In the Times of Acadiana story on the recall, Lafayette Dem activist Stephen Handwerk offered much more logical reasons why a recall effort is not needed nor appropriate:
http://www.timesofacadiana.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/NEWS0102/602010301/1051"In all honesty, I feel that it's a complete and total waste of time," says Stephen Handwerk, a member of the Lafayette Parish Democratic Executive Committee and the Progressive Democrats for Louisiana and the host of Meet the Democrats on Acadiana Open Channel. "It's taking our efforts and using them to divide us and focusing on things that aren't helping anyone. We still have people that are homeless. We still have people that don't have enough food to eat. We still have kids that are not in school. I think it's a complete and total waste of time."
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"Not that I am blindly partisan to the point where I will be a cheerleader to anyone who has a D beside their name," says Handwerk. "I'd like to counter and say, 'Who could have done better?'"
When Handwerk talks of the Blanco's work surround Katrina, he relates tales of Houston residents stuck in traffic for eight hours as Rita approached. The 92 percent evacuation of New Orleans, while it could have been better, he says was respectable.
"We are talking about the largest natural disaster ever to face this country just with Katrina alone," says Handwerk. "Then add on top of that Rita, which affected us and our friends to the west. We literally have two black eyes now, and to get into something like this?"
"If that's the case, someone on our side said, 'Well let's work on recalling Sen. (David) Vitter, Congressman (Charles) Boustany and all of the others that influenced this entire situation.' But you know what, we've got more things to focus on right now and that's to take care of the immediate need of making sure people have a place to sleep at night, that they have food to eat and that their kids are taken care of. We want to rebuild. We want to make better what we have in this state.
more at:
http://www.timesofacadiana.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060201/NEWS0102/602010301/1051