousands gave their lives in the Civil War to give all our people the basic civil right of having a vote.

The right to vote and the right to have taxation only by elected representatives are basic for a healthy continuing democracy and a healthy city government.

IDA HAWKINS

Coeur d’Alene