|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
26%
Posted on 07/23/2003 11:26:11 PM PDT by bonesmccoy
Freeper Transcript of NBC-4 Los Angeles 11 PM News
Conan Nolan: Now, it's up to Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to set a special election date. But not so fast!
Bustamante: I'm opposed to this recall.
Conan Nolan: Bustamante said he will call for an up or down vote on Governor Gray Davis but says he will NOT plan for a second part of the ballot, the one with candidates to replace the governor if he's removed. That of course means that Bustamante would become governor!
Bustamante: And, what we need to be able to do I think at this point is .. is be able to just be direct and say that this is what my job is.
WEBSITE STORY FOLLOWS:
Gov. Gray Davis became the nation's first governor in 82 years to face a recall election, as California's secretary of state announced Wednesday that a Republican-led campaign once discounted as improbable had qualified for the ballot.
Davis, a career Democratic politician who was elected in a landslide in 1998 before his popularity plunged amid California's energy crisis and budget deficit, must face the electorate in 60 to 80 days, according to state law.
Secretary of State Kevin Shelley said in a news conference that counties had reported 1.3 million valid petition signatures, "more than 110 percent of the required signatures."
"This is the first statewide special election in California's history. The challenges are profound," Shelley said. "This could very well be one of the most important ballots our citizens ever cast."
Lt. Gov Cruz Bustamante said Wednesday he will schedule a recall election a day after Shelley's announcement. County elections officials have discussed Sept. 23, Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 as possible election dates.
However it was unclear whether voters would choose among potential successors to Davis at that same election. Although the secretary of state's office has long held that a vote on the recall would be on the same ballot as a list of replacement candidates, Bustamante said his role was only to set the date not to decide whether the recall ballot would include a list of possible replacements.
He has sought legal clarification and said he will conduct a Thursday news conference.
Despite the uncertainty, Wednesday's announcement was expected to touch off a mad scramble among potential candidates. If the recall election is held at the same time as the replacement election, they will have just days to announce whether they plan to run. They must declare their candidacies at least 59 days before the election.
The only declared major-party candidate so far is U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and businessman Bill Simon, both Republicans, are considering running, and Simon planned to make an announcement at a recall rally Saturday in Sacramento. Schwarzenegger has said he has not decided whether or not he will run.
The state's Democratic officeholders have closed ranks behind Davis and say they will not run.
Following Shelley's announcement, Issa said he opposed Bustamante's position that the lieutenant governor didn't have to call for a ballot with alternate candidates.
"The most important thing for California is that this election be held quickly and the governor be safely back in office, or he be removed and replaced immediately," Issa told KCRA-TV. "The whole idea that you'd have weeks or months of a caretaker would be the worst possible outcome for California."
If the recall proceeds according to Shelley's interpretation, the ballot would have two parts: The first section would ask people to vote yes or no on whether to recall Davis and the second would provide a list of candidates to choose from in the event he is recalled. Davis' name may not be included on that list.
If a majority of voters support the recall, Davis would be replaced by the candidate with the most votes, meaning a candidate in a large field could be elected governor with a relatively small percentage of the overall vote.
Davis allies had sought in recent days to block certification of the recall, asking courts not to allow Shelley to certify the election until their allegations of petition fraud by recall proponents were investigated. Some experts thought the litigation might at least delay certification long enough that Bustamante could consolidate the election with the state's March presidential primary, when a heavy Democratic turnout could help Davis.
Those efforts failed, however, and though more legal battles could lie ahead, opponents and proponents were preparing for a bruising and costly recall election.
Davis allies, backed by organized labor, were predicting he would beat the recall. Recent polls have indicated, however, that while the vote would be close, he would lose. The last governor to undergo a recall was North Dakota Gov. Lynn J. Frazier, who was recalled in 1921.
Davis, 60, a career politician who has won statewide office in California five times, was re-elected governor just last November, defeating Simon.
Although he was elected to his first term in 1998 by a landslide, Davis' standing plunged during California's energy crisis of 2000-01. A budget crisis further eroded his popularity and he won re-election by just 5 points in November over Simon, a novice candidate with a weak campaign.
This year's $38.2 billion budget deficit has already caused the state's car tax to triple, and Davis' approval rating has continued to sink.
But the fuel for the recall came from Issa, who pumped $1.71 million of his car alarm fortune into the drive starting in May. That transformed it from a long-shot nursed by Republican activists into a reality. Thirty-one previous attempts to recall California governors had failed to reach the ballot.
The involvement of Issa, a little-known conservative, has allowed Davis and his allies to cast the recall as a right-wing attempt to hijack the state, where Democrats have a 9-percentage-point registration advantage over Republicans.
Polls have also shown that voters are also concerned about the $30 million to $35 million cost of a special election, and about the prospect that a candidate could win with relatively few votes.
Recall proponents argue that the cost of Davis' mismanagement of the state greatly outweighs the cost of a special election. They accuse him of lying about the size of the budget deficit to win re-election, which he denies.
Davis Will Fight
Davis -- who has come under fire over California's $38 billion deficit, its electricity crisis and its slumping economy -- said that despite widespread unhappiness with his job performance, he was confident voters would keep him in office.
"Remember, there's a lot more people willing to vote against the recall than there are who think I'm doing a good job," said Davis, whose approval ratings have hovered in the low 20s in recent polls. "If you look at those voters, they say, 'It's not fair to blame this on the governor.' It's that sense of fairness that I think will carry the day."
An experienced and often aggressive campaigner, Davis said that in recent days he had become energized by the prospect of taking on Republicans in the recall effort.
"My political obituary has been written at least once a year. The voters, however, have responded different and have put me in office because they have supported what I've done," he said.
Still, Davis acknowledged that with a sagging economy and a colossal deficit, Californians face a variety of problems.
"I know they're hurting, I know these are tough times," he said. "But if I were the only governor in the country doing something wrong, then we wouldn't have 46 other governors struggling with their budgets, making cuts, having to raise taxes."
Meanwhile, the man charged by law with setting the date of the recall suggested he may not have the authority to set an election to choose a replacement candidate.
"The Constitution, the way I read it, says two things," Bustamante said. "It says I'm the person who has to submit the proclamation for the election, and it gives me the discretion to set the date. That's it. I don't believe in my read I have discretion to do anything else."
The decision on whether a slate of candidates to replace Davis would appear on the same ballot as the recall -- which is how local recall elections in California have typically been conducted -- was probably not his to make, Bustamante said.
"I suppose the Supreme Court will deal with that," Bustamante said. "It's not mine to deal with."
Recall supporters said they are prepared to take Bustamante to court over the matter if necessary.
Candidates would have to file campaign papers at least 59 days before any election.
The only declared major-party candidate is Issa. Tom McClintock, a Republican state senator from southern California who is popular among conservatives, announced Wednesday he had launched an exploratory campaign. Other potential Republican candidates include actor Schwarzenegger and businessman Simon.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Schwarzenegger's top political adviser said the actor had not yet made up his mind.
"Arnold is discussing his candidacy with his family," said George Gorton in a statement. "He has made no determination at this time as to whether he will run in a likely recall election. Nor has he made a determination that he will not run."
In a radio interview, Simon said he would announce his plans on Saturday.
Issa issued a statement Wednesday afternoon, reiterating his plan to run.
"Today is a landmark for California," the statement read. "Our problems are great, and they are not getting better. As much as any other reason, that is why we must recall Gray Davis and clean up the mess he has made of our state."
He planned to return from Washington on Thursday or Friday, earlier than expected, to formally enter the race, his spokesman said.
Simon, the Los Angeles businessman who lost to Davis in November, has also been considering a run. He told conservative Sacramento talk radio station KTKZ-AM Wednesday that he would "make an announcement" at a pro-recall rally at the State Capitol on Saturday.
Former Mayor Richard Riordan is also considering making a bid for the seat if it becomes available. "I will consider it, if Arnold does not run," Riordan told NBC4.
This Bustamante scum bag should be recalled now. He's decertifying 1.3 million signatures by not permitting an actual election for a new governor.
Sounds like the (R) is polling well.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exactly. They do not do it in California, nor do they play hardball nationally. Republicans are too concerned with appearances and fail to realise that the voters seek leadership, not politicians.
Bustamante has a valid point here, as there is a reasonable differeance of opinion, which must be settled in court. However, I still think that Davis will resign. Bustamante is setting himself up to be the next Gov. no matter how it is respolved: Vote, resignation or courts.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.