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Posted on 06/17/2003 10:38:21 PM PDT by LdSentinal
California House Democrats say they've been awakened to the likelihood that Gov. Gray Davis will face a recall challenge.
They call the upcoming vote a "serious concern" for their party's congressional delegation -- one that could send the state party into "pandemonium."
While decrying what they see ahead of them as an anti-democratic and inappropriate use of the state's recall mechanism, California Democrats acknowledge that a combination of Davis's low approval rating and a recall petition bankrolled by multi-millionaire Rep. Darrell Issa (R) could unseat a Democratic governor who narrowly won his second term a mere seven moons ago.
"With money, anything can qualify. It's sad, but true," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D), adding that "it's an outrage, it's irresponsible meddling."
"I try to get the word out back home to my constituents that they shouldn't sign this petition, but it may well qualify," he said.
Rep. Diane Watson (D) told the Hill: "There's serious concern among the delegation that it will qualify, especially since they're paying for each of those signatures, and they have money to burn."
Prior to Issa's financial backing, Democrats had dismissed the recall petition as a mean-spirited stunt that betrayed a Republican effort to embarrass the embattled governor. But in the last week, Democrats have taken the recall effort seriously and have turned to the task of how to prevent the petition from qualifying.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) told the Associated Press that she is urging Davis to fight the recall petition "as if he were running against the roughest, toughest opponent out there."
For her part, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has submitted an op-ed to state newspapers urging Californians not to sign the petition.
For a recall petition to qualify for a November ballot, it will need 897,000 valid signatures by Sept. 2. Supporters of the recall petition claim to have already collected 700,000 signatures.
Issa told The Hill he hopes to collect 1.2 million signatures by mid-July, allowing for a political safety zone and for dealing with any irregular or disqualified signatures.
Issa has also announced that he will be a candidate to replace Davis should the petition qualify. That leads many Democrats to impugn his methods and motives.
"Stand up and be a man. Run like most people do," Davis told the Los Angeles Times. But Issa has some strong words for Davis in return. "You don't have to get the nod of approval from the very government that lied about the size of the [state] deficit," he said.
If the secretary of state certifies the petition, then a special vote will be scheduled within 60 to 80 days -- most likely on a Tuesday in November.
Democrats complain that the state can ill-afford the cost of a special election in the face of a widely acknowledged budget crisis.
If the petition is successful, then on the same ballot as the recall question, Californians would also vote for the next governor. Presumably, many candidates would enter that race and the winner would need only a plurality of votes to win.
"If this issue qualifies, we're going to have to study what that means and how we can retain our majority in the state," said a California Democratic lawmaker who sought anonymity.
"It will be pandemonium, for the party and for the states" said the lawmaker, predicting that all of the candidates with ambitions to run in 2006 will feel obligated to jump into any Davis replacement election.
Still another Democratic lawmaker said, "If it qualifies, we'll have to make a quick decision about whether or not to stick to Davis."
"He could be finished and then we should find a consensus candidate and clear the field," said the lawmaker.
Feinstein, a former mayor of San Francisco, is frequently mentioned as popular Democrat who could quickly unite the party and keep other, ambitious candidates at bay.
Asked if she would offer herself as a candidate if the petition were certified, Feinstein responded, "oh please," and declined further comment.
But while some Golden State Democrats offered harsh criticisms of the governor's failure to deal with a lingering energy crisis or to balance the state's budget, none were willing to publicly disparage him, or to call for his ouster.
Several Democrats added that their reluctance to openly criticize Davis might change should the petition be certified and Davis' approval ratings remain in the political basement.
Issa appeared to relish the Democrats' dilemma, comparing the situation to the moment when senior Republican senators had to tell President Richard Nixon, a onetime Californian, to resign or face impeachment in the House and removal by the Senate.
"It's only a matter of time before some of their wise men tell Davis that he has to go," he said.
However, it's unclear if the petition would offer tangible political benefits for the Republicans.
In fact, some GOP operatives would prefer to keep a wounded Davis in office for the regularly scheduled election in 2004, when Sen. Barbara Boxer (D), as well as many state and legislative officials, must also go before the voters.
One can not reason with liberal tyrant thieves. One must only destroy them.
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Oh I like that!
Brilliant truthful observation.
And while you are at the website be sure to listen to the Recall Davis song. The song can be heard by clicking the button "Listen to Recall Song" on the left hand side of the screen on the main page of the website.
I think that when we are successful this will get an even higher level of national press than the amount it has already gotten (heck, I saw myself on World News Tonight on Saturday and it was weird because it was the 3rd or 4th national news story I had seen a clip of myself in related to the recall... that made me realize the growing amount of national play this is starting to get) - anyway, this explosion of citizen populism will hopefully inspire others across the country to get involved, get motivated and work for positive change regarding the governance of their lives.
Davis isn't allowed to run in the race to replace him. If he's recalled, the winner of the simultaneous election to replace him, becomes governor. And the constitution prohibits the recalled officer from being a candidate in the race to replace him.
So let me get this straight:Republicans control the governorships of all the major states such as New York, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and soon California.
Republicans control the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the Presidency, more than half of all state governorships and the majority of all state legislatures...
Yet the media won't say a *word* about the Democratic Party being out of touch with the American people. The press won't publish a word about the Democratic Party being in trouble.
Am I missing something, or is the liberal bias so bad that even the *OBVIOUS* can't be reported as news (if it paints Leftists in a bad light)?!
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