Bye-Bye Shelley, It Was Great Crappy Knowing You
I have never trusted Secretary of State Kevin Shelley. From the time he took office, he has tried every stunt in the book to keep a fellow Democrat in the governor’s mansion as long as he possibly could. So I have known for a long time that Shelley was scum.
That said, once the Governator took office despite Shelley’s worst efforts, I’ve basically ignored the guy. As a result, I completely missed the largely unrelated scandal that has the Sacramento Bee calling for his resignation or impeachment (h/t: Daniel Weintraub, who helpfully provides the impeachment rules here.).
Somehow, I can’t see our overwhelmingly Democrat Legislature doing the right thing. It’s one thing for Republicans to impeach Republicans; it’s quite another for Democrats to impeach Democrats. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m not. If all else fails, I hear that statewide officers are subject to recall.
UPDATE: In a comment, reader Gary asks who would be responsible for validating the signatures and votes if the Secretary of State were subjected to a recall. Clearly, if someone as corrupt as Shelley were allowed to preside over his own recall, his odds for surviving the recall would be at least as good as Hugo Chavez’s were. Fortunately, the drafters of the California Constitution considered this issue, and dealt with it appropriately. Article 2, Section 17 of the California Constitution provides that “[i]f recall of the Governor or Secretary of State is initiated, the recall duties of that office shall be performed by the Lieutenant Governor or Controller, respectively.”
September 23rd, 2004 at 1:28 pm
I think I heard somewhere that Democrats equate the impeachment of other Democrats with cannabalism. You know, you really can’t blame them. They’re special. Besides, if Dems impeach other Dems, the impeachers would most likely have to then impeach themselves for the same offense. It’s a snowball effect. Messy, really.
September 23rd, 2004 at 8:06 pm
Shelley Must Go, Says Bee
While everyone else has been focusing on the presidential race, the CBS memos and Iraq, the Sacramento Bee and SF Chronicle have been turning over rocks in Sacramento and not liking what they find. Today, the Bee calls for Secretary…
September 23rd, 2004 at 9:06 pm
Statewide officials are also subject to criminal charges. I suspect that AG Lockyer wouldn’t mind eliminating a posssible primary opponent while burnishing his bipartisan credentials. If not, there’s always the feds.
September 24th, 2004 at 9:10 am
If there is a recall of the Secretary of State, who validates the petitions and then the vote? The SoS?
Moslems don’t inform on Moslems. Democrats don’t impeach Democrats.