Recalls corrupt, pointless, ruin television experience
Brian Morreale
Issue date: 10/25/03 Section: Perspectives
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For months, however, my shows were spoiled by the endless discussion of the recall of Gray Davis in California.
The recall occurred because Issa, a Congressman from outside San Diego, financed the effort to get the recall vote on the ballot.
Now I have nothing against California, but I'm from the other side of the country. I've never been within a thousand miles of it. And I am not likely to be affected by the result of the recall vote in more than the most incidental way.
Plus, the recall is basically a sham and an abuse of a political process for partisan political gain. As a result, I am greatly looking forward to October 8, when the recall is over and California chooses its governor - Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger or Gallagher - so I can watch cable news in peace.
I admit, though, that this recall has brought up some interesting issues regarding the history of recalls and how they operate today in California and elsewhere - hence I am writing this, as opposed to banging my head against the wall in exasperation at the total ridiculousness of the whole thing.
Recalls can be considered public impeachment. Essentially, voters are given the right to vote corrupt or incompetent politicians out of office. The idea of recalling public officials came about as part of the movement closer toward direct democracy of the Progressive Era. Historians have pointed out that there were many corrupt politicians at the time, and referenda and ballot initiatives were also products of the movement. In California, Progressive Era Governor Hiram Johnson played a strong role in making the recall law.
Seventeen other states allow recalls as well.
The recall has been used to remove officials in the past. One of the most famous cases was the 1986 recall of several California Supreme Court judges who were seen as insufficiently supportive of capital punishment. The only governor ever to have been recalled was Lynn Frazier of North Dakota - 82 years ago.
People have initiated - or attempted to initiate - recall drives against most of California's governors since Johnson, including Pat Brown, Ronald Reagan and Jerry Brown. Various individuals or groups who had a problem with something the governors said or did made these attempts; these people were usually on the political fringes, and most recalls went nowhere.
The current situation in California is without precedent in the success of the movement. This recall, unlike the other attempted recalls of governors, actually has mainstream appeal.
The movement to recall Gray Davis did not start out with popular support. Conservatives in Southern California - chiefly Issa - started it. In order for a recall to get on the ballot in California, proponents must gather a number of signatures equal to 12 percent of the vote in the previous election and must do so within 160 days. Any registered voter can sign a recall petition. Supporters gathered the necessary 897,158 signatures by using paid signature-gatherers, a common practice in political campaigns today.
Some supporters claim that gathering twice the required number of signatures proves support for the recall. However, most campaigns in the country gather twice the required number in order to avoid being disqualified from the ballot by challenges to individual signatures.
Anyone who was in DC during last year's mayoral primary probably remembers how Anthony Williams was kicked off the ballot due to 80 percent of his campaign's signatures being invalidated.
Once a recall petition gets on the ballot, anyone can run, provided that they gather 65 signatures from members of their political party (not difficult to do in a state with 18 million people) and pay a $3,500 dollar filing fee. It might not be clear why someone like anti-attorney activist Gene Forte - a Republican - might choose to spend his money and time to get on the ballot, but it is extremely easy to do so.
While in this recall, some candidates were obviously ahead of the pack, in theory, the state's lieutenant governor and bounty hunter Leonard Padilla had the same chance of becoming governoras Schwarzenegger.
There was no runoff, no minimum percentage of votes necessary, and no minimum number of votes necessary to win this recall - in theory, a single person could vote and install a new Governor. The process in California is, overall, much more open-ended than in other states that allow recall elections.
The last paragraph illustrates why the process is so open to abuse in California, and why it became such a farce. The problems can be traced to two characteristics of the process of getting a recall vote on the ballot: first, an official can be recalled for any reason, and it requires a relatively small number of people to reach the ballot.
As Jesse Ventura said, given the way the recall works, any group of people who don't like how someone is governing can get a recall of that person on the ballot. Ventura appreciates the difference between California and other states with recalls. There was no shortage of people in Minnesota who would have liked to see him recalled, but they had no reason for doing so that was valid in his state.
He is correct; as we've seen, conservatives who opposed Davis in his reelection campaign have promoted it on the basis of Davis' poor job as governor. That may be true - the recall would likely not pass if people were satisfied with the job Davis was doing. But the recall statute is not meant to be used in cases where the governor was just doing a poor job.
Ignoring the lack of merit behind the recall, supporters promoted it as "direct democracy in action." That may be true, but it is no better a reason for a recall than "Gray Davis sucks" is.
First, the country is not meant to be a democracy as defined by the California recall, and with good reason: the founders did not intend for political processes to be used when the reason is purely political. Allowing voters to recall elected officials at any point is not necessarily a good idea.
Second, and more importantly, voters just had a chance to throw Gray Davis out last November. It's not as if people didn't have a chance to register their disapproval with Davis - they did, and they voted for him. There isn't anything about Davis that people know now that they didn't know at the time of the election.
Recall supporters also argued that there wasn't a real choice in the November election, for Davis spent 10 million dollars to make sure that an unelectable Republican was his opponent. It's a sad argument that reveals the hollowness of the whole campaign. Any political expert will tell you that even a candidate as poor as Bill Simon is never a sure loser when he or she is challenging an incumbent as unpopular as Davis.
Also, while Davis' use of money in a Republican primary is unseemly, he did not force Republican primary voters to choose a poor candidate.
Republican primary voters had several strong candidates available to challenge Davis, and they, on their own, went into voting booths and selected the only person Davis could beat.
If recall supporters allowed themselves to be influenced by ads in last year's election, the fault was theirs.
Finally, supporters argue that since only people who voted in last year's election could sign recall petitions, the process prevented outsiders and uninterested parties from overwhelming the will of voters who actually chose to elect an official.
That is true, but it doesn't change anything. It would only make things more outrageous if the petition signers hadn't actually voted last year. Events in California were sufficiently tumultuous anyway, between the media circus around the recall itself and around Schwarzengger, Mary Carey's "Porno for Pistols" proposal and so forth.
"Recall Fever," as MSNBC as termed it, has even carried over into other states. People have called for the recalls of several governors, such as Nevada Governor Kerry Guinn and Connecticut Governor John Rowland - even in states that don't have recalls.
Some have even called for, although facetiously (probably), the recall of George W. Bush.
Back in California, some are threatening to launch another recall against anyone that replaces Davis. I'm extremely thankful that my state, New York, doesn't allow recalls.
By the time you read this, the recall will be over and Schwarzenegger will probably be the new governor. He may already have killed Arianna Huffington, as he apparently promised to do in the debate. Democrats may be trying to recall him (please no).
In any case, I'll be glad when it's over, no matter how it turns out, and I can once again watch cable news and avoid work in peace.
Statements by California Recall Candidates
"Wear less clothes." Mary Carey, in response to a question on how to solve global warming.
"My pencils will remind voters that they have the power to make history at the ballot box." Brooke Adams.
"Gallagher for President." Headline on the Gallagher for California Governor Web site.
"Please vote for me, thus breaking the seventh seal and incurring Armageddon." Trek Kelly.
"The Capitol building will be painted hot pink." Angelyne, on one thing she'd do if elected.
"Let's recondition the wind turbines throughout the state." David Laughing Horse Robinson, on how to solve the energy problem.
"Crikey. Get your filthy hands off my body." Todd Lewis, on abortion.
"The media is completely obsessed with my underwear." Georgy Russell.
"He goes on to talk about logs in people's eyes." Georgy again; I have no idea what it is in reference to.
"Darrell has a brother, and his brother's name is Darrell." Georgy again.
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