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Taxpayer group launches recall effort
Wednesday February 05, 2003
SACRAMENTO (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.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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