Posted on Sun, Jul. 27, 2003
Candidates, Davis trade verbal darts
3 REPUBLICANS BLAME GOVERNOR FOR ENERGY CRISIS, WEAK ECONOMY
By Laura Kurtzman
Mercury News
SACRAMENTO - Three of the top Republicans likely to challenge Gov. Gray Davis in the Oct. 7 recall vote took turns Saturday blaming him for everything bad in California.
Joined by a minor Democrat at a rally outside Davis' Capitol office, they blamed Davis for the energy crisis, the budget crisis and the bad economy. They also denounced the governor as corrupt and mean-spirited.
Davis did some bashing of his own at rally in Los Angeles, where he blamed Republicans for cutting the state budget and wasting money on the recall effort.
The day was a preview of the mudslinging to come, as candidates jockey for position in California's first statewide recall election.
Rep. Darrell Issa, the San Diego-area congressman who poured $1.7 million of his own money into the signature-gathering effort, made light of the argument Davis has been using that a special recall election is a waste of more than $30 million in taxpayer money.
``Most statewide elections cost about $20 million. Gray ran it up to $30 million. Today, I understand his people are saying $60 million,'' Issa said. ``Now, isn't that the way Gray Davis has run everything in California?
``The people of California need to know that every day more than $30 million disappears down the deficit and debt hole,'' he said.
Davis' view
Davis had a different take on the recall.
``This recall election isn't about me, it's about you,'' Davis told about 200 security guards at a union rally in downtown Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press. ``It's about moving forward, not backward.''
The Sacramento rally celebrated the recall forces' success in gathering more than 1.6 million signatures. And organizers billed it as proof that a united front had emerged across ideological fault lines to unseat Davis. But with a few minor exceptions, it was a gathering of conservatives: on abortion, gun control and especially taxes.
State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, was the favorite of the crowd, which numbered about 1,000 people.
An ardent foe of wasteful government spending who once advertised himself as the cheapest man in Sacramento, McClintock said that on his first day as governor he would ``rescind the illegal tripling of California's car tax,'' ``void the $42 billion of outrageously overpriced electricity contracts'' that Davis entered into and reform worker's compensation. All, McClintock added, ``before lunch.''
McClintock and Issa, both conservatives, are the only Republican candidates to declare so far. Bill Simon, another conservative who lost to Davis in November, also lambasted him at the rally, saying he would announce ``shortly'' whether he will run.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan may jump in by the Aug. 9 deadline to file. Both moderates, they pose a greater threat to Davis because they appeal to a broader range of voters.
An adviser to Schwarzenegger said the movie star may decide this week. His decision is likely to have a ripple effect. Riordan has said he will run if Schwarzenegger does not.
Jack Kemp, the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1996 who lives in Maryland but grew up in Los Angeles, squelched a rumor that he might run. Kemp, a former New York congressman, told the Associated Press on Saturday that he had retired from politics.
Democrat breaks ranks
The first significant crack in what has been a united Democratic front against the recall appeared when state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Fresno, said he would run if no other Democrats did, according to the Fresno Bee.
Audie Bock, who was the first Green Party member elected to the Assembly but later returned to the Democratic Party, has said she plans to run. Bock attended Saturday's rally in Sacramento as a featured speaker.
About 100 Davis' supporters, most of them holding union signs, also showed up, although police kept them across the street.
At one point, the two sides engaged in a screaming match. Davis supporters denounced the recall as a waste of money.
``We weren't paid to be here,'' recall supporters retorted.
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