Recall election: Councilman before voters again today

Residents of Las Vegas City Council Ward 6 who were registered voters as of Saturday will decide today whether Steve Ross should be retained as their city councilman.

The effort to recall Mr. Ross, a Democrat, was instigated with support from a car dealer who unsuccessfully sought the councilman’s support for a waiver that would have allowed him to sell high-end used vehicles in an area where city land use rules require dealers to carry an affiliation with a manufacturer. While Mr. Ross’ position on that issue — to grant a waiver to one dealership but not another — is open to criticism, it does not meet the high standard necessary to justify a recall.

Republican businesswoman Suzette LaGrange tried to gather the 1,084 signatures necessary to get her name on the ballot as a replacement candidate, but she fell short and withdrew. That leaves city Planning Commissioner Byron Goynes, a Democrat, as the only challenger.

Mr. Ross’ campaign to retain his seat has stressed his work on the recently approved city ordinance that requires banks to maintain residential and commercial properties once the properties are served with a notice of default.

The recall procedure is an important safeguard and safety valve, allowing voters to step in and remove a candidate who has lost the public’s confidence or committed acts that make him or her an embarrassment.

On the other hand, fixed terms of office add considerable stability to our political system, as opposed to alternatives in which politicians can be tossed out for a single unpopular vote. Fixed terms tend to reward occasional acts of political courage by requiring voters to evaluate an officeholder’s performance over a period of years.

That means recall elections should be a last resort, used when officeholders have lost public confidence through egregiously bad conduct.

So far, Mr. Ross does not fall into that category — although he has earned much of the criticism he has received for conflicts he faced when he took a job as a union official. A lot of money and effort have been wasted on this recall effort, resources that would be better deployed when Mr. Ross is up for re-election next year.

Mr. Goynes could probably handle the job just fine. But to date, no compelling case has been made to remove Steve Ross from office.

In the end, everyone loses, especially the taxpayers.