All Politics Are Loco!!!
September 28, 2003
The Sacramento directory offers no listing for Charlotte Goland, and so I have no choice but to show up, unannounced, at the address on her check. I don't usually hunt down strangers in their homes, but unusual times call for unusual methods. This woman, unreachable by phone, is herself a clue to a mystery: how did California go so quickly from order to chaos? Republicans say it's because Gray Davis caused and then covered up the state's financial crisis. Democrats claim the attempt to remove Davis from office just six months after he was legally elected is a right-wing conspiracy. Both are obviously wrong. What we have here is a crime of passion, committed by the people upon their ruler. It demands an investigation.
I find Charlotte Goland's home behind a tall hedge, hidden from the street. No sign of life. It is Dave Gilliard's fault that I'm here, peering through some stranger's window. Gilliard is the Sacramento political consultant hired by U.S. Representative Darrell Issa to gather the signatures necessary to put the recall of Gov. Gray Davis to the voters. Issa promised Gilliard he'd give him whatever it took -- about $2 million, as it turned out -- and Gilliard made it happen. Throughout the summer he supervised, in what passes for a skyscraper in downtown Sacramento, an entire floor filled with college students opening mail and sorting signatures. He didn't ask people for money, but money poured in anyway, in heartbreakingly tiny amounts. So when this bigger check landed on his desk, it was the amount ($2,000!) that first caught Gilliard's eye. Two grand -- he now noticed the woman's name, Charlotte Goland -- was the biggest unsolicited donation he'd received so far. Then Gilliard saw the mailing address: Wilhaggin Drive. The lady lived next door to Gov. Gray Davis.
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