Blanco under fire from residents

In response to what some Louisiana residents feel was the state’s lack of preparedness and mishandling of relief operations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, petitions have circulated to recall Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
Disappointed residents said Blanco failed to effectively execute the state’s emergency plan to safeguard southern Louisiana by not ordering a mandatory evacuation of the affected parishes.
“The city (of New Orleans) had no idea the mayor couldn’t do a mandatory evacuation, because in order to do a mandatory evacuation you have to provide transportation for people who don’t have it,” said Dumas Carter of the New Orleans Police Department. “For whatever reason, the city wasn’t going to use RTA buses to get people out of town.”
Carter said Blanco’s incompetence and disregard for the citizens of Louisiana before the hurricane struck and her inexplicable actions afterward can only be considered as a dereliction of duty.
“Until the day she stands before the citizens of Louisiana, admits her mistakes and accepts responsibility for her poor choices, I will not rest,” said Chuck DeWitt, a representative of ImpeachBlanco.org. “Her actions cost lives and she will be held accountable.”
As an act to get Blanco, who is a Democrat, out of office, Louisiana citizens formed R.E.C.A.L.L., or Responsible and Effective Citizen Action of Leadership in Louisiana, under the leadership of Kat Landry, a Republican from St. Martinsville.
“Citizens have a unique opportunity to promote change in our state government by becoming involved in the effort to recall Gov. Blanco,” Landry said.
As part of the recall process, citizens are required to submit the proposed petition to the State Director of Elections and to the Secretary of State’s office. R.E.C.A.L.L. submitted a petition on behalf of Louisiana citizens to recall the governor on January 10 and has 180 days to obtain signatures. For parishes with less than 1,000 registered voters, they have 90 days. Volunteer leaders in each parish have to get the petitions out and signed and notify the public about the recall effort in their particular parish.
Landry said the Elections Department informed R.E.C.A.L.L. there are about 2 million eligible voters in Louisiana, so one-third of those voters would have to be in agreement. R.E.C.A.L.L. would need 900,000 signatures on the recall petition forms to obtain a recall election based on the number of eligible registered voters as of January 10.
Landry said the group is aiming for one million signatures. After the petition is submitted a recall election would be held, most likely in May.
Citizens would be given the opportunity of voting for or against recalling the governor. If Blanco is voted from office, Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu would succeed her until the end of her term. Representatives do not have an exact number of signatures, but there have been over 600,000 hits on the group’s Web site of citizens voicing their opinions and telling their stories.
“I have no doubt this can be done, but we need to work together to achieve this goal,” Landry said.