See that good looking dude on the left? He's got FAR BETTER THINGS to do than conduct Freepathons! Come on, let's get this thing over with.
Posted on 07/12/2003 9:26:32 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Duane Moore, chairman of the Kern County Democratic Central Committee, has a possible cure for Gov. Gray Davis' recall headache.
Resign. Quit. Clear out your desk.
But leave the lights on for the new guy, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
Quitting now would bring the recall effort to a screeching halt and derail Republicans' plans to hijack the governor's office for Darrell Issa, Arnold Schwarzenegger or somebody else with a more conservative bent.
It would acknowledge what pundits from both parties have been suggesting for months: Davis' political future is about as promising as Dan Lungren's, no matter what the outcome of the recall.
And it would insert a guy who would be far more palatable -- particularly among valley Latinos -- than the man he'd be replacing, let alone some of the likely recall-ballot options.
For now, Moore stresses, gubernatorial abdication is just an idea -- not a formal recommendation by any local Democratic organization. It's not even his personal recommendation, although he's warming to the idea more and more every day.
"We're debating whether we should get behind that (resignation scenario)," Moore said. "There's been discussion about whether our central committee wants to bring it up (for wider discussion). At this point, that hasn't happened. But wouldn't that be funny?"
Moore, ironically, was one of the guys Davis' Stop the Recall team contacted for help in collecting signatures for an anti-recall petition.
If you didn't notice any Stop the Recall volunteers setting up card tables outside Wal-Mart alongside pro-recall solicitors this past month, there's good reason.
The local anti-recall force kept it low-key, working Democratic women's club meetings and an open house for Assemblywoman Nicole Parra.
They turned in about 1,000 signatures, Moore said, and they have pages more to send. They might have gotten more signers, Moore said, but the petitions arrived late in the five-week campaign.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "There's nothing binding behind it. It's just a way to make people aware of what's going on."
That, and create a list of possible volunteers should the recall qualify for the ballot, which seems likely.
Moore, an electrician who's been the local Democratic chairman for a year and a half, says he can't understand why a blue-collar community like Bakersfield would support another referendum on Davis so soon after he defeated a Republican challenger hurling the very same accusations recall advocates are hurling now.
"If people realized how much this recall is going to cost California taxpayers, they'd scream," Moore said. "It doesn't make sense."
It all depends on who you talk to, of course.
Republican campaign strategist Mark Abernathy, who helped coordinate the recall effort in Kern County, says the California recall model works.
"It's a beautiful thing," he said. "Maybe we get somebody who might be a great governor but couldn't get through the party primaries."
Or maybe, much sooner than expected, California gets National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice, who would be the first Republican gubernatorial candidate with a discernable pulse in several years.
Either way, something good happens for Republicans. That's been clear since the leaders of the dump-Davis campaign first stuck a wet finger in the air, Abernathy said.
"From that first day," Abernathy said, "the air was thick with recall."
On Dean's list: It's a given among both Democrats and Republicans that Assemblywoman Parra will be getting another dose of Dean Gardner in 2004.
"I'm pretty certain," Abernathy said, "we'll have a rematch" of their occasionally acrimonious 2002 campaign. "We've had some discussion with Dean Gardner, don't have a definite plan yet."
Milt Younger, a Bakersfield attorney and top Democratic fund-raiser, knows of no impending challenges to Republican Assemblymen Roy Ashburn and Kevin McCarthy, who have what are considered safe seats in the state Legislature.
But he sees the Parra-Gardner rematch coming, too.
"Helping Nicole Parra keep her seat is going to be the thing," he said. "A vote for Dean Gardner is a vote for the right wing. They love that stuff around here, so it'll be interesting."
Also, a sad state of affairs when so recent an election can be overturned. If it succeeds, the Lefties will use this tactic when it is not warranted.
See that good looking dude on the left? He's got FAR BETTER THINGS to do than conduct Freepathons! Come on, let's get this thing over with.
Not when you consider that he lied about the deficit until just after the election.
Also, a sad state of affairs when so recent an election can be overturned. If it succeeds, the Lefties will use this tactic when it is not warranted.
Thirty or so previous recall attempts have failed to make it to the ballot. This is more widespread than the domocRATs would have you believe.
How so? It is perfectly lawful and civil. Leftists already use the courts to overturn elections by appointed judges, why should they bother with a vote?
I can just hear Carly Simon singin... "Well it's too late baby, it's too late, though we really did try to make it." Ha Ha Ha Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
The law is clear... It's been "FILED!" The door is slammed shut even if he does resign!!!
By maternal pervaricator! You weren't even a good staffer for Gov. Moonbean!!! Enjoy your golden shower from the golden state!!!
Maybe you have difficulty thinking positively, but it would be so good of you to set an example for other FReepers and Lurkers by at least giving it the old college try. Try it, you'll like it!!! It can work and it will!!!
Please don't exhibit the very attitude that perpetually causes conservative Repubs to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. More of this political crap is based on the mere force of faith and belief than objective observers wish to "believe." A huge amount is based on theatrics and momentum as well. It must start with a persistent and determined "belief" much akin to religious ferver!!! (I'm sorry to say)(this is also why Dems fear religious conservatives so much)
More support for a ridiculous and destructive political theory. The measures Davis will sign, as opposed to a veto by a Republican governor, will chase Republicans out of this state. By the time the Slave Party is done, the situation will be so bad here there won't be enough of a conservative constituency to take over when it all crashes.
You are forgetting the mess Ronald Reagan inherited from Pat Brown.
I'll bet you're one of those helpful folks who tell conservatives to leave this State too. Shilling for Texas are you?
The Republican (especially the CRP), fear of the left wing mouse is what got us to this unbearable spot in the first place.
For God's Sakes, Davis still proposes increased spending. Not everyone in California has lost their senses, have they?
I am not as generous as you. I am not sorry I disagree with "gcruse", I am being disagreeable and his/her opinion is abject nonsense. The recall will not only shake Sacramento, but the CA Dems and Repubs. Change may be painful, but not as painful as the status quo.
Amen, Brother! Amen.
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