The Interocitor

The "New Recall" Threat

The NY Times editorial on the recall debate contains the following sentence:

Only Mr. Bustamante gave voters something substantial to ponder: the ominous news that Democrats are already plotting another recall if a Republican prevails.

This is an amazing sentence. One of few I've seen that invites a word-by-word fisking. But I'll just concentrate on the "new recall" threat that the NYT seems to have divined from the debate.

This would be the single stupidest thing that the Democrat Party has done in my lifetime.

Only a Wellstone conspiracist would think this a good idea. The reasons for recalling Davis are clear. Even people voting NO say things like: "Well, he's an incompetent and crooked jerk, but I think he won the election, and that's that." Hit them with another recall in 9 months time (there's a 6 month waiting period after an election), without a good reason other than obvious payback, and they'll revolt. Just about the only thing I can think of (besides, say, tanks) that would get a Republican majority in the legislature.

Please, please not that briar patch...

UPDATE: I erred in stating that there is a 6 month delay on filing recalls after elections. There is a 6 month delay for recalling someone again after an unsuccessful recall (CA Const, Art 2, Sect 18), and a 90 day wait for recalling local officers after election (Election code 11007), but I find nothing regarding a delay on recalling a statewide replacement candidate after a successful recall.

Posted by Kevin Murphy at September 27, 2003 12:17 PM | TrackBack