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Recall Backers Assert Victory in Signature Drive The signatures would be sent for verification to election officials in the counties where they were collected. By late August, those officials would pass the signatures to Shelley, who would declare whether the drive has met all legal requirements. If so, the Constitution would then compel Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante to call for an election. If not, recall workers would have until Sept. 3 to collect more signatures, if they chose. Davis faces an uphill fight as he attempts to retain his office: In a Los Angeles Times poll released last week, only 22% of voters gave the governor a favorable approval rating and 51% said they would cast ballots to unseat him if a recall election were held today. As recall supporters claimed victory in the signature-gathering phase of the campaign, California's top financial officials said the Republican-led effort was already damaging the state economy and deepening a budget impasse at the Capitol. Treasurer Phil Angelides and Controller Steve Westly — both Democrats — called on Republican Senate Leader Jim Brulte and other GOP lawmakers to find common ground with legislative Democrats. Noting the lack of a state budget and the divisions between Democrats and Republicans over how to repair a $38-billion gap between state spending and tax collections, Angelides said there was evidence of an "unfortunate linking of the budget to the recall" by Republicans trying to embarrass Davis. Brulte "has an obligation to show that the recall and the budget are not linked to each other by stopping the budget stalemate and being willing to have the Republicans come to the table," he said. Brulte and GOP Assembly Leader Dave Cox (R-Fair Oaks) have denied any link between the recall and their refusal to vote for a budget that increases taxes. Both have publicly steered clear of the recall campaign, but other Republican lawmakers — including Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine), the budget chief of Assembly Republicans — are openly supporting the effort to remove Davis. There was little action on the budget front Monday, as Democrats rejected suggestions from Cox that lawmakers were on the verge of a deal. "We're this close," Cox said at a Capitol news conference, his thumb an inch apart from his other fingers. Other lawmakers quickly discounted the notion that a conclusion to the budget impasse was at hand. "I don't have a clue as to what he's referring to," said Assembly Speaker Herb J. Wesson Jr. (D-Culver City). "We're still pretty far apart." The divide between Republicans and Democrats was clear on Sunday night, when the Assembly voted on a GOP budget plan that includes no new taxes. While the GOP said taxes could be avoided with a mere 4.2% reduction in state spending — amounting to $3.4 billion — Democrats went into detail about what kind of cuts that would require. Among them: the equivalent of shutting down a large University of California and California State University campus, postponing kindergarten enrollment one year for 110,000 children and eliminating health care for hundreds of thousands of Californians. "They say this is just a 4% cut," Wesson said. "It's more than that. This is the total elimination of programs. This is delaying for a year 4-year-olds going to kindergarten. This is the elimination of various services to foster children. This is serious."
There does not seem to be much more momentum in the Senate, the more pragmatic house in the Capitol, where many involved in the budget process expect the final deal to be brokered. In the next few days, the Senate is expected to put on a show similar to what the Assembly
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