By far, the funniest thing I've read on a recall thread.
Posted on 08/13/2003 6:26:17 AM PDT by Brian S
By Nathan C. Masters CNSNews.com Correspondent August 13, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - With recent polls showing that two-thirds of likely California voters will vote to oust California Gov. Gray Davis, some political observers are suggesting that Davis may resign to avoid the personal humiliation of being the first recalled governor in California history.
But the experts are divided on how the resignation scenario would unfold.
In a CNSNews.com article published Friday, Shawn Steel, the co-founder of the Davis recall committee, compared Davis's situation to that of President Richard Nixon in 1974, and he suggested that Davis might resign to preserve his legacy.
In a follow-up interview on Tuesday, Steel explained that resigning would allow Davis to depart "in an elegant fashion" at a difficult time. "It would save him the humiliation of a devastating personal loss that will be on his watch forever," Steel added.
Steel believes that Davis certainly must be considering the possibility of resigning, but he doubted that Davis would actually do it.
"He responds to pressure, he responds to polls, and I think he's got to be seriously entertaining the idea that he ought to be getting out of this," Steel said.
According to Steel, Davis has two options: They include "a nice appropriate low-key resignation saying, 'You know, it didn't work, I'm sorry,' or a humiliating thunderous evacuation from the statehouse by the voters."
Ted Costa, whose Peoples' Advocate organization launched the recall movement, declined to call for Davis's resignation.
"I'm not going to call for him to resign, that's his choice," Costa said.
Costa added that he would view Davis's resignation as a victory, however, because it would prove that Davis "did not have the consent of the governed."
Davis recently told a Chicago Tribune reporter that he will not resign.
"No, no. I have an obligation to the 8 million people ... who went to the polls last November," Davis said when asked about the possibility. "They asked me to do a job in California; I'm going to do it every day they allow me to do it."
Election law unclear
Some observers have speculated that Davis might resign for the benefit of his deputy and fellow Democrat, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante. But experts in California election law told CNSNews.com that such speculation ignores one important fact: The recall election will proceed as scheduled, even if the governor resigns or dies.
If Gov. Davis resigns, Bustamante would automatically become governor, but whether he remained governor beyond October would depend on the results of the October 7 recall election, experts said.
The recall ballot will consist of two questions -- first, whether the governor should be recalled; and second, who should replace the governor if the recall is successful.
Election law experts agree that even if Davis does resign, the second ballot question (who should replace Davis) would remain binding. They also agree that Bustamante would temporarily become governor if Davis resigns.
But the experts disagree on whether the recall's first question (should Davis be recalled) will remain legally binding if Davis resigns.. In any case, the first question will remain on the ballot, they note, simply because those ballots are scheduled to be printed later this week.
Scott Rafferty, an attorney, represented the plaintiffs in one of the five recall-related cases recently rejected by the California Supreme Court. He believes the result of the first question will still be legally relevant, regardless of whether Davis resigns. That is, if voters say no to recalling Gov. Davis, that would - by extension - allow Lt. Gov. Bustamante to serve out the remainder of Davis's term, which ends in January 2007.
Conversely, Rafferty believes a "yes" vote on recalling Gov. Davis would also remove Bustamante from the governor's office.
"People would vote one way or the other," Rafferty said, "and the results would determine whether Cruz Bustamante stays in office as the constitutional successor or whether, as the Supreme Court has determined, he will be replaced by the plurality candidate, presuming that that plurality candidate is not himself," said Rafferty.
UCLA law professor Daniel Lowenstein disagrees with Rafferty. He believes that Davis's resignation would make the first question legally irrelevant, and thus the winner of the second question would become governor - regardless of how the majority voted on the first question about recalling Davis.
"Admittedly, the language of the California constitution is a bit obscure on the point," Lowenstein said. "How do you recall someone who's already retired?"
He said it would be "irrational" to do something like that, and he doesn't think the courts would go for it.
Davis resignation would alter political dynamics
Davis's resignation would not cancel the recall election, but it would change the political dynamics of the recall campaign dramatically, Steel said.
If Bustamante is elevated to governor, he explained, Bustamante "suddenly becomes a bit of a supernovae himself" and thus gains the ability to energize Democrats.
"What it will do for sure is elevate Bustamante to as much of a hot public level as Schwarzenegger," Steel said. "If everyone's coalescing around Bustamante, this could really inspire the Democratic troops to get their act together, because right now they're demoralized, they're disheartened, and they're in disarray."
Steel noted, however, that along with a flood of media coverage, Bustamante would also receive the same critical cross-examination that the media have been giving Schwarzenegger.
Steel also believes that Davis's resignation would transform the election into a two-candidate race.
"The Republicans... are going to have to think, 'This is not a four-way race, it's a two-way race.' And they have to determine which of their three leading candidates-McClintock, Simon, or Schwarzenegger-has the best chance to beat Bustamante," he said.
Resignation after Recall
Even if Davis doesn't resign before the special election and he is recalled on October 7, resignation is still a possibility. The Secretary of State could take up to 28 days to canvas the vote, seven days to certify the election results, and ten days to qualify Davis's successor if he is recalled, meaning that Davis conceivably could remain in office for up to 45 days after he is recalled.
Because of this, Davis might come under pressure to resign immediately after the result of the recall is known.
Referring to a hypothetical future governor who is recalled, Rafferty said, "The honorable thing would be for the governor to resign, which would cause the lieutenant governor to become governor until the election results were certified."
It would be the honorable thing to do, Rafferty explained, "First, because the constitution makes clear that the governor is removed at the moment of recall, even though the [California] Supreme Court has indicated that he could continue to serve; and second, because the persons adversely affected by his actions would not recognize them as legitimate."
Rafferty explained that if the recalled governor remained in office, he could still perform a number of formal and discretionary acts, including appointing judges.
"All of those actions would be, in many people's minds, tainted," he said.
If Davis resigned after the recall, Bustamante would automatically become governor until the election was certified and the new governor was sworn in, which means that Bustamante would be forced to surrender the remaining three years of his term as lieutenant governor for a few weeks as governor. After his successor is sworn in, Bustamante would become a private citizen.
Whether he would like to or not, Bustamante would have no choice but to succeed Davis, says Rafferty.
"He automatically becomes governor. He ceases to be lieutenant governor so he has no place to go back to," he said.
It seems that the only way the demoMORONs can get anywhere in our society anymore is through the courts. So, they are whipping up the "murky"/"unclear what would happen" as an avenue to take it to the courts. I realize, and the article notes, that the CA Supreme Court has already said that the recall can not be stopped, however, they didn't comment on the recall if Davis were to resign. The line that bugs me is, "But the experts disagree on whether the recall's first question (should Davis be recalled) will remain legally binding if Davis resign."
The demoSCUMBAGs are notorious for using these legal tactics to suppress the voters will (see algore's systematic attempt to discount military personnel's votes). I do think that it is kind of groovy that Bustamante is basically screwed if Davis resigns. It is probably the only thing that will keep the demoSCABs at bay, since they appear to be supporting Bustamante just about as much as Bustamante. Even though Bustamante has said, "Vote No on the Recall, Yes on Bustamante", he is a demoLIAR.
Enough said.
California will be an interesting place in the next few years.
By far, the funniest thing I've read on a recall thread.
Several years ago in Missouri a dead man was elected Senator. In politics, everything is possible.
Hoo hah
By far, the funniest thing I've read on a recall thread.
Couldn't agree more! Was laughing good at that one.
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