Rescue California

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Issa Banking on Big Payoff in Recall Drive
The GOP congressman has given $700,000 to the campaign and hopes to replace Davis. But he may face difficulty in broadening his appeal

June 16, 2003

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if we're going to get more teachers in the classroom and more dollars applied to students," he said.

In general, Issa called for wage and hiring freezes, along with the elimination of "waste, fraud and abuse," but he did not say what specific spending he would cut beyond the $18 billion in reductions proposed by Davis. (The governor has also called for $8 billion in new taxes.)

For his part, Davis has dismissed Issa as a "right-wing" politician seeking a rerun of the gubernatorial race that Republicans lost last year. In a radio interview Saturday, Davis called the recall effort "a devious plan to undo the express will of the electorate last November."

He told the Orange County Register last week: "It's being organized and financed by a bunch of rich losers."

Finessing Issues

To undermine Issa, Davis surrogates have publicized his conservative stands on social issues, starting with abortion. Issa opposes legal abortion except in cases of rape, incest or the potential death of a mother, but pledged in the interview to "live within the laws" that protect abortion rights.

In Huntington Beach, Issa explained his position on offshore oil drilling — another touchstone issue that Democrats have sought to use against him and many other California Republicans. As he rode past the oil platforms off the coast, he said he voted for a measure to bar offshore drilling in California, but supported energy exploration in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. In California, he said, new offshore drilling should be reserved for times of major crisis in U.S. supply, such as a cutoff in flow from the Middle East.

"I view the California coast as a true emergency," he said.

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