One Recall Vote Down, One Still to Go : In Cypress, Council Members Rightfully Keep Seats; Now Comes the Decision on Allen

After much passion, the effort to recall three City Council members failed in Cypress last week, a testament to the good judgment of voters. But they and others residing in the 67th Assembly District will be asked to sort out various claims once again later this month in the Doris Allen recall.

In that race, there is no shortage of things to confuse and even disgust voters who might wish to understand what is going on. First, Superior Court Judge James T. Ford in Sacramento, ruling on a provision of the state Elections Code, found that Democrat Laurie Campbell’s nomination papers were flawed because the signatures were collected by someone else, although she originally contended she had gathered them.

Campbell acknowledged that she was a spoiler in the race. While the mystery of who put her up to running was left unanswered, the judge rightly ruled that she should be pulled from the ballot. He did so with a memorable explanation for the resulting need to reprint ballots: “The integrity of the election process has to be paramount. I guess no one ever argued that democracy is cheap.”

Whoever was behind the shenanigans, no one political party in American politics ever has had a monopoly on trying to confuse voters with the names on the ballot. This, however, turned out to be but one of many confusing elements in this recall.

While investigations continue, there has been intramural squabbling even among Republicans, with candidates attacking one another for their campaign literature and with accusations of a pre-election voter poll being manipulated.

This is a race that, to have any reason for being, might be expected at least to offer constituents in the 67th District a fresh start after the partisanship in Sacramento during Allen’s tenure as Speaker of the house.

But no such luck. Voters will be justified if they conclude that they might as well allow Allen to serve out the remainder of her term anyway, since the selection of a new representative in the Assembly would have to be followed next year by yet another election.

There are now four Republicans and one Democrat in the winner-take-all race, which will help decide who controls the Assembly when legislators come back in January. But partisanship aside, forcing voters to think about succession at the same time they decide whether to oust Allen is a matter of manufactured urgency.

With term limits, there’s an appropriate time for picking a new representative. It’s the regular election.