Double-standard on Recall Elections?

Image from source, Wonkette

Back when Wisconsin Governor Scott Wanker Walker faced a recall election, the prevailing wisdom was that recalls are for elected officials who have done something wrong. Not something unpopular, but committed a crime, or done something unethical. So, even though Walker was deeply unpopular, he managed to keep his seat, because Wisconsinites thought a recall wasn't the right thing to do.

Tuesday in Colorado, there was a recall election that was successful. A couple of legislators who'd been behind some modest gun control measures were recalled. They didn't commit a crime, or do anything unethical. They just went against the NRA, a lobbying group with very deep pockets and a fanatical base. Of course, recalling legislators for unpopular actions rather than crimes isn't without precedent. It was done in Iowa with state Supreme Court justices who'd decided in favor of marriage equality. In fact it was attempted in two separate elections, though it failed on its last try.

But I guess I'd like to see a little consistency in the conventional wisdom. Are recall elections for unpopular (or just unpopular with a small but vigilant group) a good thing or a bad thing?

[Excerpt]

NRA Fires Two Colorado State Senators For Doing Their Jobs And Voting On Stuff
Welcome to the USofNRA! And woe be unto you, any politician who dares to cross our not so new overlords in this quick-draw special interest group, by trying to maybe take high-capacity magazines from any maybe-crazy-maybe-not person who wants to get their warm, live fingers on a gun. Because in Colorado, where two rather awful mass-murdering shooting sprees were committed by some awfully deranged mass-murdering spree shooters in Columbine and Aurora, state Senator Angela Giron and Senate President John Morse were straight up recalled by 56% and 51% respectively of the maybe voter suppressed folks in their districts, because “Morse and Democrats passed laws that limit ammunition magazines to 15 rounds and require universal background checks on all gun sales and transfers. . .”


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