Golden State Twilight

The attempted recall of Gov. Gray Davis takes California into strange territory like no other event in California’s quirky political history -- not actor Ronald Reagan’s election as governor, not Proposition 13 and not even the vast unintended consequences of term limits. If rationality prevails Oct. 7, California voters will see this anti-government power grab for what it is, no matter how much they’d like to punish Davis for doing a grimly lackluster job. The recall should not become another destabilizing political fad willed by California to the nation.

There will be enough uncertainty and confusion in the next 70-some days to keep any political junkie dizzy. There are legal questions, such as whether there will be enough time between the Aug. 9 candidate deadline and the Oct. 7 vote to get ballots to and from servicemen and -women in Iraq.

Sacramento buzzes with strategy debates. Will the Democratic Party in the end field a favored candidate, even though that would make it easier for Democrats to vote in favor of recall? Prominent Democrats’ vows not to run have contained little caveats, like U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s “Nothing I know right now interests me in running.”

An Arnold Schwarzenegger candidacy could be a strong draw for GOP voters and many Democrats, but also a target for Democratic mudslinging. Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan has moderate cachet and his candidacy would be revenge for Davis’ successful efforts to bump him out of the 2002 GOP primary. Others, including recall bankroller Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), have limited ideological appeal. But this is all gossip and supposition.

After the speculative smoke clears Aug. 9, the unpleasant realities will remain. The state’s credit has sunk to new lows. Wall Street is fearful and bearish about California, doubting the prospects for desperately needed structural budget reform now that recall fever has set in. Political paralysis is likely to continue not just until the election is over, but well beyond. The Senate may be ready to vote for a no-taxes, paper-over-the-debt budget, but there’s no guarantee that the deeply divided Assembly will agree.

One of the blessings of democratic government is its relative stability. Voters elect officials and, unless they turn to crime, they stay in place until the next election. The ease with which Issa’s $1.5 million, with a boost from talk radio, bought the signatures for recall makes terms of office a very iffy matter. It’s one thing to pass silly or conflicting ballot initiatives, and another to toss out elected officials because the other side is angry.

When the late Rod Serling introduced his television show “The Twilight Zone,” he would intone, “There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man.” California is entering its own zone just as crazy as when Serling’s 20th century National Guardsmen rounded a hill and found themselves in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

As much as the recall enlivens the dreariness of the budget struggle, the use of recall as just another political tool may turn every governor into a George Armstrong Custer.