In rationalizing their three-member districts proposal, the Charter Commissioners are constantly comparing it to our two U.S. Senators. Here again, Candace says, "I don't think it's any different than how we hold our Oregon senators accountable. We elect both, they both represent us, and we hold both accountable." But it's not the same at all. We get an up-or-down vote on each senator independently. They don't run against each other. They aren't competing politically and therefore aren't motivated to deflect or snipe or hide or blame the other in order to avoid accountability.
Meanwhile, the lower threshold to get elected means that there's a much higher threshold to remove somebody. It literally gets three times harder for voters to hold a councilperson accountable in an election. The Charter Commissioners keep saying the word "accountability" but their proposal simply makes true accountability much harder to come by.
In rationalizing their three-member districts proposal, the Charter Commissioners are constantly comparing it to our two U.S. Senators. Here again, Candace says, "I don't think it's any different than how we hold our Oregon senators accountable. We elect both, they both represent us, and we hold both accountable." But it's not the same at all. We get an up-or-down vote on each senator independently. They don't run against each other. They aren't competing politically and therefore aren't motivated to deflect or snipe or hide or blame the other in order to avoid accountability.
Meanwhile, the lower threshold to get elected means that there's a much higher threshold to remove somebody. It literally gets three times harder for voters to hold a councilperson accountable in an election. The Charter Commissioners keep saying the word "accountability" but their proposal simply makes true accountability much harder to come by.