Recall and Election Attracts
Spotlight by Gail Matsunaga
From Dateline (September 11,
2003)
Q:
In the long term, what does
it mean for us politically as a state? Will there be much change,
or will it be back to business as usual?
A:
Ironically, we may have come
through the worst of the budget crisis in the middle of all
this even though it was an ugly, miserable budget. Most of
the budget gap is gone. We might wake up to smoother sailing
after this is over. I don’t know if the state will shake
governmentally, although it will have a huge, political impact.
Q:
What do you think about
the recall in general?
A:
It’s obviously too easy
to qualify – 12 percent signatures of people who voted
in the last election is way too low. Yet, it’s not going
to be easy to change. The recall is not necessarily a bad
thing. This is just a misuse of it. Davis has not been accused
of any wrongdoing, malfeasance in office, or any of the things
you would consider for a recall campaign. It’s a terrible
way to conduct government, but it has done more to raise political
interest in the state government of California than anything
since Prop. 13.
Q:
Do you think voter turnout
will be higher?
A:
Yes, higher than anybody thinks.
The Los Angeles Times poll found that 99 percent of voters
were paying attention, far more than in the last gubernatorial
campaign. Certainly, voters are going to know much more about
state government now as a result of the recall than they did
from the gubernatorial race. So you never know where your
political education is going to come from.
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