On Tuesday, California went to the polls in a Gubernatorial Recall Election, to recall Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and if successful, put him out of office. I always think that the word 'installing' a new Governor sounds quaint; as if you've just bought a new hot water heater and the plumber is coming around on Thursday to hook it up for you.
Given that no Republican candidate have won any statewide elections in California since 2006, the likelihood of Mr Newsom being ejected from the office of Governor was always slim. Polling before the election showed that Newsom was likely to keep his office but that doesn't stop people like former President Donald Trump from claiming that the election was rigged, nor does it stop Republican candidate Larry Elder from claiming likewise.
Even if you set aside the fact that American politics (as indeed the Anglosphere where there is a Murdoch media presence) is a toxic malaise of untruth, I think that the base model of American legislatures is constituted badly.
This particular mechanism dates from 1911 when progressive Californian Republicans introduced greater direct democracy reforms; in conjunction with women's suffrage, some nine years before the 19th Amendment was passed federally. To trigger the recall of literally any elected state official (including the Governor), there needs to be a petition with the signatures of at least 12% of all the number of registered voters at the previous election. I think that this in principle is an excellent idea. However, I think that the office of Governor itself, is a bad thing.
In the course of normal government business, the Governor/President sits outside of the legislature. Ostensibly this has to do with the separation of powers but in reality it results in the separation of responsibility. In the normal course of government business, neither the Governor of a state nor the President of the United States nor their executive cabinets are remotely answerable to the legislature. That's terrible.
In a parliamentary system such as Westminster Parliaments, the Prime Minister/Premier/First Minister is not only directly answerable to the legislature but because both they and their entire cabinet sit inside it, they are grilled on a fairly regular basis.
Had California had a Westminster Parliament, then Governor Gavin Newsom would have had direct questioning over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his administration's slow rollout of vaccines, and the imposition of restrictions. This would have taken place inside the legislature, instead of trial by media and trial by political shenanigans. Instead, rather than a vote of no confidence or some other removal mechanism, there is no real check or balance on executive power in either the Federal Government or any of the States apart from the power of the purse strings and the power of impeachment which very rarely happens.
Admittedly in California that also wouldn't happen because except for a very brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since 1970 and the Senate has been under continuous Democratic control since 1970. At the moment, Democrats hold a veto-proof supermajority in both houses of the California State Legislature.
Again this highlights the terribleness of the instrument of this form of separation of powers. From a purely mechanical standpoint, there is no other method of holding the Governor or his administration to account. Even in the current Western Australian Legislative Assembly where the two parliamentary groups are split 53:6, the Premier of Western Australia can still have his feet held to the fire and on record, by an opposition which can fit into a single taxicab. That's impossible in California.
Even though Gaven Newsom survived the recall election and remains as Governor of California, the amount of angst in the electorate which forced this election remains. The underlying grudges in American politics in general remain. Californians will go back to the polls next November yet again due to the election cycle calendar and although Mr Newsom could very well be removed from office then, or not, the problem at the heart of every single legislature in the United States remains; there simply is no direct answering for policy on a daily basis. That is a bad thing.
Aside:
What I find particularly infuriating about American democracy of late, is a repeated idiocy that wants to throw the trust of elections in doubt.
In the closing weeks and days of this recall election, Republican candidate Larry Elder's campaign looked suspiciously like Donald Trump's hectoring before both the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Elections. Mr Elder said that he expected "shenanigans" and repeatedly insinuated that Mr Newsom had already won the election due to fraud.
Let's assume that that is in fact true a second (even though it's probably nonsense). If there is the ability for "millions and millions of fake ballots" in widescale voter fraud, then why isn't there any proper independent electoral commissions in America?
The Federal Electoral Commission has 339 employees and the California State Electoral Commission has just 15. How come nobody wants to actually reform the voting system rather than blaming the voters?
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