At-Will Laws Must Apply To Politicians

At-Will Laws Must Apply To Politicians

By Viola Davis RN BSN

The time is long overdue for the taxpayers and voters to demand at-will laws apply equally to politicians.  Unhappy Taxpayer & Voter movement sends a call out to the taxpayers and voters to demand that Governor Nathan Deal and the Georgia General Assembly update the “recall laws” to include an at-will provision that applies to the politicians.

The political turmoil that has crippled the DeKalb County School System would have never been allowed to grow if the taxpayers and voters had an at-will law that applied to politicians.  Since our votes hire and fire elected officials and our tax money pays the elected officials salaries, taxpayers and voters are “Employers”.  Why should corporations be the only entity to take advantage of the at-will laws?

As Founder of Unhappy Taxpayer & Voter, our main mission was to get the taxpayers and voters to see that they are the “Employers” of the elected officials.  As employers, the taxpayers and voters have an obligation to hold elected officials accountable.

Georgia takes pride in being a “Right to Work” state.  However, the politicians have written legislation to make it extremely hard for the citizens to remove “do-nothing” politicians from office.  If the politicians in Georgia truly stand on the “Right to Work” principal, they would update the laws that govern “recall” to create an at-will law that applies to elected officials.

The public should not have to prove malfeasance and misconduct to recall politicians that have violated the public’s trust, mismanaged the public’s money, abused their power, and jeopardized the overall government system.

According to Wikipedia, the legal doctrine of at-will laws states the following:

• “Any hiring is presumed to be "at will"; that is, the employer is free to discharge individuals "for good cause, or bad cause, or no cause at all," and the employee is equally free to quit, strike, or otherwise cease work.”

According to Ballotpedia, the laws governing recall in Georgia requires at least one of the following:

• an act of malfeasance or misconduct while in office,
• violation of the oath of office,
• failure to perform duties prescribed by law, or
• Willfully misusing, converting, or misappropriating, without authority, public property or public funds entrusted to or associated with the elective office to which the official has been elected or appointed.

The number of valid signatures required for a recall election is 15 percent of the number of persons that voted in the last preceding election for the office of the incumbent being recalled and the recall petition must be completed within 90 days after registration.  Why must the taxpayers and voters go through these multiple actions simply to remove elected officials the public no longer wants?  How many votes will it take to recall appointed representation?

The taxpayers and voters have many elected officials that have “ceased working” for the public and focused on the politicians’ personal gain.  The politicians also focus on securing profits for their inner circle of family and friends as well as special interest groups that help them get elected.  The average citizens are merely the “bank” that is forced to finance this madness.

Governor Deal and the Georgia Board of Education have suspended members of the DeKalb Board of Education which has caused a stagnation of the school system and legal battles in the courts.  These problems can be eliminated simply by placing an at-will provision within our “recall” laws.  The taxpayers and voters will have the power to solve problems by firing the politicians and replacing them with public servants.

Will Governor Nathan Deal and the Georgia General Assembly update the laws to include an at-will provisions that will apply to politicians?  If the answer is “no” or “not at this time”, the taxpayers and voters must move now to mobilize enough votes to remove every elected official that refuses to update the recall laws.

It is time for the taxpayers and voters to act and restore “We the People” back into our state Constitution by demanding an “at-will” law for politicians.  “We the People” must remind the elected officials that the taxpayers and voters are the “Employer” better known as the “Boss”.

Viola Davis is Founder of Unhappy Taxpayer & Voter and a coalition member of Restore DeKalb, a consortium of parents, voters, taxpayers, organizations and homeowners with a mission to unite and protect our children in DeKalb.  Restore DeKalb places children first…maintain accreditation and local control.   Email - RestoreDeKalb@gmail.com