Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal...: Thoughts on the recall... (Sorry Brad)
David Holt does make some salient arguments AGAINST the recall of the Mayor, and it's worth reading. Here's an excerpt:
And despite what many people say, Herenton is not a Democrat. I don’t think he even really sees himself as one. He is elected to a nonpartisan office, gets most of his money from Republicans, most of his votes from Democrats, and has supported politicians from both parties. Seems like I would be a perfect candidate to sign the recall petition, right? Wrong. The Davis recall in California was wrong. Davis had done nothing illegal and was merely in a bad political position in the middle of his term that any governor would have been in in the same circumstances. It would be hypocritical for me to oppose that recall but support this one.
Click on the title and go read the rest...
4 comments:
I'm totally against a recall. Time, money, and energy is better spent finding a candidate, grooming him/her, and educationg the public. A recall is costly, disruptive, and reactionary politics.
I'm ambivalent. I'm not rabid about it nor am I against it.
I can't stand the guy and if the law allows us to take him out of office, then fine, if someone will do the work and 70,000 want him gone, then fine.
And letting these people who are such poor leaders to continue on for years before we hold them accountable in an election is not really acceptable to me. If we have the tools to stop them then fine.
I think the public should have the right to do something about someone in power they so abhor.
Brassmask,
I think your reasoning about the public's ability to "do something" is fair, but the public already has the ability to remove bad actors from office: Elections. If we want our politicians to be responsible then we have to be responsible too. A recall would deprive the Mayor of about one year in office. An effective recall would be costly in many ways considering that the transition would barely be over by the time for the proper election. It would be a symbolic move, and right now we can't afford symbolism.
Occasionally I will mention the I-word in relation to Bush, but (as odd as it might seem) I'm not a cheerleader for impeachment. Use the momentum that a recall/impeachment movement might have to create an atmosphere of change.
Besides, there's one thing missing from all this recall talk: a serious Democratic candidate who can hang on past a recall election. Show me that candidate, and maybe-- just maybe-- I'll change my mind about a recall, though I doubt it. Right now the cart is so far out in front of the horse it's not even funny.
Since I lived through the Gray Davis Recall, I can say that I felt my vote was invalidated, because the Rethugs basically came in and facilitated the situation that ousted Davis (being pimped and gouged by Enron) then, they blamed him for it.
Karma is a b--ch; now Californians want Ah-nold to hit the road; the same fools that voted out Gray Davis. They later showed up at the State Democratic Convention and apologized to him for being wrong.
Cynical me, I invoked what is now known as the Colin Powell Pottery Barn Rule - you voted for Ah-nold, you own him...
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