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Posted on 07/24/2003 7:50:35 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gray Davis will be the first statewide elected official in California history to face a recall election.
Last night, Secretary of State Kevin Shelley certified the recall, which could come as early as Sept. 23. That would give potential candidates until Saturday to make up their minds.
Clouding the process is a dispute that erupted yesterday among lawyers and elected officials over a long-held presumption that the recall election would include a vote for a replacement if Davis were unseated.
The once lightly regarded Republican-led Davis recall petition drive turned into a tidal wave that generated nearly 50 percent more valid signatures than necessary six weeks before the official deadline. Shelley said that more than 1.3 million valid signatures were turned in – well more than the 897,158 required to force the historic election.
"That is why today I have exercised my duty as secretary of state and certified the recall election," Shelley said.
A defiant Davis, who is a lightning rod for public anger over the state's financial crisis, promised to fight the recall "like a Bengal tiger" and professed confidence that "fundamental fairness" would prevail.
At a child-care center in San Francisco, Davis noted his history of beating the p olitical odds and vowed to do so again.
"Every time they say I'm road kill I continue to win because I have great faith that the California voters are fair and believe in fundamental fairness," he said.
By law, the recall election must be held between 60 and 80 days from yesterday's certification. That means it will be held on one of three Tuesdays: Sept. 23, Sept. 30 or Oct. 7.
Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante is expected to formally schedule the election today.
Bustamante and Shelley disagree over what form the election should take. Shelley said the law requires that there be a yes or no vote on recalling Davis combined with selection of a replacement from a list of candidates. Bustamante maintained yesterday his only obligation is to schedule the recall vote and that it is up to an obscure state commission and the California Supreme Court to decide if a successor election is to be held.
Under normal circumstances, Bustamante, as the state's second-highest-ranking elected official, automatically would become governor in the event of a vacancy.
Bustamante, Davis and California's other statewide elected officials are Democrats.
Shelley said last night he will conduct the planned two-part election and accept filing papers from replacement candidates unless directed otherwise by the court.
He also promised to do everything possible to avoid anything like Florida's 2000 electoral debacle, which suspended the outcome of the presidential election for six weeks.
Shelley acknowledged that the accelerated timetable mandated for the recall election will put enormous pressure on financially strapped counties that will have less than half the normal time to prepare for an election.
"No one wants a Florida-type election in California," Shelley said. "I certainly don't want it on my watch. But it's a challenge."
Only one governor in the nation's history has been removed from office in a recall election: North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier in 1921.
There have been 31 recall attempts against California governors, but none came close to qualifying for the ballot.
The Davis recall appeared destined for the same fate when it was launched in February by rival grass-roots groups – one headed by veteran anti-tax advocate Ted Costa, the other by former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian of Carlsbad.
Fueled by the Internet and conservative talk radio, the Davis recall effort was flagging until late spring, when Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, announced he would finance a paid signature-gathering drive on which he ultimately spent $1.7 million from the fortune he made in the car-alarm business.
Issa, who is running to replace Davis, hailed the recall certification as "a landmark for California."
"Now that the recall election is official, it is time for the state's voters to elect a new governor who will set a new and better course for California," Issa said. "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."
Issa is the first announced candidate for governor in the recall election. He will have company soon – perhaps lots of it.
Any registered voter who pays a $3,500 filing fee and collects signatures of 65 registered voters from his or her political party can run in the recall election.
By law, candidates must file no later than 59 days before the election. That means if Bustamante were to call the election for the earliest possible Tuesday, Sept. 23, candidates would have to file by Saturday.
Two other Republicans appeared poised to enter the fray and a third was thinking it over.
State Sen. Tom McClintock of Thousand Oaks announced yesterday he was forming an "exploratory" campaign for governor. Los Angeles businessman Bill Simon, the 2002 Republican nominee for governor, plans to make an announcement Saturday.
The Davis recall has been the subject of extensive national and international news coverage because of its historic nature and the possibility that actor Arnold Schwarzenegger will use it as a launching pad for a political career.
George Gorton, Schwarzenegger's political adviser, for several weeks has been voicing virtual certitude that the action-movie star was going to run.
Gorton issued a written statement yesterday that was more muted: "Arnold is discussing his candidacy with his family. 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."
Shelley's certification came after a state appellate court and then the state Supreme Court declined to block the action pending a hearing over alleged irregularities in the petitioning process.
That did not put a stop to legal wrangling. The late-developing controversy over whether the recall would include a simultaneous successor vote produced accusations from recall sponsors that Bustamante was trying to "hijack" the process for his own ends.
"If the lieutenant governor wants to be governor, he ought to run," said Thomas Hiltachk, attorney for the Issa-financed committee, Rescue California.
Bustamante said he is not sure he has the authority to set an election to choose a replacement candidate.
"The constitution, the way I read it, says two things," Bustamante told The Associated Press yesterday. "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 . . . I have discretion to do anything else."
Bustamante said a little-known statute provides that an obscure panel – the Commission on the Governorship – would petition the California Supreme Court to determine how a replacement should be chosen.
Local recall elections in California have featured a slate of replacement candidates on the same ballot as the recall. Bustamante said that is not his decision to make.
"I suppose the Supreme Court will deal with that," Bustamante said. "It's not mine to deal with."
Recall supporters said the law is clear and they are prepared to take Bustamante to court if necessary. Hiltachk contended Bustamante is misreading the law concerning the Commission on the Governorship. That panel, he said, only would come into play to resolve a succession dispute in the event of a gubernatorial vacancy.
Hiltachk said that in a recall there is no vacancy because the governor serves until the election is certified and then, if recalled, is immediately replaced.
State Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco, who by law chairs the never-activated panel, has called a news conference for this morning to weigh in on the issue.
Excuse me Governor Davis. How did you get that tire track across your chest?
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calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
Oh No!
This could be trouble!
CA: Obscure panel could be thrust into key role -- and a firestorm
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