History is being made in California ““ soon the people will
face their first recall election. A special election is taking
place in October to allow the people to decide whether or not to
keep Gray Davis as governor. The success of the recall effort begs
the question: Is the recall effort democracy in action?
The process of selecting candidates for the major political
parties did not fail in March 2002. The Democratic Party, the
Republican Party and the Green Party all selected their candidates.
And certainly the general election in November 2002 was not
interrupted. There were no disturbances, no ballots uncounted and
no repealed voting rights a la Florida in the 2000 presidential
election. The democratic process in California was absolutely
successful last year.
This success casts a new light on the recall effort. The recall
effort began when disgruntled conservative radio talk show hosts
started to call for the recall of Gray Davis. It began even before
the state Legislature could begin its new term. The champion of the
recall effort, Darrell Issa, has spent millions to make it
successful and to put his own name in for governor. Issa formed his
“Issa for governor” political action committee before
the recall had been officially certified by the California
secretary of state.
The recall effort stands in contrast to the normal election
process. The impact a small percentage of loud voices and deep
pockets has had in orchestrating this recall bespeaks a process
that is markedly undemocratic.
In order to solve the economic problems of the state,
bi-partisan action, not a recall, is necessary. That action,
however, is not being taken in Sacramento.
Wall Street banking firms have made it clear that unless the
state passes tax increases similar to the increases proposed by
Davis but opposed by Republicans in the Legislature,
California’s credit rating will continue to fall. The elected
Democrats tried to compromise with the Republicans to ensure the
minimal functioning of the state’s services, but without a
budget the state is nearly ground to a halt, and the public
services California’s citizens take for granted are nearly
halted as well. Services like education, Medi-cal, highways, police
and fire cannot function without a budget.
The success of the recall is hardly democratic in any sense.
Over one million petition-signers have decided for the remaining 32
million that the governor should face a recall. Republican
candidates scramble over themselves in order to get a position for
the governor’s seat instead of dealing with the problems they
were elected to deal with. The Republican segments of the
Legislature prolonged the budget crisis by delaying a
compromise.
This is not democracy in action. We cannot solve the problems of
the state by causing chaos; only by taking bi-partisan action will
we succeed in saving the state from this current crisis.
Corpuz is the external vice president of Bruin
Democrats.