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Recall effort launched at Schwarzenegger over tax increase... again
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gestures as he discusses his revised state budget proposal for the coming fiscal year during a Capitol news conference in Sacramento, Calif. .(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
For the growing number of Arnold-haters across the state, perhaps the fifth time is the charm.
Secretary of State Debbie Bowen confirmed on Friday she certified a fifth attempt to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The four early attempts all failed to gather enough signatures to initiate a recall election, according to the Capitol Alert Web site.
The latest effort, launched by a group called Taxpayers United to Recall Governor Schwarzenegger, must obtain signatures from 12 percent of the electorate by Oct. 22. That means 1,041,530 people, i.e., valid voter signatures, are needed.
Schwarzenegger, of course, became governor following the historic successful recall of Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003. Since that time, California has gone a bit recall crazy, launching bids against politicians with a reckless urgency. But to say turnabout is fair play -- or some other appropriate cliche' like what's good for the goose is good for the gander (just what the hell that means, I suspect only a farmer could tell us) -- would be somewhat inaccurate in Schwarzenegger's case as it is most members of his own party that launch the recall campaigns.
Conservative anti-tax Republicans have also launched two recall elections against members of their own party that worked with Schwarzenegger to provide a needed two-thirds vote during the last budget impasse. For Republicans, any vote to affect a compromise with the Democratic majority that includes any tax increase is akin to Scarlet A. It's political suicide. Just ask Republican Assemblymember Anthony Adams one of the targets of a Republican-led recall.
A spokesman for the governor, Aaron McLear disputed the facts of the recall election, though of course reasoned-debate and facts are of little interest to those pushing for a recall each month. McLear said "the governor's revised budget plan increases state spending by 1.3 percent - 'slower growth than under every California governor in recent history,'" Capitol Alert reported.
Lost in all the recall hubbub is a basic civics question that few seem interested in asking. In a Democratic Republic like ours, where we elect representatives to cast votes of conscience on our behalf for a specific period of time, what does it do the election process when those terms cast aside, not for a serious criminal activity or high character failing, but for a vote? What is the point of a term in office when recalls can be launched by special-interest groups seeking to run rough-shod over the process through recall campaigns?
Democrats have a majority in the legislature simply because voters elect them. Frustrated Republicans can only wield power, by threatening -- and even devouring-- their own.
No wonder California's Legislature inspires confidence in fewer than 20 percent of all California voters according to the latest polls.
More California News:
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- Governor to sell prison, release prisoners.
- Brown lauds move to cut erotic services on Cragislist.
- Anna Nicole Smith's lawyer pleads innocent.
- LGBT safety act passes with bi-partisan support.
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