Recall against Denham is a sham
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Some state Democrats are beating up on State Sen. Jeff Denham, who represents Madera, by launching a recall election against him. His sin: He wouldn’t vote for the state budget last year.
Although he wasn’t the only Republican who refused to go along with the spending plan, he became a target for frustrated Democrats, who didn’t want to sit around in Sacramento during the heat of summer. The reason he became a target was that, in the previous year, he had gone along with Democrats to pass a budget, and they wondered why he wouldn’t do so last year.
Denham said he saw ill economic weather on the horizon, and was afraid an economic downturn could force spending cuts to programs he supported — public safety and education.
Guess what. He was right.
The governor already has ordered budget cuts that are pretty much in line with the cuts Denham had foreseen when he stood his ground against the last budget.
State Sen. Don Peralta, D-Oakland, meanwhile, lost an initiative election that would have given him another term in the Senate if he had chosen to run. He has become a tormentor of Denham. He has rallied his supporters among teachers and public employee unions, who pressured Denham last year to vote for the budget, to shop petitions around seeking Denham’s recall.
The recall, against Denham, of course, is a sham. Yes, Denham is to blame for holding the line against what he thought was a dangerous state budget, but if that is a recallable offense, recall all the state senators who stood with him. He was not a leader of that army, merely a faithful soldier.
