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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-07-30 David McLeodChris Johnson From: Robert Simison Sent: Monday, August 1, 2022 9:17 AM To: David McLeod; Luke Cavener; Treg Bernt; Brad Hoaglun; Liz Strader; Joe Borton; Jessica Perreault Cc: Chris Johnson Subject: RE: Flagrant Disregard for Voter Wishes Mr. McLeod, Thank you for your comments. I am copying our City Clerk so that they can be included in the record for the public hearing. Respectfully, Mayor Robert Simison City of Meridian All e-mail messages sent to or received by City of Meridian e-mail accounts are subject to the Idaho law, in regards to both release and retention, and may be released upon request, unless exempt from disclosure by law. From: David McLeod <ddmcleod@mail.com> Sent: Saturday, July 30, 2022 5:46 PM To: Robert Simison <rsimison@meridiancity.org>; Luke Cavener <Icavener@meridiancity.org>; Treg Bernt <tbernt@meridiancity.org>; Brad Hoaglun <bhoaglun@meridiancity.org>; Liz Strader <Istrader@meridiancity.org>; Joe Borton <jborton@meridiancity.org>; Jessica Perreault <jperreault@meridiancity.org> Subject: Flagrant Disregard for Voter Wishes External Sender - Please use caution with links or attachments. Mr. Mayor and City Council: It has come to my attention that, according to a City Ordnance, a new Meridian district map was created by an independent committee whose goal was to give Meridian citizens (LIKE ME!) district -based representation. As I understand it, the ordinance explicitly instructed the committee to assign no weight to the current residences of council members in drawing up their new boundaries. According to recent reporting from local Idaho news sources, it has also come to my attention that the Mayor and City Council are planning to re -assign seat numbers in order to allow current council members to run again --rather than being forced to move into their new districts and appeal to a new voter base. This sounds an awful lot like "good 'ol boy back slapping and gerrymandering" to me! Essentially, it appears that the council's plan is to swap seat numbers around as a way of bypassing the intention of the independent committee that was following the instructions of your own ordnance! Sorry, members of City Council, this is just plain not cool, and I formally object in the most strenuous possible terms to this kind of back -door politics. If you follow through on these plans --in contravention of the recommendations of your own committee --and thereby create a new map (without due process) that allows the current council members who find themselves in new districts to run again, I will be joining with other citizens of Meridian to oppose and pursue this to whatever extent possible under the rules and laws related to redistricting. Sincerely yours, David McLeod, Meridian, ID 83642