Recent Calif. recall 'cautionary,' official says

By Jack Gillum

The October California recall election that placed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger into power was an example of technology-oriented, fast-paced citizens correcting their government, the state's top librarian said Tuesday.

"It's not rocket science that we live in a high-tech, 24/7, DSL environment," Kevin Starr said, referring to the power of the Internet in voters' households, which has a strong impact on the progress and pace citizens expect out of Sacramento politics.

Starr, the California state librarian and one-time professor at Santa Clara, spoke to an audience of a little over 50 Tuesday evening in the university's Recital Hall.

"The drama of this recall has a cautionary note for politicians," Starr said in an interview following the talk.

The recall, Starr noted, reemerged as an "important tool" in state politics, which Starr characterizes as still being stuck in the 18th century. Starr originally observed the recall as being "circus-like."

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has tried to ally himself closely with the state's Democratically-controlled Assembly but has faced criticism in balancing California's shortfall in the billions, particularly surrounding proposed cuts to higher education.

"We will continue to cooperate with this governor, but we will not capitulate on the values Democrats and Californians hold dear," Democratic Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson said in a written statement Jan. 6.

Budget cuts have been a top priority for Schwarzenegger, who replaced former Gov. Gray Davis in a controversial recall effort last fall. Schwarzenegger and other Davis opponents used the deficit as a cornerstone in their campaigns.

Starr, the author of "Americans and the California Dream," spent nearly 30 minutes discussing the political history of California before skipping to the recall, namely discussing the impacts of progressive politicians in the state.

Starr responded with guarded optimism to one audience member's inquiry if Republican legislators' policies, combined with current deficits, would mean that the state is headed for a "train wreck" in the coming months.

Another asked if Californians understood how many social services may be cut to balance the deficit. "They only understand it when it's not there," he said.

But the true impact, the librarian educated at the University of San Francisco and Harvard said, won't surface for quite a while. "It will take time for historians and political scientists to analyze what happened," he said.

The lecture, "California and the common good: an endangered connection," was sponsored by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

û Contact Jack Gillum at (408) 554-4849 or jgillum@scu.edu.