August 21, 2003
Awakened Woman's Circle is working for peace
'No' Vote on Recall
By Patricia Wiggins
California voters have only one alternative on Oct. 7 if they want to move forward with the least amount of damage to essential services during these difficult and challenging times.
They must vote "No" to the recall and allow Gov. Gray Davis to finish his second term of office to which he was elected just last November.
They must vote "No" to the recall and allow the State Legislature to continue to work on programs to support schools, provide health care for the needy, protect our rights to personal and financial privacy, preserve open space and stop urban sprawl, and work on the state's economic recovery.
They must vote "No" to the recall and not truncate the democratic process by letting the losing political party in last November's election buy its way to an election that threatens to turn our electoral system into a farce.
Californians have good reasons to be angry. They have good reasons to be worried about the economic health of the state now and in the future. And they have good reasons to be frustrated with the political process.
But to try to assuage that anger and worry and frustration by throwing Gray Davis out of office is a bad idea, plain and simple. And it unfairly places blame and responsibility for California's ills solely on the governor.
There's only one reason we are having this recall election. The Republican Party, which lost badly at the polls last year, is attempting to go through the back door to obtain the governor's seat by capitalizing on the energy crisis created by the energy industry and the state budget shortfall created by the economic recession.
This recall effort was no popular groundswell. It was the personal campaign of Congressman Darrell Issa, a Republican millionaire from San Diego who spent $1.7 million of his own money to buy every signature his paid volunteers could solicit for the recall petitions.
Issa and the recall pushers then tied their money-backed campaign to the emotions of the voters, blaming Gray Davis for all of California's problems, particularly the energy and state budget crisis and plunging the state into an emotional, 60-day dash to the voting booth on the notion that to oust the governor is the solution.
It's nonsense, and it's a disservice to the voters to suggest that these problems will go away if Gray Davis is ousted and replaced by someone else.
You can't blame the energy crisis on Gov. Davis. It was the product of piracy by energy producers, many of them financial supporters of President Bush, who manipulated California's energy system that was deregulated under former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson's watch and another former legislature and inherited by the people in office now.
Gray Davis tried to deal with the energy shortages fabricated by the industry beginning in 2000 but got little but cynical ridicule from the industry, the federal government and the White House. Requests for help from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission were turned back with cliché criticisms of California's effort to protect the environment.
You can't blame the financial downturn and resulting budget crisis on Davis, either. This whole country - indeed, the world - flourished during the DotCom boom. The recession that began almost three years ago caught everyone -the industry, government and the consumer - by surprise. It wasn't Davis' fault.
We all suffered, one way or another, from that downturn, and it showed itself in government with a huge drop in revenue. Gray Davis offered the State Legislature a budget proposal shortly after the New Year. It included painful budget cuts and some tax increases and the Legislature would not approve it. The Assembly and Senate took months to reach a compromise and the governor signed it as soon as it arrived on his desk last month. The delay was not the governor's fault.
And Californians aren't the only people suffering from the economic downturn. Revenue shortfalls and budget crises have hit almost every state in the country.
It's been a difficult year. No one is happy with being ripped off by energy producers. No one is happy with the economic drumming we are suffering. And it's not going to get better soon.
But to think we can fix it by replacing Gray Davis is wrong headed. All that will do is shut down the government while a newcomer, perhaps someone who has never held public office before - sets up a new government and starts us down a new path.
We don't have time for this. We have work to do now. If California wants to change horses, then let the campaigning begin for the election that is scheduled at the end of Gray Davis' second term in 2005. In the meantime, vote "No" on the recall.
Assemblymember Patricia Wiggins, D-Santa Rosa
7th District