Taxpayer group launches recall effort
Wednesday February 05, 2003SACRAMENTO (AP) A former Republican assemblyman and a taxpayer group founded by Proposition 13 co-author Paul Gann announced plans Wednesday to try to recall Gov. Gray Davis.
``We can't wait four years (for the next gubernatorial election), we have to get our financial house in order,'' said Ted Costa, who now heads the Gann group, People's Advocate.
Former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, R-Carlsbad, announced a separate campaign to recall the Democratic governor, accusing Davis of ``complete malfeasance'' in office.
The recall efforts come as Davis is struggling to erase a state budget deficit that his Department of Finance says totals $34.6 billion.
Shawn Steel, the California Republican Party chairman, said he would be on hand to sign Costa's notice to recall the Democratic governor. He called Davis ``the single greatest political problem we face in California.''
Davis' senior political adviser, Garry South, downplayed the seriousness of the challenges, saying they were the sort of things that Davis' critics ``do all the time. There was a recall effort against the governor two years ago and it went nowhere,'' he said.
The two campaigns will need valid signatures of at least 897,156 registered voters to force a recall election.
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