It is time for the Sammamish City Council and its executive staff at City Hall to do its “homework” on the source of government power.

The Washington State Constitution, which when enacted in 1889 actually gave more protections to the rights of citizens than even the federal Constitution did, is very clear on this.

The first principle set down in the Washington Constitution is its source of authority. Individual citizens are endowed with inherent freedoms that can be acknowledged by the State, but neither be conferred nor exterminated by the State. As the opening section of our State Constitution declares:  “All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights (Art. I, Sec. 1).”

The Constitution, then, is a delegation of authority from the State’s sovereigns – the citizens – to the separate branches of government. This document serves to limit the branches of government, rather than conferring unlimited power on elected officials.

Contrary to a statement from one of Sammamish’s long-serving council members that “Our job isn’t to let residents make the decisions”, citizens have a key role in determining the laws and policies of their own community. State Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Madsen recognized that when she said, “Other provisions guaranteeing the right to initiative, referendum and recall of public officials also bear witness to the reformist roots of our founding document.”

Among the cities of Issaquah, Redmond, Bellevue, Mercer Island and Sammamish, only our city has not acknowledged in local law these citizen rights of initiative, referendum and recall. I hope this was simply an oversight by our city’s founding leaders, but the time is past due for our council to recognize that the citizens’ role in ensuring good government is as important as theirs.

Mary Jo Kahler