Recall: Tool of Accountability or "an Affront to Representative Democracy"?

by Karl Kurtz

Recall, the procedure for voters to remove and replace a public official before the end of a term of office, is infrequently used at the state level but has been in the news in California, Illinois, Michigan and New Jersey in the last couple of weeks.  Eighteen states provide for recall of state officials, but the procedure is used far more often at the local than the state level of government.

Today's Sacramento Bee has a story about a recall petition against California Republican Sen. Jeff Denham that has qualified for the ballot.  The date of the recall vote, which is structured in a similar manner to the one in which Gov. Gray Davis was famously removed and replaced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, must be called by Gov. Schwarzenegger, most likely in conjunction with the state's June 3 state primary.

His name doesn't appear on the ballot, but state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is the indisputable driving force behind the recall of Sen. Jeff Denham, the first of a California legislator since 1995.

Ostensibly, the Democratic leader's effort to unseat a Republican who was easily re-elected in 2006 stems from last year's 53-day state budget stalemate. Denham joined his GOP colleagues in voting against the spending plan.

But beyond the bad blood over the budget, a successful recall would move Democrats, who hold a commanding 25-15 lead in the Senate, to within one vote of being able to pass a budget and raise taxes without a Republican vote.

On the same theme, the San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday editorialized against the recall:

The effort to recall state Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, is worse than an abuse of the recall process. It is an affront to the very principles of representative democracy.

The editorial goes on to charge Senate Democrats with political opportunism for initiating the recall against Sen. Denham rather than other Republicans because his district, which has more registered Democrats than Republicans, is a target of opportunity.  I couldn't find a response from Sen. Perata to these claims, but proponents of the recall campaign against Denham say that he should be held accountable for his vote against the budget.

In Illinois, which is not one of the 18 states that have the recall, the House of Representatives last week passed a proposed constitutional amendment to establish a recall procedure by a vote of 75-33.  The Chicago Sun-Times called the amendment "a blunt

show of disgust with Gov. Blagojevich", who has been feuding with fellow majority House Democrats (see Rich Miller's "Civil war in Springfield might be worse than we thought"). 

The fate of the recall proposal in the Senate is less certain, though, because of close ties between the governor and Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago).  A flippant comment by Sen. Jones about the recall bill in the House suggests the extent of the bad blood in Springfield these days:

"I haven't read the bill," Jones said.  Told the package's contents, Jones jokingly said as long as it subjected Democratic House members to recall, "I'll support it."

In New Jersey and Michigan things aren't as far along.  A former mayor of a New Jersey town, who previously spearheaded a campaign to restore Pluto as a planet, has launched a recall campaign against Gov. Jon Corzine, apparently because he disagrees with Corzine's policy decisions.  The campaign has a web site at recallcorzinenow.com, but it's a long step from there to gathering the 1.2 million signatures that would be required to get the measure on the ballot.

The Michigan Taxpayers Association has started a recall campaign against House Speaker Andy Dillon over his support of tax increases.  Supporters will have to gather 10,000 signatures from voters entirely within Speaker Dillon's district by May 1 to get the measure on the ballot.  A Lansing State Journal columnist says of the effort, "Recalls almost always are a rash, partisan-soiled scare tactic. They should be reserved for those who commit gross negligence or criminal acts and refuse to step down."   

"I, on the other hand, find the recall effort eminently reasonable," says conservative initiative supporter Paul Jacob (formerly head of U.S. Term Limits) of the Michigan campaign from Washington, D.C.  His column uses a term that I have not previously heard: "Blockers" are people who are the opposite of paid signature gatherers; they are paid to prevent voters from signing petitions.