Could Republican hopes be dashed in California?

[SnowFire]

I don't think the progressives wanted to legalize toppling the government for personal gain. That's essentially what the guy who funded the recall is trying to do.

Frankly, I don't like recall votes. I agree that they lead to too much campaigning, and a bit too much pandering to the people (as opposed to Senators who can be brave their first 4 years and pander in their last 2). That said, that's precisely what the progressives wanted- the ability to topple the government anytime it went out of touch with the people. The fact that one person was the main funder doesn't change the fact that there is, in fact, widespread discontent with Governor Davis. The progressives would be all in favor of getting rid of a governor with such low approval ratings.

Now, if one person funded a recall attempt and polls showed 60% of people liking the governor, and he still somehow managed to get the required signatures, then I can sympathize that this is against the spirit of the law.

[Ned]

Check out the comments from Willie Brown, Democrat Mayor of San Francisco, on why Davis is unpopular even among Democrats.

I personally hope both Schwarzenegger and Feinstein run. Both are high quality people I could vote for. If either won, I would be happy.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/31/MN82766.DTL

[Victor Galis]

Now, if one person funded a recall attempt and polls showed 60% of people liking the governor, and he still somehow managed to get the required signatures, then I can sympathize that this is against the spirit of the law.

The required signiatures are 13% of the people who bothered to vote in the last election. It was something like 900,000 in a state with 30 million people... think about that, 3% of the population was enough to force a recall vote. While, I'm not going to try to defend Davis, the recall and the way it is happening is no good.

Right now, you can have a fairly reasonable chance at becomming governor by paying $3,500, getting 65 signiatures, and legally changing your name to Arnold Schwarzeneger (note the different spelling). Depending on where your name ended up on the ballot, you might be able to confuse enough voters to defeat the other hundreds of candidates.

[Drake Tungsten]

I personally hope both Schwarzenegger and Feinstein run.

I don't want Arnie to run. I want to see Terminator 4, King Conan, etc.

[Giancarlo]

Riordan is who I want to see win this.. Arnold is bowing out is he not?

[St Leo]

I'm pretty sure that if I really, really wanted, I could get my name onto that recall election ballot (this would be really, really sad).

You are insane. The easier it is to become a candidate, the better democracy works.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Oerdin


It's a loop hole and you know it Imran. Even if you can't bring yourself to admite it.

It's not a loophole at all. The state has already had an assembly recall, the state has confirmation elections for judges, and even justices of the state Supreme Court. A CEO of any business doesn't have a free ride for four years once hired - if the shareholder approval is low enough, and there's enough support for a change, that CEO is replaced.

Davis presides over an organization with a 100 billion annual budget, tens of billions in each of special purpose reserve funds, physical assets, and debt, tens of thousands of employees (well over 100,000 in total). That organization, through it's delivery or failure to deliver services, through it's mandates to local government, through it's taxes and regulatory policies, affects the standard of living of every Californian, and millions of people outside the state who are impacted by the fiscal and economic performance of the state government, and of the businesses and residents here.

So how many more people should lose their jobs, how many more businesses should move, how much more should people have their quality of life put at risk because of the anti-democratic notion that this ******* foisted upon us in the last election should have a free ride to let his incompetence and lack of vision damage the state for four years? The people did not re-elect Gray Davis, the people were given two choices in the general election, Davis, or an even more complete moron. The average voter has no access to, no influence on, and no contact with the local offices of the two major political parties - who focus on whoring themselves to various special interests, and the common rabble be damned.

That is why there is so much strident accusation about the evil right wing "stealing" the governorship - because if the common rabble could enforce performance standards on the politicians we're stuck with, the special interests who buy their politician whores can't be guaranteed that their investment will be in office long enough to do their bidding.

Recall the bastard!

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Another issue is the budget deficit and why the budget is ALWAYS late. I mean year after year after year the Republicans and Dems fight over the budget and both refuse to compromise one inch. Do you ever wonder why?

I was listening to Capital Public Radio (the NPR affiliate here in Sacramento) and one of the speakers claimed Term Limits which were passed in the 1980's was the roote cause of this disfunctionality. The argument went like before term limits the various high party officials had leverage over the rank in file because you knew the high official would always be around and if the rank and file stepped out of line then he could be black listed and his political career was over. He'd lose all support of the state party and all of the money generated by the state party. Since term limits it people are capped at 8 years in office and it takes 6 years to get to a position of authority. Often times the rank and file can now ignore the party leadership and refuse to do what they tell them (like cut spending in certain areas or raise taxes) because they know the leadership will be out of office by the time the next election rolls around.

I thought that was an interesting point. Effectively the state parties are both lead by lame ducks who can't force compromise so the individuals are refusing to ever compromise.

They're full of ****, but neither party likes term limits, because the power of the incumbency allows special interest groups to buy their politicians more cheaply and more reliably. The reason for the budget hangups are the fact that each branch of the legislature has to approve any increase in fees or taxes by a supermajority, and the state has a sharp ideological divide, so the center who could move either way to create that supermajority is too small.

[st_swithin]

WEASEL 4 PREZ!

[The Mad Monk]

Wezil hasn't been here for a while.

[Sikander]

Good posts MTG, and I agree completely. These are common problems in one party states especially, and it's nice to see the scumwad power brokers back on their heels for once. Note that the Republican powerbrokers aren't any happier about this than the Dems because they wanted to have Davis drag down the rest of the Dems with him in time for the next election.

[CerberusIV]

Question - since whoever wins presumably will have less than three years to sort out the current mess and the budget deficit and is likely to get the blame for failing to do so at the next regular election, what serious candidate is stupid enough to run? Is this part of the reason Schwartzenegger isn't running?

[Stefu]

I think all Californians should vote for this girl for their new Governor.

[Victor Galis]

You are insane. The easier it is to become a candidate, the better democracy works.

There will be over 100 names on that ballot and the one that gains the most votes will win. That means, in theory someone could win with like 1% of the vote. If that is democracy working properly, then I guess democracy sucks pretty badly.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
That means, in theory someone could win with like 1% of the vote.

Yes, everyone is going to vote randomly for a name they've never heard of, there will be 100 candidates, and each will get one percent. And I suppose pigs fly on a regular basis where you come from two?

"One pill makes you larger... one pill makes you small..."