Posted on 02/19/2003 11:11:18 AM PST by Impeach98
Gray, Gray, go away -- in 2006
BY DEBBY MORSE
Examiner columnist
HERE'S A LITTLE news quiz. Fill in the blank in the following sentence and guess who said it:
"It's not a question of whether we should ________, it's an issue of how long we can afford to wait."
Did you guess it was George Bush calling for the ouster of Saddam Hussein? No, the comment was made by Howard Kaloogian, a Republican former state assemblyman, and the missing words are "recall Gray Davis."
Recall Gray Davis? Oh, yes. I recall him. Isn't he the one who was going to be the education governor?
He may be a schnook, but I don't think anyone suspects Davis of hoarding weapons of mass destruction other than big, heavy sacks of cash. Still, there is some momentum -- and some money -- in the recall-Gray Davis effort now under way in California.
Actually there are at least two efforts under way, the Recall Gray Davis Committee led by Kaloogian and a collaboration between outgoing state Republican Party Chairman Shawn Steel and People's Advocacy, an anti-tax group.
They say their dissatisfaction with Davis is over his mishandling of the state budget, his stance on taxes and his notorious campaign war chest. In other words, money.
So, let's see. The state budget is in trouble to the tune of $35 billion, and these people want to stage a special election just as soon as they collect the nearly 900,000 signatures needed to file their petition. It is estimated that a special election could cost the state $25 million, on top of which Davis is eligible to have his expenses reimbursed if he survives the recall.
That's a lot of taxpayers' money! I guess Republicans want to see Arnold Schwarzenegger in Sacramento pretty bad. Or is it Condoleezza Rice they want to install in the governor's mansion? (Psst: She's sort of busy right now. Sunday talk shows and stuff.)
Replacing the governor, if the recall drive were successful, would not cause the budget deficit to go away. Sure, we could end up with someone with saner spending habits than Davis, but the damage is already done and any successor would inherit it.
Could the real motive be just to send California into a bad wobble? Who would do such a thing to this sweet, complacent state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans and the cry for no war on Iraq is so loudly heard?
California is not well loved by the White House. Republicans lost every statewide election here last fall. The Republican candidate President Bush handpicked for Davis to run against, Richard Riordan, couldn't even make it past the March primary, allowing a bumbling Bill Simon to lose -- barely -- to an increasingly unpopular Davis in November. Riordan himself has been speculated about as a possible financial backer of the recall movement.
Aw, that sounds like nutty conspiracy thinking. Davis is not well loved here at home, either. Democrats are not only watching this endeavor, some are involved with it. Kathleen Connell, a Democrat and former state controller, has been mentioned as a possible financial backer. Pat Caddell, former pollster to Jimmy Carter, is already talking up the recall among local liberal Democrats.
Well, no matter who is behind the movement, it's likely to backfire. For one thing, even if some Democrats endorse it, it's likely to be seen as an ugly partisan issue, which could have the effect of galvanizing the majority of state Democrats to resist the Republicans. Davis might successfully defend his job -- and even if he were recalled, other, more desirable Democrats could run for the office. For another thing, Republicans haven't been doing well in statewide elections in California; who would want to jump on a bandwagon that can't steer straight?
As bad a governor as Gray Davis has been, an expensive, disruptive special election would paralyze state government at a time when it needs fixing, when the federal government is bent on having states pick up the tab for everything from social services to homeland security.
Besides, it would just give Davis another opportunity for more unfettered fund raising. California's new law limiting campaign finances wouldn't apply to this election. Anyway, didn't we just re-elect him three months ago?
Instead of recalling Davis, let's forget him.
Debby Morse's column appears every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in The Examiner.
Boy if that ain't
As I read this, she wants to leave Davis in office because somebody better could win. Huh?
As bad a governor as Gray Davis has been, an expensive, disruptive special election would paralyze state government at a time when it needs fixing
Yeah, it's a model of smooth operation now isn't it? The most important act of the legislature in the past weeks was to meet for 20 minutes to (belatedly) congratulate Reagan on his birthday. The fact that this enabled them to collect their per diem had nothing to do with it, I'm sure.
Besides, it would just give Davis another opportunity for more unfettered fund raising.
So let me analyze this statement: don't recall Davis because it'll just give him more opportunity to be corrupt. That's brilliant reasoning.
Instead of recalling Davis, let's forget him.
Translation: leave the guy who helped us get into this mess here and hope he can solve it. Riiiiight.
I think they hate him too, but for different reasons. Like he doesn't want to tax and spend enough.
How do you forget a sitting governor who has wrecked his state and is now intent on making matters even worse? What a moronic article.
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