mario bolo | 29.09.2003 12:09

summary of recent recall news, background on Gray Davis and the two other leading corporate candidates, argues for recall

Darrell Issa: A Tactical Piggy Bank for the Left

These days in California a politicians support for criminalizing marijuana,further abortion restrictions, school prayer, and tax cuts for the rich doesn?t go over too well at the state level. So what?s an aspiring conservative to do? Try and sneak in the back door. But do they have the key, and who might come from behind as they try to get in the governors mansion?

According to recall legislation enacted by progressives almost 100 years ago, whoever gets the most votes in a (long) list of replacement candidates wins, so long as a majority of voters support the recall. Considering there is no instant run-off voting, if a majority of voters approve the recall, and the most votes any replacement candidate received was 13%, that candidate would be the next governor.

With that kind of undemocratic framework, one right-wing conservative, felt inspired to act. Darrell Issa spent $1.7 million of his fortune on a petition drive to recall Governor Gray Davis, about 5 years after a failed $10 million effort to win a senate seat. Before the 900,000 petition signatures were even collected, Issa was indicating an interest in being the next governor.

Yet just one day after another multi-millionaire Republican entered the race, Issa, crying profusely and choking on his words, announced he was withdrawing. Instead he was allegedly looking forward to joining forces with George Bush to create peace in the Middle East. Skeptics began to debate whether he had been muscled out by warnings that something new from an ?embarrassing? past might surface, or whether it dawned on him that he was no match against a pro-choice Republican that once smoked a joint and inhaled: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Yet there is another bitter pill for the man that gave his time and a large pot of gold to the recall effort. In addition to being overtaken in the polls by a Republican that shares little with Issa?s social agenda, the recall has forced Gray Davis to turn left in order to solidify his liberal base and defeat the recall. Along with him are elected Democrats in Sacramento that realize it?s not at all unlikely they may wind up with a Republican governor happy to use veto powers against a slightly more liberal legislature.

While in the past Davis was alienating fellow party members with his support for energy deregulation, opposition to medical marijuana, support for jail terms instead of treating drug law offenders, Davis has signed a flurry of legislation in the last few weeks that has: ushered in new environmental controls, created new privacy protections for consumers, expanded rights for gays and undocumented workers, overhauled the worker's compensation system and ?embraced a long-debated health care reform that could extend insurance? to more than 1 million Californians.

In addition to signing legislation that Davis has previously vetoed, he?s also been forced to do something else that, until recently, he had avoided: appear on the same stage with the Green Party nominee. The Mercury News notes that, ?For the first time in state history the Green Party candidate for governor has debated other major candidates, and has done so in a widely televised forum.? Traditionally, even ?liberal? institutions such as the ?Los Angeles Times? have barred 3rd party candidates from their debates.

But this time there was no chance to dodge the third party. Given there are over 100 names on the ballot, it would look suspect for ?Channel 5? and other stations to invite the usual two candidates. Nor would it be smart for Davis to pull a Schwarzenegger move and sit out the debates, considering it would confirm suspicions that he has something to hide. Trailing far behind in the polls, Peter Camejo nonetheless has spoken passionately more than once about the need for universal health care, increasing taxes on the rich, the unjust war in Iraq, and compared corporate executives with criminals-the rarest of sentiments on corporate dominated radio and TV.

Though the last couple months have been a breath of fresh air for those concerned with human rights and environmental justice, there?s little to suggest California?s liberal-left halcyon days will continue after the October 7 election. If the recall effort fails, like the last 31 attempts have, there isn?t a whole lot of pressure to keep Davis from veering away (again) from the grassroots that?s elected him. Such is the nature of electoral politics, made up of self seeking politicians and the deepest pockets that buy them?

If the recall effort succeeds, the current two most likely candidates to take the governor?s office have little to offer the majority of people in California. What they do have is a history of rhetoric and action in support of corporate power. Major media have returned their winks while marginalizing the few dissident voices.

Besides a blue tie, a hispanic last name, and a few other Democratic Party props, Cruz Bustamante has little history to motivate workers to back his candidacy. In fact, while he constantly reminds his audience that he comes from a farm workers family in the Central Valley, and even got his hands dirty in the fields when school was out, he has for a long time resided in heart and mind on the other side of the tracks. When a prominent ?United Farm Workers? organizer found herself in the same room as Bustamante she was visibly uncomfortable. A reporter asked what the problem was and Dolores Huerta stated ??It?s Cruz Butstamante?They asked me to help (his campaign) and I said ?Sorry, I have a methyl bromide memory??, referring to the chemical he and agribusiness lobbyists wanted sprayed on the fields and the people that work in them. ??He was never with us while Cesar (Chavez] was alive.??, she said bitterly.

Meanwhile, the other leading candidate, Arnold Schwarzenegger, lives in Los Angeles, a city that consistently has the worst air pollution in the country. Not surprisingly it also has alarmingly high rates of respiratory illness, especially among children in poor and working class neighborhoods downwind from the tony beachside enclaves where Arnold resides. Arnold?s contribution to the problem is no less than ownership of 5 Hummers- a vehicle that averages about 11 miles per gallon. In his own words he states, ?I?m very proud of the Hummer, because I created that industry.?

The "LA Weekly" warns its readers that ? A successful recall could lead to a series of recalls and a state of perpetual candidacy for officeholders, who spend too little time governing and leading as it is.? But when have politicians willingly led us anywhere but under the thumb of big money and into environmental and human rights disasters? When have the governors ever governed us for our benefit and not their own selfish interests? To the contrary, the only time they do something slightly positive, it is because of tremendous public pressure from the grassroots that has led the way. Sure, California is a long way off from the kind of culture that would be needed to sustain a less corrupt system of participatory democracy-one where politicians wanting to ?represent? (rule), have been made obsolete by an overwhelming majority of people who realize no one can represent us better than we can ourselves in local community run media, town hall meetings and all other areas of public life on issues we?re directly affected by.

In the meantime, perhaps it would be a good thing if Davis was recalled because, as the LA Weekly points out, it may set a trend of more recalls. Especially in progressive states, the left could then use the recall process tactically to force politicians to follow up on what little substance can be found in their campaign speeches, not just kickbacks for their major campaign investors. Darrell Issa has spent almost 12 million on two big races, losing both times. Maybe in the future he?ll want to try again. Let?s give him all the encouragement he?ll need!

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