Thursday July 24, 2003 at 5:09 PM
Is it Democracy or Desperation?
Appearing in Politics
- “There’s a sense that California has lost the ability to govern itself. Its civic life makes the last days of Rome look serene.”
- Newsweek (July 28, 2003)
In case you’ve missed the news, it is this: the Governor of California will face a recall election on Tuesday, October 7th approximately eleven months after he defeated Republican Bill Simon in a legal and binding election. If you don’t live in California this might strike you as so much Left-Coast folly. Such a position however is dangerously naive in that it fails to acknowledge the potential impact of the situation. A little background is warranted.
- California is facing a state budget deficit of $38 billion, a figure larger than the entire budget of any other state save New York
- Democrats thoroughly control the state, holding every state-wide office
- The recall petition, signed by approximately 3% of California’s 35 million citizens, was funded by $1.7 million from Republican Congressman Darrell Issa
In case you still aren’t interested, consider this as well:
- California is one of 18 states with recall provisions
- California is the fifth largest economy in the world
- The most populous state in the nation, California’s 54 electoral votes are 20 percent of the total needed to win the Presidency
The October ballot will pose two questions: (1) should Governor Davis be recalled, and (2) who should replace him. It is important to note that the recall provision does not require the winner to collect a majority of the vote, only a plurality. In other words, if a number of candidates are on the ballot, the winner is likely to receive only a fraction of the overall vote.
Put it all together and it looks like this: with the support of a single multi-millionaire, 3 percent of the voters are holding the state government hostage, potentially replacing a duly elected governor with a candidate who failed to win a majority.
Regardless of your position on Governor Davis, it’s hard to deny the extreme and desperate nature of this tactic, its destabilizing effect, or its precedent-setting consequences. Unfortunately, it is all too indicative of an accelerating trend towards political extremism as seen in Texas’ struggle with redistricting, the FCC’s media ownership ruling, and the partisanship on daily display in our nation’s capital.
Comments
This whole thing makes my blood boil. The republicans inability to work with the duly elected government to get this state healthy is holding the whole state back, which some are saying is holding the whole nation back.
I hope the recall fails. And I hope someone takes Issa to the cleaners for his egregious actions. He should foot the $30-60 million bill for the recall election and hopefully that will be his swan song.
Posted by: Jim on Thu Jul 24, 03
Couldn't agree more. It's painfully obvious to anyone with respect for the political process that neither Issa nor the other Republicans have thought through the full impact of what they're doing. Since the number of signatures required for a recall petition is based on the number of votes received by the incumbent, a low voter turnout combined with a crowded ballot results in a situation where the threshold for a second recall is incredibly low. In other words, if the Governor is recalled and a Republican wins the election there will be more than enough angry Democrats to put together another recall motion, driving all of us through this ridiculous and abusive exercise again. Any Republican that wins this thing is virtually guaranteed to face another recall effort and this time it won't require the patronage of a megalomaniacal Congressman with $2,000,000 to burn.
Posted by: Bob Baxley on Thu Jul 24, 03