The recall election might have sent the California Legislature into a pensive pause. Instead, it has sent the lawmakers into hyperdrive.

Polls show that the Legislature is even less popular than Gov. Gray Davis. Yet inside the Capitol, the lawmakers seem oblivious to citizens' desire to legislate with them -- and them alone -- in mind. Instead of problem-solving, the emphasis is on accommodating the well-heeled interests, which is the very behavior that has gotten voters so mad in the first place.

Two issues offer a case in point: care for workers when they get injured on the job, and care for them when they are just plain sick.

The complex, costly, lawyer-oriented workers' compensation system takes care of the former variety of ailment. Health insurance, if the employer offers it, helps take care of the flu or more serious ailments.

Republicans and Democrats alike agree that the public is ill-served by the present workers' compensation system, which costs a lot and delivers comparatively little. Enter the well-heeled interests. From outside, capping the fees of physicians or medical visits to chiropractors makes sense. From the political insiders' view, it is seen as a loss to the doctors and labor. If they lose here, they want a win elsewhere.

Enter SB 2, pushed by San Francisco Democrat John Burton. It would require all California businesses with 20 or more employees to either begin offering health insurance (for the whole family for companies with 200 or more employees) or pay the state to help provide it. Such a "win" for the doctors and labor would make up for the "loss" they incur from reforming workers' compensation.

Businesses may get a break on workers' compensation premiums in exchange for a new one for health insurance. That would extend a strange and uniquely American way of viewing health care not as a public need, but as a workplace perk.

And what if the lawyers "lose" in workers' compensation reform because it reduces their role in pushing paperwork and ordering depositions on behalf of the injured employee? Never fear, a "win" may be looming with misguided new legislation to fatten attorneys' payouts when they sue companies for "unfair business practices."

This recall process is a primal scream for governance without so many games. The Legislature, the least popular branch of government in Sacramento, should begin to respect the public's screams. Otherwise, this recall may be only the beginning.