I actually agree with Rob Haney (but only a little bit)

Rob Haney's fake newspaper is touting its objection to recall efforts against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Rep. John Kavanagh, Sen. Russell Pearce and Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio.


I actually agree with Haney, kind of, that some of these people should not be recalled.

Recalling an elected official is not something that should be undertaken lightly.  It should be reserved for the most extreme circumstances.  For instance, if your State Senators abdicate responsibility and flee the state to avoid voting on a bill, like they did earlier this year in Wisconsin, then a recall is the appropriate response.


You can't just try and recall someone because you don't like them.  That's not how our system works.  We have regular elections, and we should vote out the bad guys at these elections.


With that in mind, there's no valid reason to recall Russell Pearce or Sal DiCiccio.  Both were known commodities when they were elected.


Pearce never pretended to be anything.  He's the same ineffective, divisive, single-issue nutjob he's always been.  The people in his district knew exactly what he was, and they elected him their Senator anyway.  That doesn't say a lot about the judgement of the voters in his district, but nonetheless, he's their guy.  We have the Republicans in the Senate to blame for elevating him to Senate President, which was clearly a mistake.  I'd love to see the Senate GOP correct that mistake.  So remove Pearce from leadership, OK.  Recall, No.


As for Sal, he is pushing exactly the agenda that he ran on.  The voters in Phoenix District 6 liked what he had to say, and they elected him.  There's even less reason to recall DiCiccio than there is to recall Pearce.  (That's not to say that I personally agree with all of Sal's tactics or his bizarre recent political moves to embrace the far right crazies as he prepares to run for higher office, but that's a another post for another day.)


With respect to Rep. John Kavanagh, the only reaction I can muster is... "who?"


The only person on the list that gives me pause is Joe Arpaio.  With the ongoing revelations about what's going on in Arpaio's office and the consistent scandals surrounding the man, a case could be made that he's lost the faith of the people who elected him.  And for a lawman, that's a serious thing.


So to recap, let's save the recalls for people who deserve them.  Like Tom Morrissey.