Thumbs down: Recall of Assembly speaker is a waste of resources

Here's another dubious undertaking for the summer - recalling the speaker of the California Assembly.

Recalls and bitter election battles are not rare in this political climate. But what makes this unusual and all the more absurd is that Speaker Anthony Rendon, a progressive Democrat, is not under assault by Republicans. He's being targeted by members of his own party and, in particular, by the California Nurses Association which is upset with him, but not directly involved in the recall itself, for derailing legislation that would have created a single-payer health system in California.

But here's the problem. SB 562, which would have eliminated insurance companies in the state and shifted the state to making the state government the primary source of health care services, was a fatally flawed bill.

For example, it offered no specifics about how the state was going to cover the estimated $400 billion cost of paying for health insurance for everyone. If California is going to properly evaluate shifting to single-payer it needs a more honest and detailed plan. This was not it. Rendon was right to shelve it, just as the California Nurses Association and those behind the recall should shelve this pointless attempt at political retribution. There are better causes worth fighting for right now.