Gray Davis was recalled for fighting Enron, Scott Walker remained governor for fighting unions

[Pryderi]

How much more evidence of plutocracy do we really need?

[polichick]

1. Says a lot about what our "democracy" is really about.

[shcrane71]

11. It's about money and corruption. nt.

[demosincebirth]

2. It is about how the truth come out in the media.

[chowder66]

3. It is akin to what is going on today in ways. Eerie ways.

I voted for Davis. Many of my friends voted to recall him which I found out later. They wished they had taken more time to figure this out. It was complicated and I think since there had never been a recall election at the time here people kind of fell into a trap.

It's a template for Republicans today. We had a version of Norquist (Ted Costa), Sal Russo (one of the founders of the Tea Party Express), Energy Scandal/Crisis (Enron, Rolling Blackouts), Issa (was the equivalent of the Kochs), Media, mainly radio driving the petitions, we were in a recession, Bush didn't step into to help with the energy crisis. Davis's hands were tied. There were debates on Spending vs. Revenue, Budget debates, Republicans saying taxes were to high driving business away, Illegal immigrant issues, the list goes on.

But this was all condensed into one state on a Democrat that had very high support originally.. but the Republican machine was overwhelming and because of it's success it still is in use today.

[HopeHoops]

4. Money talks.

[Dokkie]

5. My memeory is a little fuzzy

but wasn't there a care registration tax he promised to to implement or raise in the campaign and then he went ahead and raised it? Again, if WI unemployment was say 10%, there isn't enough money in the world that would have saved him from losing his job.

Cut or not raise the people's taxes and independents and fence sitting dems will reward you for it but raise their taxes? and you are gone. This idea that Gray Davis was recalled because he was fighting corruption is bunk

[ManyShadesOf]

6. Gray Davis was recalled for gridlock in the Legislature

which continued.

[TheWraith]

7. Actually a lot of the dissatisfaction was because he DIDN'T fight harder against the energy debacle.

Particularly after Enron imploded and it was discovered how much of the situation was manufactured while California simply had to roll over for it. Davis had also managed to piss off labor and teachers groups early on, so after he lost the middle during the 2001 energy debacle he didn't have a lot of support left, and barely squeaked by in his 2002 reelection by trashing his opponent and winning with just 47% of the vote.

Add to that he got hit by the auditor's office revealing that the $95 million dollar contract he'd signed with Oracle was substantially overpriced, right before he got a $25,000 campaign contribution from them.

[RZM]

9. If I'm not mistaken

Davis also spent money on the Republican primary, supporting the more conservative candidate who didn't have a prayer in the general (he ended up getting the nomination).

[pstokely]

8. Grey Davis was even hated by many Dems, Scott Walker was loved by nearly all Repukes

nt

[marmar]

10. Ain't that America.....for you and me.

nt

[ag_dude]

12. That's the first time I've heard it put that way.

I recall most were pissed with Gray because he WASN'T fighting hard enough against Enron and it was pretty clear how they played him.

[grantcart]

13. Grey Davis was recalled because there were major disruptions in

Electricity and he had no clue what was happening.

To be more accurate "he got recalled because he got duped by Enron".

If you are in charge and the businesses and homes only have power half of the day and you don't have a clear explanation then expect to be recalled.

[Bigredhunk]

14. And we...

Didn't have the power of a candidate as strong as The Governator running (sarcasm). You know a ton of people voted for him because he was The Terminator, right? People are that lame. They wanted The Terminator to clean up Sacramento.

For some reason, rw'ers can make a lame guy look cool...and make our cool guys look lame. Chuck Norris (a total loser) is cool to them, and to lots of others (teens love him). I think it's mainly because their side has no standards. For ex, we were disgusted by Edwards. They'd have made excuses for it. They never hold their people to anything. It's simply, the candidate has an R behind his/her name, so we fight for him. Doesn't matter if s/he's dirty (vitter). Doesn't matter if s/he's a drug addict (rush). Doesn't even matter if s/he doesn't hold true to their philosophies (bush spending like crazy, running up the debt, keeping things off the books).

[FiveGoodMen]

15. No matter where you live, go out your front door and look up and down your street.

Those are the homes of the traitors who brought us to this abyss.

While they remain there is no hope.

[aggiesal]

16. Wrong, ...

I didn't vote to recall Gray Davis,
but, Gray Davis was recalled because not once during his
campaign did he mention that there was going to be a $20B
tax shortfall.

Once he began his next term as governor, he immediately
mentioned the shortfall, and that pi$$ed off the voting public.

If he had mentioned it during the campaign he probably would
not have been elected for his next term.

[Pryderi]

19. Didn't the CA electrical crisis set the stage? nt

[aggiesal]

22. I don't believe so . . .

It was the states mandated budget law that stated that a certain
percentage of the budget was suppose to be issued to the education budget.
At the time I believe they were suppose to get something like $10B - $20B.

When Arnold took office, he immediately made an agreement with the
teachers unions to half that amount on the premiss that they would get
more back in a later years. But of course he reneged on that agreement.

The energy crisis certainly didn't help, and the fact that Arnold was elected
to be a tool of the energy companies by dismissing a $9B lawsuit against
the energy companies by the citizens of the State of California proved that.
$9B would have gone a long way to reducing the $20B debt we had at that
time.

I may be wrong with the above statements, but that's how I remember it.

[Raine]

17. There was much more to it than that. nt

[lunatica]

18. That's because the big money was on Swartzennegger, not on Gray David

Swartzennegger was pals with ENRON.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

20. Davis was a hack loved by nobody and tolerated by few

He had no impassioned base and had little interest in the office as anything other than as a jumping-off point for a presidential run. When faced with recall nobody had his back because the most positive emotion he brought out, even in democrats was indifference.

[mythology]

21. Given the different electoral structures in place, this comparision isn't that accurate.

Wisconsin's system very much favored the incumbent. Walker and affiliated groups were able to begin spending money much sooner, while Democrats had to switch from a primary to a one month general election. Further, by not being able to initiate the recall until after Walker had been in office for a year, it allowed for time for the anger to dilute. California had a much more compressed timeline. The election took place 76 days after the signatures were verified.

Additionally in California, voters had two things to vote on. One if Gray Davis should be recalled and a second question for who should be elected governor. That's not likely to be entirely clear to people that they could vote against the recall and also vote for the Democratic candidate to replace Davis.