Difference between revisions of "Recall election"

From Conservapedia
Jump to: navigation, search
(California: Oklahoma)
Line 9: Line 9:
  
 
In September 1938, Los Angeles Mayor Frank L. Shaw was removed from office in a reacall election after serving 14 years. This results was the major victory of a multi-interest urban reform movement that successfully portrayed Shaw as the despot of a corrupt political machine financed by big business and underworld interests. With the aid of a police scandal and the wealth of one recall leader, the reform candidate won a landslide victory. After the election, the reform coalition disintegrated when the various single-issue groups found that they were not the dominant influence in the new city administration.<ref> Thomas Joseph Sitton, ''Urban Politics and Reform in New Deal Los Angeles: the Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw,'' Ph.d. Dissertation , University of California, Riverside, in Proquest Dissertations & Theses: A&I</ref>
 
In September 1938, Los Angeles Mayor Frank L. Shaw was removed from office in a reacall election after serving 14 years. This results was the major victory of a multi-interest urban reform movement that successfully portrayed Shaw as the despot of a corrupt political machine financed by big business and underworld interests. With the aid of a police scandal and the wealth of one recall leader, the reform candidate won a landslide victory. After the election, the reform coalition disintegrated when the various single-issue groups found that they were not the dominant influence in the new city administration.<ref> Thomas Joseph Sitton, ''Urban Politics and Reform in New Deal Los Angeles: the Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw,'' Ph.d. Dissertation , University of California, Riverside, in Proquest Dissertations & Theses: A&I</ref>
 +
===Oklahoma===
 +
Recall has the same effect as impeachment. Disgruntled Oklahoma farmers and laborers handed left-wing radical Jack Walton an easy election victory in 1922 as governor. One scandal followed another--Walton's questionable administrative practices included payroll padding, jailhouse pardons, removal of college administrators, and an enormous increase in the governor's salary. The conservative elements successfully petitioned for a special legislative recall session. To regain the initiative, Walton retaliated by attacking Oklahoma's [[Ku Klux Klan]] with a ban on parades, declaration of martial law, and employment of outsiders to 'keep the peace.'  He tried to call out the National Guard to block the legislature from holding the special session. That failed, and legislators charged Walton with corruption, impeached him, and removed him from office in 1923.<ref>Brad L. Duren, "'Klanspiracy' or Despotism? The Rise and Fall of Governor Jack Walton, Featuring W. D. McBee," ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 2002-03 80(4): 468-485,  </ref>
  
 
==Further reading==
 
==Further reading==

Revision as of 19:04, January 14, 2010

A recall election is an election called in the middle of an elected official's term of office when a sufficient proportion of the electorate deems it intolerable or inappropriate to allow that official to complete his term. Its use is rare, and usually confined to local offices such as school boards and city councils.

Eighteen states, mostly in the western United States, provide, in their laws, for the mid-term recall of state-level elected officials.[1] Federal law does not provide for the popular recall of a President of the United States, but the various State-level recall laws often provide for the recall, not only of State officials but also of their Senators and Representatives in Congress. (To date no Senator or Representative has been recalled mid-term from his office, but a case is now pending in New Jersey to test the proposition that a State may recall its Senator.[2])

Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger replaced California's governor Gray Davis, a Democrat, at a recall election in 2003.

History

In the early 20th century, the Progressive Movement, especially in western states, sought more direct democracy by promoting the recall, along with the initiative (the people petition to put a new law on the ballot), referendum (people vote on major laws proposed by the lefislature), direct election of senators (election was by the state legislature), and woman suffrage. When the territory of Arizona in 1911 submitted its new constitution to Washington in order to become a state, conservative President William Howard Taft insisted on removing the recall provision because it would allow recall of state judges. The recall was removed, Taft signed the statehood bill on February 14, 1912, and state residents promptly put the provision back in.[3]

California

A recall has been part of California's political system since 1911.

In September 1938, Los Angeles Mayor Frank L. Shaw was removed from office in a reacall election after serving 14 years. This results was the major victory of a multi-interest urban reform movement that successfully portrayed Shaw as the despot of a corrupt political machine financed by big business and underworld interests. With the aid of a police scandal and the wealth of one recall leader, the reform candidate won a landslide victory. After the election, the reform coalition disintegrated when the various single-issue groups found that they were not the dominant influence in the new city administration.[4]

Oklahoma

Recall has the same effect as impeachment. Disgruntled Oklahoma farmers and laborers handed left-wing radical Jack Walton an easy election victory in 1922 as governor. One scandal followed another--Walton's questionable administrative practices included payroll padding, jailhouse pardons, removal of college administrators, and an enormous increase in the governor's salary. The conservative elements successfully petitioned for a special legislative recall session. To regain the initiative, Walton retaliated by attacking Oklahoma's Ku Klux Klan with a ban on parades, declaration of martial law, and employment of outsiders to 'keep the peace.' He tried to call out the National Guard to block the legislature from holding the special session. That failed, and legislators charged Walton with corruption, impeached him, and removed him from office in 1923.[5]

Further reading

  • Allswang, John. California Initiatives and Referendums, 1912-1990: A Survey and Guide to Research (1991)
  • Baldassare, Mark and Katz, Cheryl. The Coming Age of Direct Democracy: California's Recall and Beyond (2007). 256 pp.
  • Recall rules in California

References

  1. "Entry for Recall Election," National Conference of State Legislatures, accessed 14 January 2010.
  2. Hurlbut T, "NJ elections division says Menendez recall illegal," Essex County Conservative Examiner, <http://www.examiner.com/Newark>, 14 January 2010
  3. Cindy Hayostek, "Douglas Delegates to the 1910 Constitutional Convention and Arizona's Progressive Heritage," Journal of Arizona History 2006 47(4): 347-366
  4. Thomas Joseph Sitton, Urban Politics and Reform in New Deal Los Angeles: the Recall of Mayor Frank L. Shaw, Ph.d. Dissertation , University of California, Riverside, in Proquest Dissertations & Theses: A&I
  5. Brad L. Duren, "'Klanspiracy' or Despotism? The Rise and Fall of Governor Jack Walton, Featuring W. D. McBee," Chronicles of Oklahoma 2002-03 80(4): 468-485,