Posted on 07/09/2003 11:37:10 PM PDT by LdSentinal
LOS ANGELES, July 8 — Gov. Gray Davis of California, who was re-elected only eight months ago, appeared likely today to face a recall election as early as this fall after his political opponents declared that they had more than enough signatures to put the question on the ballot.
Supporters of the recall movement said they had turned in 1,088,000 petition signatures by Monday and were preparing to submit 300,000 more by the end of the week. Under a state law, 897,158 valid signatures are required this year to place a recall initiative on the statewide ballot.
Recall organizers said they now had a sufficient cushion to guarantee an election and had stopped gathering signatures.
"It's a done deal," said Jonathan Wilcox, a spokesman for United States Representative Darrell Issa, a Republican from San Diego County who has bankrolled the drive with more than $1 million of his own money and who has announced his intention to run for governor. "The signature collection has stopped."
The California secretary of state, Kevin Shelley, whose office is responsible for conducting statewide elections, said he would not comment on whether recall proponents had gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot until the petitions were submitted to his office later this month.
"As the state's chief election officer, I have to be prepared, whatever happens, to run an election in March, November or October," said Mr. Shelley, a Democrat. "If this actually goes forward, it will be the first time there has ever been a certified election to recall a governor of California. There have been 31 attempts previously, but none has ever made the ballot."
A spokesman for Governor Davis said he was prepared to wage a fierce campaign to keep his job.
"His attitude is, bring them on," said Steve Maviglio, the governor's press secretary. "He's been elected to statewide office five times and three and a half million people voted for him last fall. They claim to have about a million signatures, so the odds are still stacked in the governor's favor."
The governor, a Democrat, is raising money to fight the recall effort, and he has been helped by a union-backed group, Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall.
"The reality of California politics is if you have enough money, you can put anything on the ballot," said Carroll Wills, a spokesman for the group.
The recall effort was begun in March by disgruntled conservatives. It has gathered momentum in recent weeks as negotiations to solve the state's financial crisis stalled.
Dave Gilliard, director of Rescue California, one of the main groups promoting the recall, said that his organization had gathered 180,000 signatures over the Fourth of July weekend. The group employed 1,200 professional petition circulators, many from outside California, to stake out shopping malls, baseball games and holiday picnics, Mr. Gilliard said. The circulators were paid roughly $1 per signature.
The number of signatures required is a percentage of the votes cast in the previous election.
An election could be delayed or averted by challenges to the validity of the signatures, which are now in the hands of elections officials in California's 58 counties. It will take at least six weeks to verify the identities of petition-signers and compare them with rolls of registered voters.
If the petitions are validated by Sept. 4, a special election will be held in late October or November. If the validation comes after that date, the lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, a Democrat, could consolidate the recall election with the March 2 primary ballot. Recall organizers are hoping for a fall special election because the March primary will carry the names of the Democratic candidates for president and draw a heavy Democratic turnout.
California Democrats, many of whom have dismissed the recall effort as an empty threat by a small band of anti-Davis conservatives, are now preparing for a fight.
"This is a coup attempt by certain Republican extremists," said Bob Mulholland, political director for the California Democratic Party.
But he said he welcomed the campaign as a forum for Governor Davis to make the case for his continued leadership and present a united Democratic front against a weak and divided state Republican apparatus. He said the state party was prepared to raise whatever money was needed to turn back the recall attempt.
"Darrell Issa has given Democrats an opportunity," Mr. Mulholland said. "The Democrats will have a united team on one side of the field and the Republicans will have half a team with half their leaders in the locker room."
Also today, the five members of the California Legislature's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender caucus announced their opposition to the recall.
"There has never been a governor in this state who has done anything to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights except Gray Davis," said Senator Sheila Kuehl, a Democrat from Santa Monica.
If the election is held, the ballot will have two parts. The first will ask whether the governor should be recalled. The second will list the names of possible successors. If the first question goes against Mr. Davis, then the candidate in the second section with the most votes wins.
The only candidate besides Mr. Issa who has said he will run for governor in a recall election is Peter Camejo, the Green Party candidate for governor last fall. A number of other prominent names have been mentioned as possible candidates, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, the actor; Bill Simon, the Republican candidate for governor last fall; and Richard J. Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles.
State Democratic officials are, for now, united against the recall. Every prominent Democratic officeholder, including the state's most popular politician, United States Senator Dianne Feinstein, has said they will not put their names on a recall ballot.
To qualify for the ballot, candidates need only to submit 65 valid signatures and pay a $3,500 filing fee, or submit 10,000 valid signatures, so the list of challengers could be long.
Many California Republican officials, including the Republican leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, have kept their distance from the recall effort. The White House and the national Republican Party have declared the question a matter for Californians to decide.
"The general view is that it's a bad thing for Republicans nationally," said a California Republican leader with close ties to the White House who asked not to be identified. "It comes across as a small group of Republicans trying to redo an election." He said that electing a Republican could complicate efforts to ensure President Bush's re-election, because the state would remain in fiscal and political turmoil even if Mr. Davis were removed.
Oh my goodness!
2 posted on 3/6/02 7:30 AM Pacific by grammymoon:
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