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About this Blog
Direct democracy -- the Switzerland-inspired system of initiatives, referenda and recalls that allows voters to make and repeal laws in 24 states -- is poorly understood. It isn’t even very direct. Direct democracy has become blockbuster democracy: a half-billion-dollar international industry of signature gatherers, consultants, and election lawyers who use ballot measures less as a method of making law and more as a tool of mega-communications to boost some politicians, hurt others, and supplement lobbying campaigns.
Blockbuster democracy is a decentralized business that practices wide-open politics. This blog aims to provide a center of news, analysis and conversation for and about the industry. We will report from blockbuster democracy’s capital -- California -- but we’ll monitor ballot measures from across the country and around the globe.
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Recall Basics
Recalls are different than initiatives and referenda. You don't simply file the petition itself first. When and if the prison guards' union launches the process Monday morning, they'll file a notice-of-intent-to-recall petition. That document will list the reasons for the recall. It has to have the signature of 65 voters. Gov. Schwarzenegger will then have the right to file a response to the notice. Then the actual recall petition may be filed and circulated.
Recalls require more signatures than initiatives or referenda. The standard is -- an amount equal to 12 percent of the total number of votes in the most recent gubernatorial election, in 2006. That number is currently 1,041,530 signatures about 950,000 signatures -- a very manageable figure. With little competition from other ballot measures (there are currently no statewide initaitves on the street), It's likely that the union could qualify the measure for less than $3 million.
More basics are available via the IGS Library at Berkeley. And at the Secretary of State's web site.
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Recall is a mistake
Attempting to recall Arnold would be a breathtakingly stupid mistake. It will not succeed, and it will only serve to rehabilitate him by making him appear to be the victim of a vindictive, self-centered special interest. And it will pointlessly consume money and energy that could be used better so many other ways.
Tend to Agree
I tend to agree with David's post above. The prison guards' union has been battling the administration over contract issues, and beginning a recall may be nothing more than a way to create leverage. But I've interviewed leaders of this union several times in recent years, and they truly, deeply and personally despise Schwarznegger. Prison guards see themselves as tough guys, and, in their view, Schwarzenegger is a fraud as tough guy. Some think he's soft on crime and prisoners -- Schwarzenegger is the rare politician who has championed rehabilitation of prisoners. I've also heard guards complain again and again about Schwarzenegger's suggestion that prisoners be allowed to lift weights. The governor, who visited prisons in the '70s to encourage weightlifting, believes that the irson has the power to teach discipline and build self-esteem. Prison guards, however, think it's inherently dangerous to them to allow inmates to make themselves physically stronger. Joe Mathews Irvine senior fellow, New America Foundation www.newamerica.net/blog/blockbuster-democracy/