Davis Opponents Say They Have Enough Support to Oust
URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,91099,00.html
Friday, July 04, 2003
LOS ANGELES — Opponents of California Gov. Gray Davis' administration say they have collected enough signatures to put the issue of recalling the Democratic governor on the ballot in November.
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Organizers of the recall effort said Thursday that they have more than 1 million signatures to put the issue before voters. But opponents were skeptical and state officials had yet to validate the milestone.
A total of 897,158 signatures of registered voters are needed to place the recall on the ballot. Ted Costa, coordinator of the Republican-led signature drive, said Thursday that just over 1 million signatures had been turned over to counties for validation.
The campaign expects to reach its goal of 1.2 million by a mid-July deadline, which could result in a special election in the fall.
"By this time next week I think we'll have more than enough," Costa said.
Recall organizers -- funded largely by Rep. Darrel Issa, a Republican congressman, say Davis has mismanaged the state and lied to voters about the size of the budget deficit, projected to be as much as $38.2 billion by July 2004.
Davis was elected in a landslide in 1998, but his approval rating tumbled to 28 percent amid voter wrath over the state's energy and budget crises. He narrowly beat Republican opponent Bill Simon in his re-election effort last year.
Anti-recall forces called the figure exaggerated and noted that just last month advocates claimed to have turned in 53,000 signatures more than the secretary of state confirmed.
"The rhetoric has yet to match the reality," said Carroll Wills, spokesman for Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall.
The group said Thursday that it had obtained 1.1 million signatures on petitions opposing the recall, although the petitions have no legal effect.
"These 1.1 million Californians are saying, every one loud and clear, to stop the recall," said Dan Terry, head of the California Professional Firefighters union and chairman of the anti-recall group.
A Los Angeles Times poll released Friday shows that a majority of California voters believe Davis should be removed in a special recall election.
Fifty-one percent of those surveyed want Davis to be unseated from office, while 42 percent would reject the proposed recall, the poll found. The remainder said they didn't know what to do.
The poll interviewed 1,412 adults, including 1,127 registered voters, from June 28 to July 2. The margin of sampling error for both is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Many people pointed to the state's $38 billion fiscal crisis as the reason why Davis should be ousted. Others gave him poor ratings on education and energy.
"I find it incredible that when he took office we had a surplus in this state, and now we're in the hole," said apartment manager Teri Hoerntlein, 37, a San Bernardino County independent who backs the recall. "If this were a private business, we would have had to declare bankruptcy."
The numbers are, however, somewhat deceiving. When told the special election sought by proponents would cost at least $25 million, enough of those polled changed their answer to doom the recall. Also, a question about supporting a recall if no Democrats were on the ballot to replace Davis was met with skepticism to keep the governor in office.
But support for the recall has increased since March, when a Times poll found that 39 percent of voters favored it. Meanwhile, Davis' popularity has slipped to another record low, with only 22 percent of California voters approving his track record, while 69 percent disagree, the poll showed.
Most Republicans support the recall efforts. Three in five Democrats are against it.
"Something has to be done," said Visalia Republican June Glick, 60, another recall supporter. "Our state is in the biggest mess it's ever been in."
As for a possible replacement for Davis should he leave office, those polled wanted Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Second among the potential replacements was former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, with actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Issa of Vista, among others, trailing behind.
But Democratic lawmakers from California have publicly opposed the recall effort and are backing Davis.
Those surveyed feel that Schwarzenegger, while an interesting candidate, might not be able to shed his Hollywood label. More than half -- 53 percent -- of voters say they wouldn't vote for the Republican actor; 26 percent said they would.
Vickie Moreno, 35, a Mission Viejo housewife and Democrat who favors the recall, said Schwarzenegger "might be interesting" as governor.
"Former Rep. Sonny Bono did a decent job," Moreno said of Bono's public service as congressman. "You never know."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
