The new anti-recall group, just launched today, already has a budget in the low 7 figures. According to the LA Times, they will raise $1-4 million to gather signatures on an anti-recall petition to to save the $25 million that this "insanity" and "anarchy" will cost the state. (Come on, admit it, the recall is as fun to watch as I said it was). Now, I am still searching diligently to figure out what this $1-4 million dollar anti-recall petition will do.
As far as I can tell, there is no initiative or other legal mechanism in place that would allow these anti-recall signatures to actually stop the recall. Nor is the person who signs whatever petition put in their face (I wonder how many of those there are) prevented from signing both petitions. Ah yes, here's the Bee confirming my suspicions and providing an explanation:
The anti-recall petitions have no legal standing and no ability to prevent a recall election should Issa and other proponents collect the nearly 900,000 signatures of voter support required to qualify for the ballot.
But the new campaign could have one significant effect: interfering with recall signature-gathering efforts by offering petition circulators better-paying work
Both the LA Times and the SF Chronicle headline that only 18-20,000 signatures have been turned in although recall supporters "claim" to have 200,000. Seems like an odd fact to trumpet. The recall supporters have been reporting numbers far behind what they had wanted or predicted. It seems to me that if you were going to lie, you'd do a better job of it.
Posted by Justene Adamec at May 28, 2003 07:24 AM