California governor's backers plot legal strategy

LOS ANGELES -- Organizers of the Republican-led drive to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis fanned out across California on Monday to turn in their last batch of petitions, saying they had collected 1.6 million signatures -- almost twice what they needed.

The embattled governor's supporters said they planned a counterattack, but conceded that a recall election now looked nearly inevitable.

The recall has been fueled by discontent over California's energy crisis and $38 billion budget deficit, sending Davis' approval ratings to record lows.

Recall backers said they expected a legal challenge aimed at whether the people gathering signatures were registered to vote in California, as state election law requires. They predicted they would easily turn such a lawsuit aside.

"Whatever they do will amount to nothing more than a frivolous lawsuit," said Chris Wysocki, spokesman for Rescue California Recall Gray Davis.

"We had to make sure that we played this strictly by the numbers and by the book and we did everything possible," he added. "A signature-gatherer did not get paid unless they were a registered voter."

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Lawyers for Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall said they discovered widespread illegalities in the signature collecting, including the use of signature gatherers who were not California residents and not registered to vote in the state. They said at least two signature circulators were convicted felons.

"The real question is whether or not, under the requirements of the laws of California, there are sufficient numbers of valid signatures to sustain this recall, or whether or not the process has been poisoned to the point that they can't reach the number they reached," said Paul Kiesel, a lawyer for the group.

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Davis opponents held a news conference in Sacramento to announce they were turning in their final petitions to county election offices and had gathered more than 1.6 million signatures, far more than 897,158 necessary to get a recall on the ballot. Counties still must verify the signatures as valid.

Also Tuesday, organized labor leaders announced that they will step up their anti-recall campaign at a strategy session with two dozen community groups next week. Organized labor helped re-elect Davis to his second term in November.

A legal battle could delay a recall vote from this fall to March, when heavy Democratic turnout for the state's presidential primary could help Davis.

The lieutenant governor will set the election date after the secretary of state certifies sufficient signatures have been turned in. Recall backers hope that will happen next Wednesday, when counties face a deadline to report signature counts to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, a Democrat.

A recall ballot would have two sections: in the first voters would be asked whether or not to oust Davis, and in the second they would choose from a list of candidates to replace him. Davis' name would not be on that list. So far the only declared major party candidate is Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican who has spent $1.5 million of his own money to fund the recall.

The state's major Democratic officeholders have said they do not intend to put their names on the ballot. Strategists from both parties believe Davis would be more likely to survive if there are no Democratic alternatives.

But some Democratic analysts believe that if an election nears and polls show Davis could lose, one or more Democrats would jump in to replace him.

The Sacramento Bee on Sunday became the first major newspaper to endorse this approach, chiding Democrats for plans to stay off the ballot and coming close to calling for a candidacy by the state's most popular Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

"Somewhere there must be a Democrat who shares the public's judgment that Gray Davis has failed but believes that voters should have the chance to choose another Democrat as governor if Davis is recalled," the newspaper said. "There is such a Democrat, isn't there, Sen. Feinstein?"

Feinstein's office had no immediate comment.