Features

Berkeley, one of the most liberal cities in California, has not exactly been a hotbed of recall activity. But that didn’t stop the Berkeley College Republicans from setting up a table on the UC Berkeley campus this spring and collecting signatures to oust Democratic Gov. Gray Davis. 

“I honestly believe that Gray Davis has shown very little leadership—not just financially, but in the [overall] direction of the state,” said Andrea Irvin, president of the student group. 

Irvin said the College Republicans collected more than 500 signatures between late April and mid May, when finals began, and submitted them to the county. The Alameda County Registrar of Voters said this week that it had received 4,174 signatures, just over 1 percent of the 376,008 signatures mustered statewide as of June 16. 

Recall supporters, backed by Republican congressman and gubernatorial hopeful Darrell Issa, have until Sept. 2 to collect 900,000 valid signatures to force a recall. 

Issa’s organization, Rescue California, has focused its efforts on the more populous, conservative areas of Southern California. As a result, the chief anti-recall group, a coalition of labor and environmentalist organizations called Taxpayers Against the Governor’s Recall, has also based its operation in the southern part of the state, according to spokesperson Carroll Wills. 

But Wills said his group, which is collecting signatures for an anti-recall petition, plans to move up to the Bay Area as the campaign wears on, adding to the few anti-recall signature gatherers who now dot Berkeley and the larger Bay Area. 

Wills said his group has collected 600,000 signatures for the anti-recall petition— a symbolic gesture which will have no effect on whether the recall actually reaches the ballot. 

City Councilmember Linda Maio said the relative lack of recall activity in Berkeley has left the locals tuned out. “I don’t think it’s hit people yet,” she said. 

Wills said Berkeley and the entire Bay Area will be critical if the recall qualifies for the ballot. 

“Strong Democratic areas are going to be important if the recall is on the ballot because these are the people who are going to understand what’s at stake,” he said. 

James Hartman, chair of the Alameda County Republican Party, said he is not aware of any organized efforts to collect pro-recall signatures in Berkeley outside of the College Republicans’ push. 

He added that, while the statewide Republican Party has endorsed the recall effort, the county outfit has not thrown its support behind the campaign. 

“I am not a great fan of Governor Davis, but at this stage I’m not convinced that a recall of the governor is appropriate,” Hartman said. 

Davis may be guilty of fiscal mismanagement, Hartman said, but recall should be reserved for clear cases of fraud or corruption. Attempting to oust Davis in the middle of his term with inadequate cause, he said, ultimately could reflect poorly on the Republican Party. 

Hartman said the party should, instead, use the budget fiasco to get more Republicans elected to the state Legislature during next year’s mid-term election. 

“I would prefer that we wait until our day comes in November 2004,” he said.