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Columnists - Columnists: Ben van der Meer

Monday, May. 12, 2008

Denham recall a dopey idea

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Pepsi Clear. The Titanic. Movie projects featuring Mariah Carey, Britney Spears or anyone from "American Idol."

To that list of bombastic yet poorly considered ideas, add the recall of state Sen. Jeff Denham.

With Democrat and Senate Pro Tem Don Perata signaling retreat last week from the June 3 recall election, an autopsy seems appropriate, even if the vote will still happen and local activists vow to carry on.

Given that support for the recall is evaporating like an Andes glacier, though, put the odds of Denham, R-Atwater, being recalled at somewhere close to microscopically small.

What went wrong? A short list:

Lack of local Democratic support: Mayors, city council members and supervisors in Denham's 12th Senate District were largely united in their disdain for the recall, regardless of political affiliation.

Even state Democratic politicians were uninspired, if not in outright opposition. Former state Agriculture Secretary Bill Lyons Jr. of Modesto openly bucked the recall, even though his former boss, Gov. Gray Davis, was the victim of a Republican- sponsored recall in 2003.

Before Perata's campaign suspension announcement, Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston, also said the recall wasn't something she could support.

"Now, we'll see if my locks have been changed when I go back to office," she joked Thursday afternoon of her party-rebuffing stance.

But having worked against Davis' recall and an attempt to recall then-Assemblyman Mike Machado in 1995, she said, she didn't see why this one was more legitimate than those.

That lack of support among local party officials resonated among voters, who may have sent signals of "thanks, but no thanks," to party leaders pushing the recall.

Perception of origin: Even if top Democrats were unsupportive, the recall may have had legs if it seemed to spring from true grass-roots anger.

Supporters said Denham's refusal to vote for last year's state budget was a betrayal of campaign promises he made to support schools and children. But it was less clear who in his district felt that way -- or, for that manner, made a stink about it.

Because Perata, a Bay Area political mastermind, spent money to start the process, the recall was widely seen as gross political interloping from an area reviled by many Northern San Joaquin Valley voters.

Bigger fish to fry: This was the problem that recall organizers could least do anything about. But a high-profile presidential election, a whopping state budget deficit, and mundane stuff like keeping your house and paying $4 for a gallon of gas, meant Denham's supposed malfeasance in office just didn't resonate as a big deal.

Perata all but acknowledged as such, saying the topic was a distraction when he began serious budget talks with Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto.

If voters can't be bothered with a recall attempt because they've got more on their minds, you may as well sing arias in a wind tunnel for all the response you'll get.

The recall campaign's collapse not only brings up questions of why, but a broader view as to how the botched plan compares to other political pratfalls.

Just confining the scope to the valley, the attempt on Denham's political career still has plenty of competition in Dopey Idea Heights.

The letter questioning then-candidate Tom Berryhill's health in 2006's 25th Assembly District race was a jaw-dropping self-destruction by rival candidate Bill Conrad.

And it says a lot about the mistakes of then-Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, that the only thing that knocked his foibles off the front pages was the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The Denham recall isn't likely to end any political careers, as those other botches did. On the other hand, the millions of dollars raised and spent on both sides of the recall is a waste all the more glaring in tough economic times and a state reeling financially.

Let's hope, then, that the ultimate lesson of the defunct effort to bring down Denham is that the next time a politician or self-serving interest group gets a similar notion, they'll remember what happened here and think better.

For once, in such a situation, a little less democracy might be a good thing.

Bee staff writer Ben van der Meer can be reached at bvandermeer@modbee.com or 578-2331.