Gov. Davis Takes the Recall Effort to Court

Re “Davis to Ask Court to Postpone Recall,” Aug. 4: California law says the subject of a recall cannot be on the list of replacement candidates. Period. Gov. Gray Davis thinks that those who want to retain him will have their equal-protection rights violated if he is not on the replacement list. But since there will be a place on the ballots to vote if he should be recalled or not, and another place to pick his replacement, those who don’t want him recalled can simply cast a “no” vote on the recall.

C. Theodore Lang

Beverly Hills

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We are told the recall is a rare chance to hear the voice of the people. It seems to me to be just the opposite. If Gov. Davis draws 49% of the recall vote, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Richard Riordan or Bill Simon Jr., by spending a few million, can draw as little as 10% of the vote and become governor. Never mind that they have all run for statewide office before and have been rejected. A recall effort to replace the new governor could begin immediately after he or she took office. People would again be flown in from out of state to gather petitions and we would replace Florida as the laughingstock of the nation. The people expressed their voices last November when they selected Davis and also voted yes on every money-spending bond issue. Though I think we could have made better choices, it was our voice.

I wonder how many of those signing petitions even bothered to vote.

Richard Alvord

Simi Valley

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Re “Democrats Attack Davis Over Campaign,” Aug. 2: Thank you, Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer, for setting the ground rules for Davis and all the candidates for that matter. With a price tag ranging from $35 million to $60 million, I expect more from the recall efforts than just the same nonsense, drama, blame and rhetoric that we usually get from Sacramento.

We need leadership in Sacramento and solutions, not sound bites. Leadership by sound bite has been the norm in Sacramento for far too long, and if that is all we are going to get from the candidates on both sides of the aisle until Oct. 7, then it is time to start the recall refund campaign. ... I’m going to want California’s money back.

Matt Lyons

La Verne

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The last sentence in your Sunday editorial (“After the Jokes, Then What?”) reads: “The more decisively the recall itself is rejected the better.” I know you really meant to say: “The more decisively the recall itself is resolved the better.” Davis (and the Legislature) bankrupted California, hid the truth until after the election, and we cannot wait three years to elect a capable governor.

Edwin T. Wall

Somis