Court Opinion

ID: 9549483
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:19:25.090291+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:20:23.393299
License: Public Domain

Rosellini, J.
(concurring)—I agree with the majority that the causes for recall are stated with sufficient definiteness to meet the requirements of RCW 29.82.010. I am also of the opinion that the voters could well find that the acts complained of constitute misfeasance or malfeasance of such a serious nature as to warrant the recall of the commissioner. Read as a whole, the charges assert that there has been an unmistakable tendency on the part of the plaintiff to undermine and sabotage the PUD in violation of his duty as an elected officer of the PUD to support it and to act in its best interests.
*861In .the recent case of Skidmore v. Fuller, 59 Wn.2d 818, 824, 370 P.2d 975 (1962), wherein we examined a petition for the recall of certain directors of a school district which asserted that the directors had sought to undermine confidence and trust in teachers who were members of the Washington Education Association, we said:
If this charge is true, it would patently show that the members of the board had deliberately done acts which were not in furtherance of the interests of education in their district and had violated their oaths of office. It is for the voters to decide whether the charge is true and whether they deem it serious enough to demand the recall of the directors, (Italics mine.)
Also, in that case, we quoted the following significant excerpt from the case of Cudihee v. Phelps, 76 Wash. 314, 330-31, 136 Pac. 367 (1913):
“. . . While it seems true that, under this constitutional provision [Const, art. 1, § 33 (amendment 8)], an officer is to be removed for cause only; yet, the question being purely a political one, . . . it is manifest that the tribunal before which the sufficiency of the cause is to be tried is that of the people. It may be that the courts have jurisdiction to determine the sufficiency of the statement of the allegations made as cause for removal if presented in a proper proceeding involving the question of the calling of the election, but the trial of the question of whether such cause actually exists, and as to whether the officer shall be discharged, is to be had before the tribunal of the people and decided by them at the polls. It is not the trial of a question of life, liberty, or property; hence there is not involved any question of due process of law . . .”
For this reason, it seems to me that this court should limit itself to examining the charge to see if it is definite enough to apprise the plaintiff of the charges against him so that he may defend his actions before the people. The question whether the charge is serious enough to warrant his recall should be left to the voters to decide, inasmuch as the matters alleged are not patently frivolous on their face. The voters could well find, if they find the charges true, that their utility district would be better served by recall*862ing the plaintiff and replacing him with a commissioner having a more positive and enthusiastic attitude about the enterprise. The resolution of this question being a political matter, this court should carefully refrain from substituting its judgment for that of the people.
Finley, C. J., concurs with Rosellini, J.