Joe Arpaio Flunky John Kavanagh Defends Retroactive, Unconstitutional Recall Bill
Kavanagh gets one thing right: Prop 121 failed by a more than 2-to-1 margin, but it did not seek to amend Section 8 and alter the recall process, which calls for a "special election" to be held, one that adheres to the "general election laws."
The framers did not envision a partisan recall election, so by Kavanagh's own yardstick, he fails. A recall is a "special election," not a partisan one.
Moreover, Kavanagh seeks, by legislative fiat, to deny the voters their right to decide the issue. He and Smith could have sought to refer the matter to the ballot in 2014, but they did not do so. Why? Well, by then, it would be way too late to save Arpaio's hide.
At least when Kavanagh wanted to undo the will of the electorate regarding the voter-approved medical marijuana law, he sought to send the matter back to the ballot in 2014.
That bill, House Concurrent Resolution 2003, never got a committee hearing.
If the Smith-Kavanagh recall bill makes it through the Senate (so far it has not been heard in committee there), the recall-Joe folks will undoubtedly challenge the legislation in court, and the elections law people I've spoken to in the past see it as a slam dunk for the pro-recall side.
I suspect Smith and Kavanagh know this, but they also likely know that such legislation would cause the recall people grief and force them to expend time and resources. It's a tactic, one doomed to failure.
Better to give Kavanagh a mud pie than a cake, I think. Because, as with the successful 2011 recall of his bud, ex-state Senate President Russell Pearce, he'll be wearing the former when this desperate gambit is shot down.
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