Recall drive fails against Assemblyman Adams, who voted to raise taxes

The drive to recall Republican State Assemblyman Anthony Adams over his vote to increase taxes has failed. His district runs from La Canada to Hesperia.

In February, when Adams joined only two other Assembly Republicans in supporting tax increases to address the budget crisis, he predicted a backlash. The 38-year-old anti-tax crusader from Hesperia told reporters the vote may very well end his political career.

Sure enough, conservative Republicans launched a Web site with the headline “He lied to us,” and began collecting signatures to recall Adams.

But election officials say they’ve fallen short, collecting only about 25,000 of the 36,000 signatures needed to place a recall measure on the ballot.

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Adams isn’t out of the woods. There’s been talk in Republican circles of finding someone to run against him in next year’s GOP primary.

Adams has remained unapologetic about his vote. He said at the time that the budget crisis required people “to sacrifice their own personal agenda for what’s right.”