Huber recall effort just more of same tired gamesmanship

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The state budget is in a mess. And after promising to shake things up for the better, at least one politician's approval ratings are down to 28 percent.

That was Gray Davis' level when he was recalled nearly six years ago.

But there is no serious recall movement rumbling toward Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He's gone, anyway, by the end of next year.

This recall train is headed toward first-term Assemblywoman Alyson Huber. She represents the 10th District, which includes parts of San Joaquin, Sacramento, Amador and El Dorado counties.

Huber defeated Republican Jack Sieglock in a close election last year. The seat was previously held by Lodi Republican Alan Nakanishi, who termed out.

Huber, a Democrat, grew up in Lodi and lives in El Dorado Hills. Her Lodi connection - she still has family in the area - makes her one of two state legislators with local ties.

Cathleen Galgiani, D-Livingston, is a Stockton native. She represents the 17th District, which includes Tracy, Lathrop and a segment of Stockton.

The three other Assembly members serving San Joaquin County live in Alamo, Ceres and Modesto. The three state senators who represent our area live in Davis, Modesto and Fair Oaks.

Huber is being targeted by a Republican activist who says she is too liberal for the district. No local residents had signed a version of the petition being circulated last week.

However, is roughly eight months in office long enough to determine: the type of job Huber is doing? And if you can determine it, is it worth a recall when the seat is up for election in 2010? Sieglock has already announced his intention to challenge for the position again.

But this so-called recall is the same type of political gamesmanship, jousting or whatever you want to call it that has resulted in California being in such a mess.

If you're looking to assign blame, take the entire Legislature to task for the way it has handled the budget. Year after year, we see the deficit increasing, funding for education and other programs decreasing and the budget deadline passing.

There was a time when California was thought of as a progressive state. We're on the verge - some may say it has already happened - of becoming a laughingstock.

Tell someone you're planning on releasing inmates from prison early, because it's too costly to keep them locked up. Then tell them the state is paying its bills with IOUs that banks won't accept. Then tell them your state has a $26.3 billion deficit.

Then check your watch to see how long they've been laughing.

How long does this continue before the can stops being kicked down the road, and someone picks it up and disposes of it properly?

Republicans and Democrats both are to blame for playing politics instead of truly trying to solve problems.

In a meeting with The Record's editorial board shortly after he left office, former state Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, said one of the things he found frustrating during the latter part of his tenure in office was that solving problems and helping people began taking a back seat to partisan politics.

We continue to move through rough times, with the economy struggling locally, statewide, nationally and internationally.

Let's hope the leadership develops to guide us through things expediently and rights things soon. Trying to form a recall of a freshman politician with roughly 16 months left in a two-year term just stirs the pot more in the wrong direction.

Contact Blount at (209) 546-8251 or dblount@recordnet.com.