Filing petitions to recall politicians is officially "in," now that yet another petition has been filed with the Secretary of State's Office, this one to recall Republican Representative John Kavanagh.
Kavanagh's "bathroom birther" proposal is what sparked this one, according to a press release sent to us by Raise the Bar Arizona, the group trying to recall Kavanagh.
The only folks who have proved themselves capable of a recall here are the people who successfully ran the campaign to recall ex-Senate President Russell Pearce. They now are now going after a recall of Sheriff Joe Arpaio (which is a bit short on cash at the moment).
The other recall effort is one against House Minority Leader Chad Campbell, hardly an effort worth making.
The recall effort against Kavanagh, at least on the surface, doesn't appear to be on the path to success, either, and doesn't really appear to capture Kavanagh's flavor.
"Following attacks on students, LGBTQ individuals, and attempts to thwart legitimate recall efforts, we have found it necessary to begin recall efforts against State Representative John Kavanagh," Raise the Bar Arizona's press release says.
The first part of that sentence references Kavanagh's proposal to strip funding from the Arizona Students' Association -- another example of Kavanagh doing the Center for Arizona Policy's bidding. One of Raise the Bar Arizona's chairs is also a member of that student association.
The reference to LGBTQ individuals is a reference to Kavanagh's "bathroom birther" bill, which would have criminalized the use of a public restroom if the sex on someone's birth certificate doesn't match the sign on the door. Kavanagh toned down his proposal a bit, instead planning to introduce another product of the Center for Arizona Policy to fight the City of Phoenix's recent anti-discrimination ordinance.
Kavanagh's opponents forgot a point or two here.
They missed the part about Kavanagh's heavy role in the construction and passage of Senate Bill 1070. They missed his announced intent to repeal Arizona's medical-marijuana law. What about his current effort to save Arpaio's ass?
It still might not seem appropriate for a recall attempt, but if the current county GOP chairman can try to recall a mayor for little more than being gay, then why not?
Raise the Bar Arizona still needs to come up with thousands of signatures from Kavanagh's Fountain Hills-area district, which you may not want to count on happening.