Jeff Denham Runs From the Recall - And From His Record

Jeff Denham has begun airing TV ads, starring Bill Jones, criticizing voters for putting the recall on the ballot, and claiming that Denham was merely holding out (for six weeks) last summer for a better budget.

These claims require us to ignore both history and the law - both of which show that the recall of Jeff Denham is a completely legitimate use of the recall, especially since Republicans have themselves used it frequently in the recent past, including to deal with legislators who failed voters on the budget.

As Democratic strategist Garry South explained in the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday, Republicans have used the recall for some rather trivial reasons:

"In 1994, they tried to recall Sen. David Roberti because he had co-sponsored the assault-weapons ban. In 1995, they tried to recall Assemblyman Mike Machado because he had committed the sin of voting as part of the Democratic caucus to re-elect Willie Brown speaker. Also, in 1995, they recalled two of their own members of the Assembly because they dared vote with Democrats in an evenly divided Assembly to a) re-elect Brown speaker or b) elect themselves speaker. Then of course, there was the recall of Gray Davis in 2003, funded by a rich GOP congressman who wanted Davis gone so he could get the job himself."

The Davis recall is especially pertinent here. The petitions to put the recall of Governor Davis on the ballot read, in part:

"[Governor Davis's actions were a] gross mismanagement of California Finances by overspending taxpayers' money, threatening public safety by cutting funds to local governments, failing to account for the exorbitant cost of the energy, and failing in general to deal with the state's major problems until they get to the crisis stage."

The one example of a major and modern recall election fits exactly with one of the premises driving the Denham recall attempt - that Denham helped mismanage state finances by joining far-right Orange County Republicans to delay the budget by two months last summer. And though Denham claims his budget stance was to ensure a balanced budget, his holdout had nothing to do with the state's long-term financial problems - he didn't hold out to ensure more stable revenues, and he didn't hold out to protect education funding. Instead he held out to demand extreme and unnecessary budget cuts. His delaying tactics jeopardized funding for local schools and hospitals. But rather than actually defend himself, Denham has decided to to whine about being picked on.

California law does not specify grounds for a recall. Instead it is up to voters to determine whether there are grounds to place a recall on the ballot, and then to determine whether the officeholder should be removed from office. The recall was created by California voters in 1911 to ensure that the public has a chance to hold their officials accountable for their actions. By criticizing the recall itself, Denham appears to not trust the voters to decide whether his actions merit removal from office or not. Instead he wants voters to wait until 2011 - when Denham is termed out of office, when voters will no longer have a chance to review his performance.

Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising. Denham's record doesn't stand up well to public scrutiny - so of course he wants to deflect attention from it. He told his constituents he would turn down pay raises - but then accepted a 20% increase in pay when nobody was looking. Denham claimed to be supporting schools, but actually voted AGAINST school bonds. He said he would work hard for his constituents but instead spent time on trips to Las Vegas and Sedona, missing crucial votes and hearings.

60,000 voters signed petitions in the 12th Senate district agreeing that there were grounds for a recall vote. They agreed that on June 3 voters should have the chance to determine whether these failures should be overlooked or whether Denham should be held responsible for what is happening in Sacramento. That's how California democracy works - the voters decide. If Jeff Denham isn't willing to defend his record to those voters, well, maybe that just makes their decision that much easier.