A Call for the Right to Recall Federal Public Officials

A call for the right to recall federal public officials the subject of this Big B File.

For at least the past two years, it has become evident that federal public officials from the President of the United States and members of Congress have been ignoring the will of the people . . . the Citizens in United States . . . the very people that pay their salaries and are their employers. They have been doing so with a great deal of arrogance, with the thinking of that they are better than us and that they know more than us . . . basically an elitist mentality.

The latest examples include recently passed health care reform bill, which was opposed by nearly 2/3rds of the American people in poll after poll after poll; the stimulus bills passed in 2009 and the TARP Bill passed in 2008; the hate crimes legislation of 2009 (a.k.a. gay-rights bill) that was attached to the Defense Department authorization bill; the passage of the Cap and Trade legislation in the U.S. House (which so far is dead in the United States Senate), among others.

Why does the Big B Files say that federal public officials are totally ignoring the will of the American people with a great deal of arrogance? Well, just look recent events:

  • The Tea Party Movement, of which I am a proud member, is the first genuine grass roots of the American people that the Big B Files has seen in years if not decades. The tea party movement has been attacked in numerous ways by federal public officials and their allies in the ancient media and far left fringe groups for simply exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceably assemble and tell their federal public officials that they have had enough with the reckless spending, forcing a agenda down their throats that they do not want, and that they are not going to take it anymore.
  • The town hall meetings of Summer 2009. During the town hall meetings (which the vast majority of Democratic Congressman and Senators refused to hold at all), many Americans . . .from small business owners to stay at home parents to Farmers to Doctors . . . were referred to as nut jobs, political ideologues, etc. in an effort to shut them up or make us irrelevant. The arrogance got to the point that people felt that no matter what the people said to the members of Congress, that it was going in one ear and out the other. The best example of this is an episode where Democrat Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee was captured on videotape chatting away on her cell phone while a cancer survivor was asking her a question on Health care Reform. (see below)

    That was the most glaring example I can find of any member of congress. Unfortunately, this is just a sample of the members of the United States House of Representatives and U.S. Senate and the President of the United States completely ignoring the will of the people, doing whatever they want, and behaving like they are better than us. The Big B Files believes this is the case on both sides of the isle and it leaves the American citizen believing they are being ignored and have simply had enough, which leads the Big B Files to the call for the right to recall federal public officials. The most recent example of a recalling of public officials is the recall election that took place in 2003 in the State of California. According to Reference.com:

"The political climate was largely shaped by the then-recent and costly California electricity crisis of the early 2000s, in which many saw their monthly energy bills triple in cost.

The public, due to the complex nature of the energy crisis, held Davis partly responsible. General speculation regarding the factors influencing the recall's outcome continues to center on the idea that Californians simply voted for a "change" —because Davis had mismanaged the events leading up to the energy crisis, e.g., Davis had not fought more vigorously for Californians against the energy fraud nor had he pushed for legislative or emergency executive action soon enough; because Davis had signed deals agreeing to pay energy companies fixed yet inflated prices for years to come based on those paid during the crisis; and/or because the fraudulent corporations had prevailed, and a corporate-friendly Republican governor could politically shield California from further corporate fraud. Others speculated that the corporations involved sought not only profit, but were acting in concert with Republican political allies to cause political damage the nationally influential Democrat governor. Still others, such as Arianna Huffington, argued that Davis's persistent fundraising and campaign contributions from various companies, including energy companies, made him unable to confront his contributors"

The recall election in California basically worked like this. The petitioners gathered the necessary number of signatures (in this case is equal to 12 percent of the votes cast for the office of Governor in 2002, the last time the office was on the ballot according to the California Secretary of State). The signatures are then verified by local elections officials, and then it is up to the Secretary of State to certify that the Election has been qualified for the Recall Election to be held. Once that occurs, according to the California Secretary of State's Website, "When the Governor is the target of a recall, the California Constitution requires the Lieutenant Governor to set the date of the recall election. It must be held between 60 and 80 days from the date the Secretary of State certifies that it has qualified, unless there is a statewide election within 180 days."

Once the date of recall election was chosen (which was held on October 7, 2003), The candidates wishing to replace Gov. Gray Davis had to gather a minimum of 56 signatures from within their own party and pay a $3,500 fee to become a candidate for Governor.

When the Recall election was held on October 7, 2003, the voters were given a ballot which first asked if they wanted to recall Gov. Gray Davis and then choose a candidate to replace him if the recall succeeded. If the majority (50% + 1) said no, Governor Davis would stay in office. However, if the majority (50% + 1) said yes to Recall Davis, then Governor Davis would be removed from office and the candidate with the most votes would replace him.

In the end, about 55.4% of those who cast ballots voted to remove Governor Gray Davis from office and 48.6% of voters voted to have Arnold Schwarzenegger succeed Davis as Governor of California. The message that was sent to California Political officials . . . do the will of the citizens of California or we will hold you to account and replace you.

    This is a call that the Big B Files wishes that would never have to make, but feels that there is no other option other than to call for citizens to have the right to recall federal public officials. The Big B Files believes that this is the best tool yet to keep the federal public officials in check and to get them to do the will of their employers, the American Citizens. With the threat of recall hanging over the heads of the President and members of Congress, they would be thinking twice before ever going against the will of the people . . . . . the American Citizens . . . that are their employers.

    And that is the Big B File. Click on the comments link below and tell me what you think . . . . I'm Bryan Hewing.


PROCEDURE FOR RECALLING STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS

Prepared by the Office of the Secretary of State (California) (Revised 2007)

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/recall.pdf

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