Action to recall Chuck Quackenbush, our elected Insurance Commissioner, has been put into motion by Sandi Webb, a former Simi Valley City Councilwoman who head’s People's Veto. Recall Quackenbush petitions will be available for downloading directly from the People's Veto webpage (http://www.peoplesveto.org/).

Simi Valley was hit hard by the Northridge Earthquake. Quackenbush made deals with insurance companies which apparently shortchanged victims of the quake and resulted in substantial personal PR. In my opinion, his misconduct justifies recall.

Historically, petitioning has done by volunteer signature gatherers and direct mail efforts. The proliferation of Initiatives has created a growth industry of mercenaries in the signature gathering field. So great was their impact, that the Legislature gave them honorable mention on petitions, by requiring the following statement on all petitions: "NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC This petition may be circulated by a paid signature gatherer or a volunteer. You have the right to ask."

Now, the tremendous growth in participation on the Internet changes the ground rules for Recall, Initiative and Referendum petitioning.

Last year, in what amounted to a SEA change in California politics, a Referendum petitioning process spread like a Tsunami across the Internet! Initiated by Geoff Metcalf, whose vetothegovernor website (http://www.vetothegovernor.org) offered bonafide Referendum petitions on-line in PDF format, the effort targeted a gun control bill signed by Governor Gray Davis. While the Referendum effort failed the exercise did identify the impediments which hamper on-line petitioning.

Currently, Geoff has yet another petition on his website. This one is an Initiative Constitutional Amendment to prevent state legislation which infringes upon law abiding citizen’s right to keep and bear arms. It fits on one side of normal letter size paper.

These petitioning processes can be effectively used, over the Internet, in local jurisdictions as well as statewide.

In 1965, I chaired a taxpayer’s group in Hawthorne, California, which successfully executed the Referendum process to overturn an Ordinance of the City. Their "Urban Renewal Agency" was dissolved by a 2/1 vote of the electorate.

Heard about "sunset laws"? Laws which will automatically terminate if not renewed? We have the opportunity to "sunset" a law BEFORE it goes into effect. We have always had this power (called Referendum) in California. The Internet makes it practical.

Recently, there was an effort to amend the Charter of San Mateo County to create District elections for Supervisor. The petition for that effort was small enough to fit on one side of a single sheet of letter size paper. That effort was aborted when one of the proponents, Dick Green, moved out of the County. The San Mateo County Initiative for District elections is an ideal candidate for distribution of petitions over the Internet.

The Information Age has brought us a more open government. Internet access to public information is growing, but still has a long way to go. Ideally, with public information at the taxpayer’s fingertips, and two way communication with elected officials and administrators, changes could be effected in a more timely manner. The public’s books must be available on line, so that the ultimate "beancounter", the taxpayer, can audit them. Conflict of interest will rise to the top.

If the Legislature remains unresponsive on the issue of opening the books of agencies in the state, we taxpayers can petition, via the Internet, to get it done. Voter Registration databases, which now contain phone numbers, will be expanded to include e-mail addresses of those who choose to provide them.

On-line petitioning will be streamlined, and perhaps even extended to the national level. Then "We the People" may judiciously exercise our powers of Recall, Initiative and Referendum to recreate the limited government envisioned by the Founders.