A Republican group in Nevada wants to recall that state’s Republican Governor. And Republicans in Pennsylvannia want to change the law so they, too, can join the recall craze.
Charles Donefer comments:
If the recall wins and Tom DeLay can redistrict Texas in an off-year, then you can essentially kiss functioning political institutions goodbye for a generation. I’m not blowing things out of proportion here; I’m being completely serious. We used to have elections and redistricting at regular intervals. In between these political events was the actual governing, which is, depending on how you think, why you get elected in the first place or what you do to convince voters to re-elect you. Either way, there was a time to fight political rivals over who had control and a time to fight them over budgets, laws and the rest of the business of elective office. If redistricting or a recall election can be called at any time one party thinks it can improve its standing, then there won’t be time for governing. Right now, the Texas Senate isn’t doing the people’s business, they’re sniping at one another from across the state line – business has ground to a halt in that body.
You shouldn’t think that these are isolated incidents either. Democrats won’t stand for being on the defensive any longer. Already, there have been threats to redistrict Republicans out of Democrat-controlled states. If recalls go forward in other states, a Republican Governor could be in similar trouble very soon. I don’t think that Republicans know what they’re messing with.