Less than a year after being voted into office, Gov. Gray Davis
has begun campaigning for election again ““ this time to save
his job.
With a date for the recall election to replace the governor set
for Oct. 7, Davis kicked off his election drive this weekend by
rallying organized labor in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, in anticipation
of running, four potential Republican candidates held an anti-Davis
rally in Sacramento to cement voter support.
Davis became only the second governor in the nation’s
history to face a recall election when Secretary of State Kevin
Shelly certified last Wednesday that the Republican-led recall
drive had gathered enough signatures to warrant a special
election.
Last Thursday, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante announced the date of
the election and said the names of candidates to replace Davis
would be on the ballot.
Bustamante drew criticism on the day the election was announced
when he suggested the vote to recall Davis and the vote to choose a
replacement could occur on two different dates.
An election date of Oct. 7 gives potential candidates until 5
p.m. on Aug. 9 to file for candidacy. Candidates must submit either
65 signatures from registered voters and pay $3,500, or submit
10,000 signatures to waive the fee.
So far, only one Republican candidate, car alarm magnate and
U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, has declared his intention to run.
Issa funded much of the recall petition drive with money from his
own pocket.
Other potential candidates include former GOP gubernatorial
nominee Bill Simon, who lost to Davis in the race for governor last
November, state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, and actor
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The former Green Party candidate for governor, Peter Camejo, has
also announced his intention to run.
Thus far, no major Democratic officeholder has announced their
intention to run against Davis on the ballot, despite the fact that
polls have indicated both Bustamante and Sen. Dianne Feinstein are
more popular among voters than the governor.
UCLA political science professor Jeffrey Lewis said the decision
by major Democrats not to run was a shrewd move because, by not
adding an alternative to Davis, they did not implicitly admit that
Davis had been a poor governor.
“If there was a legitimate candidate for the Democrats out
there, then the Republicans could say: “˜This person is
contesting (Davis).’ There’s some moral legitimacy to
the process if it’s contested,” he said.
But some Democrats, including Feinstein, have not completely
ruled out the possibility of running either. Potential candidates
may wait until close to the deadline before testing voter sentiment
and then making a final decision.
Davis was banking on party unity on Saturday when he spoke to
about 200 security guards in Los Angeles, stressing that the recall
election was not about him but about pushing forward with a
Democratic agenda.
“This recall election isn’t about me, it’s
about you,” he said. “It’s about moving forward,
not backward.”
Meanwhile, Issa, Simon, and McClintock were among those who
rallied about 1,000 supporters in the state capitol. Speaking to a
singing, slogan-shouting audience, they accused Davis of
mismanaging state funds and landing California in a $38 billion
budget deficit.
“You put a face on the evil of government waste, of
increasing taxes, of overspending and increasing bureaucracy. You
put a face on it and the face is Gray Davis,” Issa said.
About 150 counter-protesters, many from organized labor, rallied
across the street from the Republican candidates, dismissing the
recall as a waste of money and a right-wing attempt to hijack the
state.
Before the election was certified, Davis supporters stressed the
cost of the recall, which they project to be as high as $60
million, as a reason for voters to oppose the initiative.
The only other gubernatorial recall election in the nation
occurred in 1921 when North Dakota Gov. Lynn Frazier was removed
from office.
With reports from Daily Bruin wire services.