Expediency the mother of bad policy (Davis should have stayed)

SacBee ^ | 10-30-2006 | Dan Walters

[Amerigomag]

Remember the old adage about not wishing for something too much, because you might get it and regret it later? California politics are full of reminders about decisions that ignore long-term consequences. As the energy crisis was unfolding in 2000 and 2001, the state's politicians overspent a one-time windfall of income tax revenue, creating a chronic budget deficit whose multibillion-dollar effects also will be felt for years.

Democrat Gray Davis undermined his governorship by botching the energy and budget crises, driving his popularity so low that in 2003 conservative activists launched a recall campaign that ousted Davis and elected Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as his successor.

What if Davis had not been recalled but allowed to twist in the wind for three more years as the impacts of the energy and budget crises continued to bedevil him? Schwarzenegger or some other Republican would have been in a very strong position to capture the governorship in 2006, win re-election in 2010 and therefore the authority to dictate the redrawing of legislative and congressional districts after the 2010 census. But with Schwarzenegger termed out in 2010, and several Democratic figures itching to run, Republicans don't have a strong candidate. Thus the GOP's long-term interests might have been better served by not recalling Davis.

The unions should earnestly hope that McClintock or Strickland win this year and thus position themselves as leading candidates for governor in 2010 because they would be much easier to defeat than a moderate Republican in the Schwarzenegger mold, such as Secretary of State Bruce McPherson or Steve Poizner, the GOP candidate for insurance commissioner.

[Amerigomag]

The view from the left on the recall mistake.

Except for the assessment of candidates, it sounds remarkably similar to the view from the right,

[The KG9 Kid]

What if I built a time machine and killed Hitler and Ho Chi Minh? Would Schwarzenegger or Gray Davis have ever been governor?

What if the Medfly infestation hit while Pete Wilson was Governor? Would Jerry Brown be looked back upon as a smart capable stewards of California?

These questions and MORE answered on the next episode of:

IRRELEVANT IDEAS I FOUND IN MY BUTT.

[Amerigomag]

These articles will continue to surface because the recall was truly a case of unintended consequences. Everybody got snookered. If there was a chance for do-overs in California's political history, the recall would be near the top of the list along with the 1998 general election.