‘Throw-the-Bums-Out’ Recalls Are Costly : * Regular Elections Can Handle the Process of Winnowing Unworthy Officeholders

These are hard times for incumbents around the country, as recent national election results appear to confirm. The public is clearly restive, and term limits and a “throw-the-bums-out” mentality have many long-established politicians looking in the mirror and wondering if they are long for their current assignments.

In Orange County, this mood seems to be finding expression at the grass-roots level in an unusual number of movements to recall politicians people are dissatisfied with.

After the fires ravaged Laguna Beach, there was immediate talk of recalling council members who were perceived as overly protective of the environment, to the exclusion of public safety. This anger was evident even though one council member, Robert F. Gentry, lost his house to the fire, a victim along with hundreds of other people.

And that is only scratching the surface. In the past three years, 19 recall attempts have been launched by voters unhappy with either the efforts of council members or school boards.

Though these attempts largely have failed, they have left even the most resolute political leaders feeling besieged and blamed. And it is far easier to corner an identifiable local figure, who may be seen in the supermarket, than it is to blame Washington or Sacramento in blanket expressions of disgust.

Voters clearly have had it with raised taxes, public cynicism about the foibles and excesses of political leaders, and the flood of money and special-interest influence into the system.

One of the first to feel the heat, was Mission Viejo City Councilman Robert Curtis, whose support of a controversial annexation proposal led to a recall effort in 1990. Despite the spending of more than $500,000 to oust him, the effort failed. This was the only recall actually to get on the ballot; many others have failed in signature drives, some were abandoned and some still are in progress.

But even if the politicians aren’t run out of office completely, their campaigns, their attention and most important their pocketbooks can be hurt by the distraction of fighting a recall effort.

And the public should recognize that the terms that officials win upon election are not endless. There is a perfectly good way to recall a politician already in place in a representative democracy. It’s called an election.

Rather than waste time and effort, let the ballot box serve as the vehicle to unseat those who prove unworthy.