Davis taking recall seriously
GOVERNOR'S CAMP TO START CAMPAIGN AGAINST OUSTER
By Mark Gladstone and Ann E. Marimow
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO - California, the land of movie sequels and second chances, is moving toward a remake of last November's election -- with a new nail-biting twist.
The Republican drive to recall Gov. Gray Davis, which once seemed impossibly far-fetched, has suddenly turned into an all-out campaign.
Recall advocates have raised more than half a million dollars for their drive to put Davis on the ballot again. And Wednesday, underscoring the growing threat to Davis, a coalition of his most loyal supporters announced that it is prepared to spend up to $4 million to derail the ouster attempt.
``The people behind the campaign to recall Gov. Davis wear their partisan motives right out on their sleeves. An election was held. They lost, and now they want a `do-over,' '' declared Dan Terry, president of the California Professional Firefighters.
The scene at the anti-recall press conference on a hot afternoon outside a Sacramento fire station offered an ugly glimpse of what voters might see as this improbable campaign unfolds. Terry could barely be heard over the din of pro- and anti-Davis forces shouting competing slogans through bullhorns.
Terry is spearheading the anti-recall campaign along with environmentalists, church groups and other labor unions -- interests that want to see Democrat Davis finish his term. The coalition hopes to persuade voters not to sign pro-recall petitions, noting that an election will cost taxpayers at least $25 million.
Lining up on the dump-Davis side are anti-tax crusaders, a former Republican assemblyman who's making recall petitions available on the Internet and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, who is bankrolling much of the effort.
While tempers flared in Sacramento over the recall effort, Davis was breaking ground for the new Morongo Band of Mission Indians casino in Riverside County. At the event, Davis praised Terry and his firefighters. ``They believe in fair play,'' he said, ``and they think people are trying to come through the back door when they couldn't come through the front door.''
Fueling the drive to dump Davis is his continuing unpopularity prompted by the $38.2 billion budget deficit and the energy crisis of 2000.
If Davis critics gather 900,000 valid signatures of registered voters by Sept. 2, a recall vote would be held late this year or at the same time as the March 2004 primary. Voters simultaneously would decide on a new governor. If Davis is recalled, the winner of the second ballot question would become governor.
This free-wheeling winner-take-all format -- which has its roots in the Progressive reforms of the early 20th century -- is fueling talk that just a few months ago would have been unbelievable.
Publicly, the Democratic Party establishment is lining up behind Davis, but privately campaign consultants can't stop themselves from chattering about the endless possibilities.
Under one scenario, liberal lion John Burton, the state Senate leader from San Francisco with a large campaign war chest, could be the compromise choice of Democrats.
In another, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein would be the consensus candidate of the Democrats. A Feinstein spokesman says the state's senior senator stands behind Davis.
On the GOP side, the talk includes a rerun by Bill Simon as well as a bid by Issa, who has pumped in $445,000 of his own money to support the recall. Also rumored to have an interest are actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the former provost of Stanford University.
Recall proponents so far have turned in just 18,590 of the required signatures, but they predict they'll have the petitions ready to turn in this summer.
Gale Kaufman, a Democratic consultant, is skeptical. ``They are building momentum in the press with no real evidence other than anecdotal that they are collecting signatures.''
Others grudgingly acknowledge that a recall election is a real threat now that Issa has joined the ragtag band of Davis critics. Bob Mulholland, a state Democratic Party spokesman, said Issa ``has the money, so he can make it happen.''
Davis, a prolific fundraiser who had curbed his solicitations, has restarted his fundraising machine. As of January, his war chest was, for him, a paltry $1.4 million. Since April, Davis has raised at least $66,000. And last week, he held a $5,000-a-ticket golf tournament in Carmel.
In another sign of how seriously the Davis camp is taking the recall, two top aides -- Steve Smith, secretary of labor and workforce development, and Eric Bauman, director of the governor's Los Angeles office -- will leave their jobs to run the anti-recall campaign, Terry said.
Hoping to blunt the recall, Davis supporters are paying signature gatherers top dollar to circulate a petition that labels the recall an abuse of power. It does not mention Davis by name. It's a common tactic in ballot measures to lock up the professional signature gatherers who might otherwise work for the other side.
Proponents of the Davis recall claim to have collected over 200,000 signatures in the last two weeks.
``Our goal is not to get them turned in the first week,'' said Republican consultant Sal Russo, who is directing one of three recall efforts. ``Our goal is to get them done by July Fourth.''
Contact Mark Gladstone at mgladstone@mercurynews.com or (916) 325-4314.
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