John and Ken of KFI-AM 640 have named Assemblyman Jeff Miller (R-Corona) as their "Political Human Sacrifice" for 2009.
John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou had objected to Miller's unwillingness to try to overthrow Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines (Clovis). John and Ken picked six freshman Assembly Republicans yesterday to target to demand that they back removing Villines and announced that one would be targeted for a recall. Today, Miller's name was picked out of a hat to be the one target for recall.
According to campaign finance reports, Miller has $975 cash on hand in his 2008 account and is in debt $101,878 from his 2008 race, as of December 31, 2008. His 2010 account is in debt by $2,027 with no cash on hand, again as of December 31, 2008.
According to the California Elections Code, 29,834 valid signatures are required to qualify the recall for election.
The recall effort against Miller is the third such effort in the wake of passage of the massive tax hike package this morning. I had blogged earlier this week about the effort against Senator Abel Maldonado (R-Santa Maria) while Jubal blogged earlier today about the effort against Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia).
Adams was the first Republican legislator to come out in support of the package after Villines and newly-former Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill (Modesto); Adams even came out in support before Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana).
Maldonado provided the final crucial vote to pass the package (although the small silver lining in the very dark cloud is that Maldonado killed the gas tax - unfortuately it came at the price of an income tax hike; although the average family will suffer marginally smaller tax hikes under the Maldonado tax hikes than under the original tax hike plan).
Will the recall of Villines, Cogdill, Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield), and Assemblyman Roger Niello (R-Sacramento) come next? After all, Villines and Cogdill negotiated the tax hikes in the first place while Ashburn and Niello joined those two, Adams, and Maldonado to back the tax hikes.
Miller is being targeted for not trying to oust Villines; if Miller can be targeted, then Villines, Cogdill, Ashburn, and Niello should certainly be targeted.
UPDATE (5:00 PM): Credit to Iron Grip for being the first on Red County to break this news. I was in the midst of writing this analysis but didn't publish it until Iron Grip already had broken the news.