Rescue California

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Lawsuit against recall effort will be heard after deadline

July 17, 2003

LOS ANGELES – A judge dealt a setback yesterday to opponents of Gov. Gray Davis' recall when he declined to hold a hearing on their lawsuit before the earliest possible deadline for scheduling a recall vote.

"I'm not convinced that the sky is falling," Superior Court Judge Carl J. West said in denying a request from the Democratic governor's allies to hold the hearing Wednesday.

West set it for Aug. 8 instead.

On Wednesday, county officials must report to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley the number of recall petition signatures they have received and also the number of signatures they have verified as those of registered California voters.

Recall proponents say they've turned in more than 1.6 million signatures to county officials statewide, and are hopeful the 897,158 valid signatures needed to call for an election will be certified next week.

Taxpayers Against the Governor's Recall, whose attorneys prepared the suit filed Tuesday, has accused recall proponents of obtaining many of their petition signatures illegally, including by using petition gatherers who were not properly registered to vote in California.

Their lawsuit asks that the court stop Shelley from taking action on the recall, including certifying it for the ballot, until county clerks determine signature circulators were properly qualified.

They wanted a preliminary injunction to get counties to stop verifying signatures until the qualifications of signature gatherers are checked.

Now, the earliest they could get that is Aug. 8.

If the election is certified before then, the lawsuit would face far greater barriers to success, attorneys said.

Also yesterday, in a spirited defense of her husband in Washington, D.C., California first lady Sharon Davis accused Republicans of mounting "a hostile takeover of state government."

"The Republicans are using this effort, they're abusing an existing law, so that they can change the outcome of an election," she said, referring to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis' 2002 re-election.

She was in Washington to testify about foster care before a Senate committee.

Copley News Service reporter Toby Eckert contributed to this story.