June 20, 2003:  Gray Davis – The Political Player Getting Played – or Why I am Signing the Petition to Recall Gray Davis.   

You know what I crave, what I really, really want - the chance to vote FOR someone in an actual election, not against the alternative.  I am not just talking about Presidential elections, because as many of us know, a vote for Al Gore was just as much a vote against George Bush, but I am also talking about California’s state elections.  For those of you not in California – all I can say is – lucky you.  The rest of us had to experience last year’s general election, where the man who should have been Governor, Richard Riordan, was not even on the ballot.  Instead, California is currently saddled with Governor Gray Davis, a modern fundraising and campaigning marvel.   Count yourself blessed that you did not get to watch Gray Davis effectively play the political system so that the most popular choice for Governor was not the nominee of his political party.   Now, that same system is coming back to bite Gray Davis in the ass, and all I can say is – couldn’t happen to a better weasel.  And, just for the record, I am a registered Democrat.

 Short history – Riordan, the former mayor of Los Angeles, was the hands down favorite to be California’s next governor.  Regardless of party affiliation, there was general consensus among most Californians that Riordan would be a good choice for Governor.  The problem – Riordan, a moderate by any definition, was a registered Republican.  So, before he could send Gray Davis, the incumbent Democrat Governor packing, he had to first win the Republican Primary.  Riordan’s only real challenger for the Republican nomination was a very conservative businessman named Bill Simon, who did not fare well in any of the polls when pitted against Davis.  So what happened, well, in a word, the California Republican Party got played. 

Gray Davis, knowing that the real threat in the election did not come from within the Democratic Party, and knowing that the California electorate would vote for Riordan in droves, spent millions of dollars during the Republican Primary attacking Richard Riordan.  That’s right – he basically campaigned on behalf of Bill Simon to make sure that Riordan would not get the Republican nomination.  No one said that Gray was not a politically savvy weasel.  The attacks on Riordan worked, and low and behold, he began to struggle – in the end being trounced in the Republican Primary by the Ghost of Gray Davis, also know as Bill Simon. Davis got to run against Bill Simon, and squeaked by with a narrow victory. 

 Meanwhile, California has been, and continues to be in a political and economic tailspin.  Davis, so busy running for office (and misrepresenting California’s economy and fiscal strength during the campaign) has seemingly abandoned the responsibilities that come with being Governor.  From all accounts, Davis, who many view as a well-dressed puppet of special interest groups, is sitting back and letting the carnage continue.  I, like many Californians, am disgusted, and I want him gone.  I want to do something, anything, to give California’s career politicians a message – get to work. And it is not just me: in a largely Democratic state, Davis currently has a 24% approval rating – that means 3 out of 4 Californians disapprove of his leadership, or lack thereof.  So, now, we have a recall campaign underway – a last ditch effort of the Californians to say to everyone in Sacramento –“ENOUGH.”  

You would think that faced with wholesale political revolt, Gray would do something to demonstrate political leadership.  If he has, I have not seen it. Worse yet, at this point, he is so compromised, it would not be effective.  Has he seriously tried to resolve our 36-38 billion-dollar deficit?  Tried to encourage business to return to California?  Tried to reign in the far left of the state’s Democratic Party so that we could perhaps get a budget?  In a word, tried to lead?  I have not seen it.  What he has done, however, is send out his Ube-pollsters to fool Californians out of signing a petition for his recall.   

Davis is doing what he does well:  fundraising and campaigning.  He has raised millions of dollars to fight the recall effort.  The main strategy – gathering signatures on pro-Davis “counter-petition” that has the look and feel of the recall petition.  People just think they are signing the recall petition. If this was business rather than politics, I am sure that Davis and his backers be sued for trademark infringement – because the whole point of Davis’ efforts are to confuse voters into thinking they have signed the recall petition, when in fact they have not.  So, these unwary constituents, when asked to sign the valid recall petition, they say: “no thanks, I have already signed.”  And you thought Starbucks had predatory business practices.   

Unlike most, I do not blame Gray Davis for all of the troubles California faces: there is plenty of blame to go around.  We can look to the federal government’s failure to pay the costs borne by illegal immigration and we can blame a recession that has hurt California particularly hard.  More importantly, we can stare squarely at California’s major political parties – both of which have been hijacked by the extreme right and left and say “shame on you.”   The vast majority of us, what I call the middle majority, are left holding the bag, paying the taxes, and asking in general, what the hell has happened to our state.  Californians pay more in state taxes than almost any other state.  What do we get back in return: crap - crappy schools, crappy roads, a crappy business climate, crappy infrastructure, crap.  As a native Californian, all this makes me very sad.  It seems the only folks not getting crapped on these days are paid consultants who take our tax dollars with both hands and Davis’ much-beloved prison guards. 

No one it seems has any political courage.  We cannot even expand the 101 Freeway for goodness sake – a vital traffic artery that is clogged beyond repair and in need of major expansion.  Nope, let the infrastructure rot because no one has the political will to do what is right for most of California – instead, our elected officials cave to the special interests that scream the most and pay the best.  I guess, when you get down to it, it comes down to this – if someone, anyone, would stand up and say “Enough”, and be a true leader – I would follow.  I know that California is facing tough choices, but those choices need to be made by someone with a vision for California’s future that does not depend on how much money you donate to a campaign.   The only person I can think of who could have done this in recent memory is Richard Riordan.  And, thanks to Davis’ crafty campaigning and Republican ineptitude, he was not on the ballot. 

Which is why, much to my surprise, I am signing the petition to recall Gray Davis.  I am generally am against undoing election results, and find that it creates a very dangerous precedent.  But, here in California, we are in crisis. That does not mean I will necessarily vote to recall Gray Davis.  Rather, I want to see if anyone has the courage to stand up and say “Enough.”  By signing the recall petition, I am hoping against hope that somehow the man who should have been Governor, Richard Riordan, is one of the choices on the recall ballot.   If he is, I will vote to recall Davis without hesitation and cast my vote for the next Governor of California – Richard Riordan.