If the Republicans get someone into the Governor’s Mansion, then all we’ll be hearing is how it was the legislature/companies outside the state/previos administrations/etc. that’ve caused the mess.
Latest numbers floated on the morning newscasts today were 30~60 million dollars. And the state itself doesn’t pay for that: each county has to pay to run the election itself. Freaking brilliant: we’ve money problems in the state so let’s piss away more money nobody has.
BY X~Slayer(ALE): “with just 70 some odd says before the election, there wont be time for smear campaigns and spin control.”
ya right
That’s utter bullshit. The relative margin of victory has nothing to do with it. Even if Davis had gotten 100% of the vote, he could still be recalled. All it requires is for paid signature gatherers to convince enough people to sign.
BTW, cite for how “narrow” Davis’ margin was, please.
What pisses me off about Gray Davis is the fact that nothing is ever, ever his fault or his doing. All of the problems we are now facing, he has blamed on his predecessor, or some big companies, or whatever.
That is bullshit. Over the years, Gray Davis has been elected to every major office in CA government! Either he hasn’t done anything in 15 years or so, or he hasn’t learned anything. Both choices are pathetic.
That being said, I did sign a recall petition. But now, having been informed about the possible repercussions of a recall election, I am not sure I did the right thing. I know I was really pissed about Davis totally fucking up my state (and lying about it), but if this does more harm than good, then I regret signing the form at all.
I do not know enough about Gov. Davis to form a worthwhile opinion.
However, I approve of the recall effort in principle.
It is a valuable reminder to our elected official about just who their loyalties should lie with, us or the vested private intrests.
Further, I do not see this as a threat to democracy. If Gov. Davis is doing well, he shall be restored to office. Otherwise, the people will have spoken again, & he will be gone.
I seem to recall (hee hee I made a bad pun) a certain official in Orange County who relied on Merryl Lynch to raise that counties budget thru the Stock Market. When the stocks fell, people wanted to string him up for bankrupting Orange county. So we magnify that by an order of about a thousand times and all of a sudden its “merely” stupidity?
I understand that those things (bribery, kickbacks, rigging an election, murder, pedophilia) constitute immoral, illegal and unethical behavior, what I dont understand is why you dont count mismanagement of the state along with those.
I already know Davis is a scumbag. I voted for the monkey that ran against him in the last election and unfortunately the monkey lost…narrowly. I would vote for the monkey again if he ran. I am not talking about anyone who would smear Davis, thats a given. I am talking about any of his opponents smearing each other to get to run against davis.
been here for 27 years come October :dubious:
<my underline>
And youre calling Bullshit on me?! why dont you back up that silly logic of yours.
and heres your cite:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/5089994p-6096554c.html
Perhaps we should just have elections every week, then.
IIRC, Bustamante is seeking guidance from the CA Supreme Court for a ruling on whether there is indeed to be a slate of candidates to replace Davis.
I would respectfully disagree. As a Californian, I think that most of the voters in this state are stupid as well as flakey, nutty, and loony.
California voters have shown a propensity to approve initiatives that will obviously be declared unconstitutional and then bitch and moan because they wonder how the courts can do that.
California voters have also shown a propensity to sign a petition for just about anything. I have no doubt that the Democrats would be able to mount a “rebound” recall in a matter of a few months if they wanted to.
But why would any Republican want to take over the job. As one of Davis’s strategists pointed out the new governor would inherit a staff entirely appointed by Davis, six consitutional officers who are all Democrats and all of whom can audit or investigate the new governor and make his/her life generally hell. The legislature is solidly Democratic and it would be nearly impossible to change that since the districts have been set to guarantee the incumbents winning (for both parties).
Then a conservative Republican who would take over, for example Darrell Issa or Tom McClintock (a longshot), would become even more unpopular with the voters if they tried to impose any of the normal parts of the conservative agenda, i.e., abortion restrictions or easing of environmental restrictions. Those just won’t fly in California. Even Pete Wilson knew that.
The recall statues are poorly drawn, the ability of the 58 counties to pull off an election and not end up with Florida 2000 aren’t good either.
But if the people of California dislike Gray Davis that much that they are willing to plunge the state into political chaos unseen since the Civil War, then we get what we deserve.
You may need another 27.:rolleyes: Bob Citron lost Orange County and other muncipalities money in his investment pool not by investing it in the stock market, but by leveraging his portfolio and investing in highly interest rate sensitive derivatives. He broke the law. And he attempted to cover it up. And he went to jail for it.
AFAIK no one is accusing Davis of breaking any laws.
Yes, I’m calling bullshit on you. There is no provision in the recall law that requires any particular “closeness” of the last election. According to your cite, Davis had 47.4% to Simon’s 42.4%. It doesn’t matter if he had 47%, or 87%, or 100%, he could be recalled either way. How is that “silly logic”? I can’t prove a negative - if you are aware of a provision in the recall law that says it’s only allowed if the previous election was “close”, then cite it. Otherwise, my call of bullshit on you stands.
Yeah, it says this:
That’s a sound 5% margin. Certainly not a landslide by any means, but a clear victory.
If anyone wants to question how whacky the CA recall statutes are, let’s not forget:
$3500
65 signatures.
That’s the sum total needed to qualify to be on the recall ballot as a candidate for Governor.
Hell, I may run. For $3500 I’d get a frame-worthy California ballot with my name on it as a candidate. It’d be a nice momento. And I might even win – I hear the job pays pretty good.
Those would have to be 65 signatures of people who are in the same political party as you to be precise.
If you don’t want to pay the money, you can get 10,000 signatures instead.
So…Bustamante definitely doesn’t automatcially become Governor, or is that what he’s seeking the court decision on?
Like I said, the Looeygov may not do much but doesn’t the state constitution say whether or not he or she succeeds the freakin’ governor? I mean, I thought that was their main job to begin with.
Well, the going rate for paid signature vultures is $1 - $1.50 a signature.
OK, so then threshold for being a gubernatorial candidate is $3565 - $3595.50. :wally
No, I will be a true grass roots candidate and have dedicated volunteers who will find 10,000 like-minded people who will want me to be governor!
I won’t use hired guns. 
We actually had to chase a professional signature gatherer out of my workplace. I’m work in a goverment building and you aren’t allowed to solicit petitions there of any type.
**
He’s specifically trying to determine both parts of that question. The constitution provides for him to take the job, should the governor be unable to perform, but the language of the recall (which was a ballot initiative as well as I recall my history), seems to have been written without consultation to the constitution.
Agreed but that’s Ballot Initiatives for you. See BobT’s post. Not to open a can o’ worms, but the Ballot initiative is most of California’s problem, not the governor or legislature. The downfall was Prop 13, which restricts state funding, which in turn results in all sorts of hairbrained/creative schemes/ways of financing state programs. The Ballot initiative has relieved the legislature of doing there jobs properly.
Its silly logic because a recall is NOT an impeachment. Its a re-vote. So any popular governor especially one who, in your exagerated example, has won a 100% of the vote, can easily win a recall vote. Any idiot can call for a recall but not every idiot can qualify it. You would have to be certfiably out of your political mind to ask for a recall on any governor who was doing his job right because the people will love him. It doesnt have to be in the california constitution, but it still works that way.
excuse my inaccuracies. Lets get it down to a fine detail
http://www.gsm.uci.edu/~jorion/oc/case.html
Are you saying that Bob Citron still had a job in Orange county by the time they decided to liquidate the investment pool?
His ass was outta there for mismanagement of the the portfolio that was entrusted to him, Then they looked at criminal charges. That is the way of things.
Find a problem
minimize the damage/eliminate the cause
fix damage
find scapegoat.