Recall of Speaker Allen Hits Opposition

* As a little old political Independent just trying to get good government, I am writing to ask the good people of Orange County to tell their Republican leadership to pick up their recall marbles and go back to work.

Did Willie Brown outfox the Republicans again? Seems he did! Do they have some cause to be upset? Upset is not unreasonable! Are they handling it like the mature people we expect them to be? No, they’re not! Instead of good government, we’re getting the Hatfields trying to stir up the McCoys.

So please Orange County, on behalf of every person in the state, insist your people stop this recall nonsense and go back to Sacramento to do the job we’re paying them to do.

Goodness knows the state needs them there--like yesterday. Besides, these frivolous recalls are costing us taxpayers a lot of money we don’t have.

I’ve observed Speaker Doris Allen (R-Cypress) on C-SPAN several times. She appears to be a very competent legislator. Can we please get going and play the hand that’s on the table?

Surely the Republican leadership is perfectly capable of doing so.

JENNY HOUSTON

Fairfax (Marin County)

* I am writing to you as a moderate conservative who has campaigned for Barry Goldwater during his presidential bid and for Howard Baker when he ran for his first senatorial term.

In the early ‘70s, I switched my affiliation to Independent over dissatisfaction with the Republican Party’s handling of the Watergate affair. The recent recall of Paul Horcher, the pending recall election of Mr. Machado and the threatened recall of Speaker Allen reaffirm why I remain an Independent.

It is my opinion that the use of the recall as employed this year is an abuse of the process. While California law currently permits wide latitude in its use, the 1995 recalls surely go beyond its originally intended scope, and certainly go beyond what James Madison and Thomas Jefferson would have imagined (the U.S. Constitution is a template for California’s).

I personally will not sign any petition for a recall based on the reasons cited in the recall efforts of 1995 (I live in Allen’s district). No “high crimes” have been committed so far.

Therefore, the real motive appears to be punitive and self-serving. If a petition for the recall of Speaker Allen is successful, I will vote for the incumbent as a matter of principle based on the constitutional issues, and the dangerous precedent that these recalls set.

Our experience from the recall fever of 1995 should result in a new law narrowing the grounds for a recall before matters get completely out of control.

First we had single-issue referendums to bypass the legislative process. The new twist is recalls for retribution. We have an electoral process based upon scheduled primary and general elections with fixed terms for officeholders. It works. Let’s use it as intended.

BRUCE CRAWFORD

Fountain Valley