This has Clintons handwriting all over it - if you can't win at the ballot box, win in the courts. Clinton is advising Davis on how to win this thing, let us not forget that he was doing the same for Al Whore in last Presidential election. It's incredible.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/15/california.recall.ap/index.html
Judge warns he may postpone recall election
Friday, August 15, 2003 Posted: 10:56 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A federal judge warned Friday that he may postpone California's October 7 recall election over voting rights questions, and ordered Monterey County to refrain from mailing out overseas ballots until the questions are resolved.
The new uncertainty in the already chaotic special election came on a day a poll showed support building for the ouster of Gov. Gray Davis, and when a billionaire adviser to candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger was widely rebuked for suggesting California property taxes are too low.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel's ruling came hours after two civil rights groups argued that the hurry-up election doesn't give the Justice Department enough time to approve changes in the voting process.
Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the federal government must approve voting changes in four California counties with a history of low voter participation. The cases argued Friday focus on Monterey County, which plans fewer polling places and fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers for the election.
"This court is extremely reluctant to intervene in or disrupt the electoral process unless it clearly is compelled to do so," Fogel wrote late Friday. "At the same time, permitting voting or other forms of direct political participation to be affected by changes in voting procedures implemented in contravention of the Voting Rights Act cannot be countenanced."
Fogel scheduled another hearing August 29 and suggested he may delay the election if federal approval hasn't happened by then. In the meantime, he ordered Monterey County not to send out about 200 ballots to registered voters overseas.
Thomas Saenz, attorney for one of the civil rights groups, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said even the delay in mailing overseas votes could force postponement of the election, if overseas voters can't return their ballots by October 7.
The California Attorney General's office and Monterey County officials conceded that without federal approval the entire special election, including two voter initiatives on the ballot, would have to be postponed, perhaps until the March primary.
But Leroy Blankenship, Monterey's assistant county counsel, argued that if the changes are approved before October 7, "there's no harm, no foul."
Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said the department was reviewing the state's request for approval.
A delay in the election could help Davis, who received bad news earlier Friday in a statewide poll that found his approval numbers lower than ever and momentum building for his removal.
The nonpartisan Field Poll found that 58 percent of likely California voters want Davis out of office, up from 51 percent last month. Sixty-eight percent believe Davis will be recalled, and only 22 percent say they like the job he's doing.
Despite the poll numbers, Davis projected optimism Friday. "This election has turned into something of a Hollywood movie and I assure you it will have a surprise ending," he said.
The poll, based on telephone interviews with 448 likely voters, was conducted August 10-13 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
The campaign of Davis' most imposing challenger, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was doing damage control of its own Friday because of a Wall Street Journal interview with billionaire investment mogul Warren Buffett, the Republican's economic adviser.
Buffett suggested California's property taxes might be too low. He said he pays $14,401 in annual property taxes on his $500,000 home in Omaha, Nebraska, but only $2,264 on his $4 million home in Laguna Beach.
Proposition 13, which limits property tax hikes to no more than 2 percent a year, is considered politically untouchable in California.
Fellow Republican candidate Bill Simon, whom Davis defeated last year, immediately called on Schwarzenegger to renounce Buffett's suggestion.
"He needs to let the people of California know today and just as loudly whether he supports his adviser's scheme for massive property tax increases," Simon said in a statement.
Davis, too, joined in the criticism.
"Lord knows we have some things in California that cost a lot, but property taxes are not one of them and nobody is going to change this," the governor said at a Los Angeles elementary school.
Schwarzenegger supports the anti-tax initiative and was a keynote speaker at its silver anniversary gala earlier this summer, said spokesman Rob Stutzman.
But the spokesman also supported Buffett, saying, "Turning around California's economic crisis requires a breadth of knowledge and skill that Mr. Buffett obviously is as fully qualified as anyone on Earth to contribute."
Schwarzenegger has added another high-profile adviser, actor Rob Lowe, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. The longtime Democratic activist and former "West Wing" star is a friend of Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, and will coordinate celebrity support, Stutzman said.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/08/15/california.recall.ap/index.html
Judge warns he may postpone recall election
Friday, August 15, 2003 Posted: 10:56 PM EDT
SAN JOSE, California (AP) -- A federal judge warned Friday that he may postpone California's October 7 recall election over voting rights questions, and ordered Monterey County to refrain from mailing out overseas ballots until the questions are resolved.
The new uncertainty in the already chaotic special election came on a day a poll showed support building for the ouster of Gov. Gray Davis, and when a billionaire adviser to candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger was widely rebuked for suggesting California property taxes are too low.
U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel's ruling came hours after two civil rights groups argued that the hurry-up election doesn't give the Justice Department enough time to approve changes in the voting process.
Under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the federal government must approve voting changes in four California counties with a history of low voter participation. The cases argued Friday focus on Monterey County, which plans fewer polling places and fewer Spanish-speaking poll workers for the election.
"This court is extremely reluctant to intervene in or disrupt the electoral process unless it clearly is compelled to do so," Fogel wrote late Friday. "At the same time, permitting voting or other forms of direct political participation to be affected by changes in voting procedures implemented in contravention of the Voting Rights Act cannot be countenanced."
Fogel scheduled another hearing August 29 and suggested he may delay the election if federal approval hasn't happened by then. In the meantime, he ordered Monterey County not to send out about 200 ballots to registered voters overseas.
Thomas Saenz, attorney for one of the civil rights groups, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said even the delay in mailing overseas votes could force postponement of the election, if overseas voters can't return their ballots by October 7.
The California Attorney General's office and Monterey County officials conceded that without federal approval the entire special election, including two voter initiatives on the ballot, would have to be postponed, perhaps until the March primary.
But Leroy Blankenship, Monterey's assistant county counsel, argued that if the changes are approved before October 7, "there's no harm, no foul."
Justice Department spokesman Jorge Martinez said the department was reviewing the state's request for approval.
A delay in the election could help Davis, who received bad news earlier Friday in a statewide poll that found his approval numbers lower than ever and momentum building for his removal.
The nonpartisan Field Poll found that 58 percent of likely California voters want Davis out of office, up from 51 percent last month. Sixty-eight percent believe Davis will be recalled, and only 22 percent say they like the job he's doing.
Despite the poll numbers, Davis projected optimism Friday. "This election has turned into something of a Hollywood movie and I assure you it will have a surprise ending," he said.
The poll, based on telephone interviews with 448 likely voters, was conducted August 10-13 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
The campaign of Davis' most imposing challenger, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was doing damage control of its own Friday because of a Wall Street Journal interview with billionaire investment mogul Warren Buffett, the Republican's economic adviser.
Buffett suggested California's property taxes might be too low. He said he pays $14,401 in annual property taxes on his $500,000 home in Omaha, Nebraska, but only $2,264 on his $4 million home in Laguna Beach.
Proposition 13, which limits property tax hikes to no more than 2 percent a year, is considered politically untouchable in California.
Fellow Republican candidate Bill Simon, whom Davis defeated last year, immediately called on Schwarzenegger to renounce Buffett's suggestion.
"He needs to let the people of California know today and just as loudly whether he supports his adviser's scheme for massive property tax increases," Simon said in a statement.
Davis, too, joined in the criticism.
"Lord knows we have some things in California that cost a lot, but property taxes are not one of them and nobody is going to change this," the governor said at a Los Angeles elementary school.
Schwarzenegger supports the anti-tax initiative and was a keynote speaker at its silver anniversary gala earlier this summer, said spokesman Rob Stutzman.
But the spokesman also supported Buffett, saying, "Turning around California's economic crisis requires a breadth of knowledge and skill that Mr. Buffett obviously is as fully qualified as anyone on Earth to contribute."
Schwarzenegger has added another high-profile adviser, actor Rob Lowe, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. The longtime Democratic activist and former "West Wing" star is a friend of Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, and will coordinate celebrity support, Stutzman said.
