Citizens to Speak on Election Move Monday

By STAN FENDLEY
Falls Church Times Staff

Falls Church citizens will get an extra opportunity to comment on moving the date of  City elections at the City Council “work session” Monday Dec. 7 from 7:30-8:30pm at the Falls Church Community Center.   The Council is scheduled to vote on final passage of the matter one week later.

To date, citizens have had one opportunity to speak their minds on the matter, that occurring at a Council meeting on November 23.  At that meeting, citizens appearing in person and those sending  emails overwhelmingly opposed the change, with only one in nineteen favoring the move.  Mayor Robin Gardner noted, however, that a number of her Facebook friends favored the move, and Councilman Dan Sze said a number of his neighbors favored it.

Following that discussion, the Council rejected a resolution calling for a voter referendum on the matter, then passed by a vote of 4-3 the first reading of an ordinance that would move the 2010 election date on the authority of the Council without a referendum.

The referendum proposal originally came from Councilman Lawrence Webb, who decided in the course of debate not to move it forward at that time, but rather to offer it again at the Council’s next meeting on Dec. 14.  That was not the end of the matter, however, as Councilman Nader Baroukh utilized his parliamentary right to move Webb’s proposal forward himself, forcing a vote on the matter.  On the ensuing vote, Mayor Robin Gardner, Vice Mayor Hal Lippman and Councilmen Dan Maller and Dan Sze opposed allowing a voter referendum.  Baroukh and Councilmen David Snyder voted for the referendum, and Webb abstained.

Next came the vote on the ordinance to move the election date without a referendum.  Favoring the ordinance were Gardner, Lippman, Maller and Sze.  Opposing the ordinance were Baroukh, Snyder, and Webb.

In the debate leading up to the votes, Council members explained their positions.

Mayor Gardner stated that her motivation was to increase voter participation, maintaining that the lower turnout enabled small groups to dominate May elections, which did not “represent the breadth and depth of the community.”  She suggested that it was up to the  candidates themselves to assure that the elections would not become more partisan.

Lippman noted that he had raised the issue of low turnout at the first Council session after the May 2008 election.  Maintaining that any reform effort can be easily delayed or undermined, he stated “If we don’t act now nothing will change and we’ll be left with things as they are.”

Maller, who insisted he would not vote to extend his term of office (which expires on June 30), questioned whether a November election should be on the even-year cycle, as is the case in May, or move to an odd-year cycle.  He declined however to vote against the ordinance at first reading, stating he wanted to hear further discussion on the issue.

Baroukh stated that the issue belonged to the citizenry, not to the Council or only four members of the Council, and that moving ahead swiftly so close to the holidays would lead to increased public cynicism about its process.  In conclusion he warned “Changing the date will divide the community at a time when we need to come together.”

Snyder noted that the move to change the date was not in response to any groundswell of public opinion, that in fact public opinion was against it.  After dismissing the proponents’ shifting rationales for action, he concluded emphatically ”I will not go along.”

More information on the meeting, including photos and summaries of citizens who spoke on the matter, are available here.

Video of Gardner discussing the feedback received from Facebook friends is available at the link below.  Video of the entire meeting is available at the City website.  To see the date change discussion, scroll down and click on TO9-14, Ordinance to Move Council Election Date.

The final scheduled Council meeting of the year will be held on Dec. 14.  If the Council is to move the date of the next  election —  May 2010 — it must do so by the end of this year.

The full agenda for the Monday Dec. 7 Council work session is available here.  The meeting will occur in the Falls Church Community Center rather than at City Hall.

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Click HERE to watch the City Council Video

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George Bromley and George Southern contributed to this report.