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Image provided by: Suffolk Cooperative Library System
16------------------·------~------------------------------------------------------- ~ ~ en c: ~ ~ g c: ::::s Ruling 8 1 eems 1HlcoDstitutional ~ When Islip Democrats submitted a pair of peti- C~UUNG ~\1 '(ip\~ .. ~ c~t\J~ At\. G~~~\. jl\ntW\\llt\) 1\)5;~~~ \~ ~'RtS<') 'ktAQ ~\l~T\. }:s,LEf\'St. RtS~~~D To - I tions for specmi referendums ,that barely met ,the (II minimum number of required signatures, we were · not surprised that they were thrown out. One 'Of ~ the reasons cited by the town cletk to invalidate g. them, however, has left us dumbstruck: a require- 91 ment that all signers be property owners. Also 'conspicuous by its absence is Supervisor Pete McGow.an's opinion on the town 'clerk's ruling and the referendums themselves. While the 'Super- visor has 'said his silence comes from 110t wanting to prejudice aay pending vote by the town b08Fd on the matte~., that doesn't seem to malce sense. The only vote on the matter by the town board would be as 00 when,) nat whether, they woUld be put up for vote 'if the signatures pass muster.. McGowan~s opinion could ,shed Dew ligbt 'Oil the 'subject.lnstead, his response 'Of \no comment 7J Dot only further clouds the issue, but helps to prolQng the debate. 1~~ ~l~~t \tlMt\1M\:\11'f~~ ~ After all, this is the Twentietb 'CeRtury, isn~t it? .. G'ranted, tbe minimal number 'of ;signatures on ~ the petitions put forth by the Democrats appeared ~ t.9 have doomed their proposed referendums for a 20 percent tax cut 'aHet councilmatic districts :wom the start. Usually, such petitions bear 'at least twice the req\lired number. Thanks to a myriad oftechRi- calities in election laws and rules, it's easy\ and common, for large numbers of signatures to be voided. Citing a requirement for all signeIS to \appear on the last preceding town assessment roll,\ however, flies in the face of what most of us learned in eighth grade American hiStory 'c~ While only the landed gentry were a:llowed to cast their banots in Eighteenth Century America, that requirement was stricken from the books more than a centUIy ago. ]t's blatantly unconstitutional. Town Clerk Joan Johnson's citing of a state law requiring this is nothing more than a weak attempt at justifying the objection. Anyone involved in gov- emment ought to know that federal laws super- sede:state laws, just as state law takes priority over town and Village ordinances. One need look no fur- ther than the New York constitution's requirement that all residents be at least 21 years old, which is now null and void by a U.S. Constitutional amend- ment. Closer to borne, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the definition of what constitutes a family has rendered local town, village and county defini- tions of \family\ moot as weD. We don't feel the two referendums hold mach merit, or hope for improvement, for town resi- dents. Forcing a '20 percent ,slashing of the to'Wll budget may make good fodder for a political plat- fOIm, but it doesn't make much sense in reality. The impact upon services, programs\ and jobs would bebolTendous, and would decima.te the way of life we enjoy today.. Councilmatic districts wouldn't represent much of an improvement, either, if any. Islip isn't big enough geognq.hically or in popnlation to warrant ,such districts, :and cre- ating such boundaries woUld achieve their stated goal in <only the most utopian of fol'OlS. We also question t!te amollllt of S11pport they enjoy by both the general popUlation and the Democratic Party itself,. given the low number of signatures they beaI: , and the time frame in wbich the Democrats have-had to 'CoDect them ,since first announcing the idea. Despite Ollr opinion, though, those two ideas ought to see the ligbt of day., and their :respective places on the ballot, if the signatures on the peti- tions pass muster. They sbouldn't be invalidated based on an arcane early Eighteenth Centmy law, though._ 23 Candee Avenue., PO Box 367, Sayville, New York 11782 (51&) 5IJ9.62OO Publisher ................................ John T. Tuthill, III Editor ........................................ Kevin B. Molloy General Managerl AccoLlnting ......... : .................... Joanne laBarca Advertising Sales Account Executives .......... Kate Heissenbottel, Georgia McDowell Published by JOhr:'lior Publishing, entered ~t the Post Office in Sayville as Second-Class Malter Subscnption:$24.00 per year In advance. $31 00 out of Suffolk County. Single copy: 50 cents It Is not our 11m to tell r8ItItrI whit to thin\ but to provide them \\\ food for \'ought and to male. InfetpfetlWJ edltoIIaI comments on the .. Circulation Department .................. Pattl Zerafa Legal Adv. Manager ............. V~i Ann Morales Clerical Aide ............................... ~nnette Tarver Typesetting Manager .................. JoAnn taRue Typesetters ....... lorraine Stimpfle. Janet White editorial ~ ............................ Anthony J. Howard, Hank Shaw Staff Writers ....................................... Cliff Miller 'Susan 'Kane Regina Marcazzo OffIce Classified Advertising ............. lorelei P. Tuthill Assislant Bookkeeperl Subscription Manager ................. Patti Lerman Art Director: ....................................... James leo Asst Art Directorl Darkroom Teeh ....................... Janice laBarbera Proofreader ................................... Merrie Stump cartoonlst. ................................... Jason Epstein Photographer ............................. Tina Palmquist ( B di It; m eli
