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Davis condemns Issa's recall drive In an interview with The Bee editorial board, Davis said Rep. Darrell Issa is simply seeking an easy path to the Governor's Office without adequate grounds for a recall. "A recall is supposed to be for some abuse of office -- 'Something outrageous has happened and we have to recall him,' " Davis said. "It shouldn't just be, 'Oh I want to be governor, here's a cheap way for me to go in the back door rather than to go in the front door like everyone else.' " Issa has defended his $100,000 contribution to found Rescue California, a committee attempting to qualify the recall for an election. He and other Davis critics say the Democratic governor is to blame for the state's financial situation. Issa also has defended his interest in running for governor. The state's constitutional recall provision was envisioned by early California reformers as a tool to let voters fight back against corrupt government. The document itself is silent, however, on factors that might prompt a recall election. "Our recall ... doesn't require high crimes and misdemeanors," Issa said in an interview last week. "It's not an impeachment, and it's not done by the Legislature. It's done by the people in a pure, democratic system." Davis also said Tuesday that the recall threat has not impaired his ability to talk tough with Democrats, Republicans and various powerful interests whom he might alienate in the course of trying to close an estimated $38.2 billion state budget hole. While California's numbers are the largest, Davis has repeatedly noted that tumbling stocks and a weak national economy this year have handed states their worst collective financial crisis since World War II. "I feel confident that people are not going to buy into (a recall)," Davis said. "Everyone knows these are difficult times." Davis last week revised the state budget he introduced in January, significantly reducing the cuts to local government and public schools he had proposed to eliminate the shortfall in one year. He also reduced the amount of tax revenue he hoped to extract from tribal casinos. His new plan instead suggests financing much of the shortfall over several years by raising the sales tax. He maintained Tuesday that this was not a political consideration, but a pragmatic one. "If I'm fortunate enough to serve out my term, it's going to be with me for the next three years," he said of the shortfall. " ... I wanted to bite the bullet, because I thought maybe we'd have three positive years. But the Legislature wouldn't go along with it." Davis acknowledged he may not have the political capital to broker a budget deal on his own. He beseeched newspaper editorial writers to use their bully pulpits to single out lawmakers not willing to cooperate with him. He said he would be asking the same of chambers of commerce, environmental organizations and other special-interest groups whose opinions can influence individual legislators. "We shouldn't let someone off the hook, be they a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican, who says, 'Oh, I'm just not cutting anymore,' or, 'I'm just not going to vote for a tax increase,' " Davis said. "I would just list names, and say, '(Republican Assembly leader) David Cox, (GOP Senate leader) Jim Brulte. ... Why are we paying your salary just to say no? Do something constructive to help us out of this mess."
"I think it's fair to ask everyone, 'What are you doing to contribute to the solution of this
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