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Posted on 07/09/2003 7:30:58 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Organizers of the drive to recall Gov. Gray Davis claimed on Tuesday to have the signatures needed to force an election in the fall but many potential roadblocks remain on the path to the ballot.
Opponents of the recall could prevent or stall the vote through lawsuits and challenges to the signatures, which could take many weeks to validate. Recall supporters want a fall special election for a referendum on Davis' performance while opponents want to at least delay it to the more Democrat-friendly March 2, 2004, presidential primary.
"I would expect anything and everything to get thrown in the way," said Jonathan Wilcox, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa's campaign to replace Davis in the recall election. "The conduct thus far has been, I think, to obstruct and obfuscate and I would expect nothing but more (of the same.)"
Issa, R-Vista, is the only declared candidate so far, besides the Green Party's Peter Camejo, seeking to replace Davis in the recall. He has also been the main financial backer of the recall effort, contributing more than $1 million of his personal funds.
Davis supporters said they have yet to decide which tactics they will use to assail the signature-gathering and ballot-qualifying processes.
"Their campaigns have lawyers, our campaign has lawyers," said Carroll Wills, spokesman for Taxpayers Against The Governor's Recall. "Everybody's got lawyers.
"Because it's such an unorthodox and partisan process, there's no way we're going to accept their good word that everything was done on the up and up."
Recall organizers shut down their signature-gathering operations, claiming they have at least 1.4 million signatures. They need 897,158 valid signatures of registered California voters, equal to 12 percent of the ballots cast in the previous governor's race.
As of the most recent official count, released last month, they had turned in fewer than 400,000 signatures. The signatures are due to county election officials, who are responsible for counting them and verifying their validity, based in most cases on a 3 percent random sample.
If Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certifies the election prior to Sept. 3, then Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is required to call the vote within 60 days to 80 days. If certification takes place after Sept. 3, Bustamante has the option of consolidating it with the March 2004 primary.
Shelley's office has estimated the cost to the state of a stand-alone election at $30 million to $35 million, but significantly less if consolidated with the March vote.
Political analysts said the unprecedented nature of the effort will complicate its ability to be placed before voters.
Unlike ballot measures and other types of routine elections, in which uncertainties in the law have long ago been resolved by the courts, a gubernatorial recall has not gone through those tests, said Arnold Steinberg, a GOP political strategist who is not involved in the recall.
"With the recall, you don't really have a lot of precedent," said Steinberg, who in the past has worked on successful recalls of an Orange County assemblywoman and a Los Angeles school board member.
"Ambiguity favors opponents of the recall. Ambiguity may lead to litigation. The fundamental objective of the recall opponents is to have the election in March 2004."
Most political analysts said a March election favors Davis because more Democrats are expected to go to the polls for the presidential primary. But others say that might not matter that much because of the intense interest and media coverage the recall is generating.
Recall supporters have also complained that Shelley, a Democrat, has been working in a partisan manner to delay the process, in terms of the guidelines he has given to county officials throughout the state -- a charge that Shelley denies.
That could mean that recall supporters, too, could file a lawsuit, despite the potential for delay that the court system represents.
Sal Russo, chief strategist for the Recall Gray Davis committee, has in recent weeks alternately threatened to sue the secretary of state and backed off that threat.
"My guess is we'll end up being in court to try to get them to obey the law," Russo said Tuesday.
He said Shelley's office improperly told county registrars they did not have to work to verify the signatures immediately after receiving them and instead could work on the verification process later.
Shelley said he was very careful in interpreting the law, and included legal advisers in his office who worked for his predecessor, Republican Bill Jones.
"I had 12 attorneys look at this, including my two election counsels who were both Bill Jones election counsels," Shelley said in an interview. "So it was hardly a partisan group. They unanimously agreed that it was the proper reading of the statute."
"Clearly at some point there may very well be lawsuits from either or both sides. They'll be suing me and we'll have to defend the suits when the time comes. My hope is those will be limited, because ultimately we made the right decision."
In Los Angeles, City Councilman Jack Weiss has introduced a motion asking the council to go on record in opposition to the recall, mainly based on the cost of the election, which he claims could run to $50 million.
"This recall election should have a financial disclosure sticker on it," he said.
Retorted Wilcox, the Issa spokesman: "If it costs $30 million to recall Gray Davis from office, it will be the best bargain taxpayers got in five years."
| • MARCH 25: Petitions to recall Gov. Gray Davis certified for distribution. • JULY 8: Petitioners complete drive, claiming 1.4 million signatures. • JULY 16: Deadline to file petitions with county election officials. • JULY 23: Deadline for local officials to report latest numbers of verified and unverified signatures. • AUG. 4: Earliest date for Secretary of State to certify there are 897,158 valid signatures needed for a recall election. • SEPT. 3: Last day for certification in time to force a fall election. • OCT. 6 - Nov. 17: Election would be held on a Tuesday in this period depending on certification date. Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante must call a special election within 60-80 days if certification occurs by Sept. 3. Candidates -- any registered voter can run by paying $3,500 and getting 65 valid signatures -- will have 1-21 days to file depending on when election is called. • MAR. 2, 2004 -- Recall vote likely will be held on primary election day if certification takes place after Sept. 3. * For information on how to oppose the recall, contact Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall (formerly Taxpayers Against the Recall) at (916) 569-0898 or (213) 382-4111 or www.stoptherecall.com. |
I read it a little differently:
Opponents of the people could prevent or stall their vote through obstructions set by lawyers.
Petition signature verification is the most likely grounds. The weaseals will claim insufficient valid signatures in every county and force the disputes into the courts. The courts will dither and then decide in favor of Davis.
Once the signature gathering effort was known to be done by paid collectors, the weasels put their own people in the field. They each signed as many petitions as possible, often using "Donald Duck" or some such fake name. What better tactic to injure the recal effort could you think of? These weasels then gave the Davis henchmen (most, still on the state payroll) affadavits certifying to what they had done. Thus, the weasels already have better evidence about where the errors are than do the examiners. Hey, Davis and his people haven't looted California by being stupid! Recall is a non-starter.
But it is the RECALL of Gray that is the bastardization of the system.....
The costliness argument is like having a drunk driver running down the highway sideswiping other cars and heading for a road construction zone full of workers....but to stop the drunk driver, it will mean paying a highway patrol worker overtime to watch the construction zone.
$30 million to fix a $40 billion problem? I believe that is called a no brainer...which you think the dems would understand....
Has he dyed his hair just a tad 8-?
The California State legislature, demRatically controlled
Presents
California's Future ... A Coming Soon Steve Peace Production
Additional credits go to GraYout Davi$ for signing all the bills that derailed the Gol-Darn State and the complicit leftist media outlets.
If you loved Killer Tomatoes, You'll go gaagaa for ... Recall? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Recall!
Did you forget a "[sarcasm]" tag?
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