An election held recently to recall California's former governor Gray
Davis indeed proved to be a landmark event in the history of the United
States of America. Not only was the former governor dismissed from his
office but he was ousted by the legendary movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"A recall has been part of California's political system since 1911. It
provides a mechanism for the public to attempt to remove elected public
officials from office before the end of their term of office" (FAQs About
According to Kevin Shelly, administrator of the recall, "Election officials
from the state's 58 counties reported more than 1.3 million valid
signatures, more than the 897,158 needed to trigger the first recall of a
governor in California history" (John Mercurio, California Recall Bid
For many months people had thought of ousting the governor from his
office since he had mismanaged the finances of the state and hid the true
dimensions of the problems when he ran the reelection last fall.
But the recall soon morphed into something broader â€" an expression of
misgivings about the governor and grievances toward the state's
In Davis, the recall forces found a vulnerable target. He is widely
leader who stumbled badly in the two major tests of his tenure: the
and the budget crunch. Through both crises, Davis made time to raise
money at a record pace, much of it from donors who stood to profit
And after nearly five years in power the governor is associated as
vitriolic campaign ads as any of the health and education initiatives
(Peter Nicholas And Jeffrey L. Rabin, Los Angeles Times Focuses On
Gray Davis was viewed as an indecisive leader since he had performed
badly on the two major tests of his career, namely the energy sho...