Special Interest Groups and Special Elections

IMHO, the vast majority of politicians are crooks, and I want to see them all recalled and thrown out.

Unfortunately, the only groups with the political clout to hold special elections are large special interest groups. I find these even more distasteful than the politicians they own.

This last year we've seen a spat of special elections run by large political groups who did not like a politician's position on an issue. The Republicans who wanted to limit collective bargaining to wages were slated for recall. Russell Pearce who sponsored the unpopular Arizona immigration bill is up for a recall election as well.

In both cases the politicians are being targetted for taking on extremely tough issues.

I love recall elections when they are driven by ethical issues. I am less excited to pound the "throw-the-bums-out" drum when the recall is driven by political issues. As you see, only the most powerful special interest groups have the resources to run an election recall.

The danger I see is that powerful special interest groups would have even more power if they can intimidate their opponents with threats of recall elections. Special interest groups wielding threats of recall elections will make our bad political system even worse.

Much as I dislike incumbant politicians, I am not in favor of the game of holding impeachment hearings or special elections based on political issues.

The best way to get rid of bad politicians are caucuses and primaries.