The new measure was quickly put to the test. In 1904, labor unions organized the successful recall of a city councilman who had voted to give a city printing contract to The Times, even though other newspapers had submitted substantially lower bids.
The Times quickly changed its view of the recall, calling it "freak legislation" that was "conceived in rottenness."
But in the next seven years, 25 other California cities adopted similar measures.
"The mood at the time was, there's corruption everywhere, and when we see corruption we must root it out," said Gerston of San Jose State.
Johnson, the future governor, came to fame as part of a Progressive crusade against machine politics in San Francisco. When an assistant district attorney was shot during a trial of the city's political boss for extortion, Johnson, a 42-year-old labor lawyer, successfully took over the case.
In 1910, the Progressives recruited Johnson to run for governor, and he stumped around the state for months in a crimson Locomobile promising to "kick the Southern Pacific out of politics in California."
In his inauguration speech on Jan. 3, 1911, the new Republican governor called for the state to implement the reforms that Haynes had introduced in Los Angeles. "While I do not by any means believe the initiative, the referendum and the recall are the panacea for all our political ills," Johnson said, "yet they do give to the electorate the power of action when desired, and they do place in the hands of the people the means by which they may protect themselves."
On Oct. 10, 1911, California voters agreed with him, approving the recall overwhelmingly.
"He had faith in the people, and the people's ability once made aware of the truth," said Richard Coke Lower, author of "A Bloc of One: The Political Career of Hiram W. Johnson." The recall was "a response to the conditions of the time and the charges that the people lacked any real involvement."
Over the years, there have been various amendments, and the Constitution now spells out everything from when the lieutenant governor has to call a special election after the petitions are certified (within 60 to 80 days, unless there's a state election already scheduled within 180 days) to who is subject to campaign finance limits (candidates, but not the incumbent fighting the recall).
The target of the recall cannot run to succeed himself, and if he resigns before the election is held, the recall goes forward. The lieutenant governor would temporarily run the state only until there was a winner of the recall (whoever gets the most votes). If the target of the recall prevails, however, he is entitled to ask the state for reimbursement for all campaign and legal expenses.
After the initial measure passed in 1911, some of the most ardent proponents of the new measure, including Haynes, acknowledged that it was not perfect.
"He expected that it was a very well-informed citizenry that would use it," said Sitton, a curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.
"Soon after it passed, Dr. Haynes had to admit that it could very easily be used for the wrong purposes," Sitton added.
In one of its first applications, state Sen. Edwin Grant was recalled in 1913 for opposing prostitution, which had angered constituents of the red-light district he represented in San Francisco. Since then, only three other state officials have been recalled in California despite 117 attempts.
There have been 31 efforts to recall a California governor, including an attempt to replace then-Gov. Ronald Reagan in 1968, but none of them qualified for the ballot.
Initiatives in California in recent years rarely have been handled with the populist spirit that Haynes and others envisioned.
They have become a regular fact of the state's political life, employed by groups that can afford to pay signature gatherers, often in pursuit of legislation that favors their industries or interests.
