Voters can have their say on mayor on Election Day

We respect Rheba Montrose's recall effort of Mayor Marv Teixeira, but we do not support it.

Teixeira was arrested in March for a DUI and later sentenced to 46 hours of community service, fined $650, and must pay at least $200 more in related fees.

Montrose charged that there has been secrecy regarding the mayor's crime and punishment and that he received preferential treatment during his sentencing. She said the mayor has not apologized for his DUI.

But those reasons aren't her best choice of arguments. The mayor's arrest broke in a banner story in the Appeal less than eight hours after it happened, and his sentencing was given similar treatment. Her charge that he received preferential treatment does not stand up, based on other DUI cases sentenced that day. And, finally, the mayor has apologized to his constituents several times.

Having said all that, there are legitimate grounds to consider a recall.

Elected officials should be held to a higher standard, and that is clearly where the mayor has failed.

He's paying his dues through the court system and through the public eye. If you believe that's not enough, then you should support this recall. So, too, should you support it if you believe the mayor has been rendered ineffective by his DUI.

But we're not seeing an ineffective mayor. In fact, there seems to be little difference in the day-to-day business of the city before and after his DUI.

The kicker to all this is that by the time the recall would make its way to the voting booth, the regular election will be right around the corner anyway and voters can have their say there.

The bottom line is the city has other business to attend to and better things to do with the $40,000 it would cost to conduct a recall election.