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Republicans seize governors chair { August 20 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3050655,00.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3050655,00.html
Schwarzenegger Convenes Economic Summit
Wednesday August 20, 2003 8:29 PM
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Republican recall candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger met with his high-profile advisers Wednesday, saying they would discuss how to make California's economy ``a powerful job-creating machine.''
Schwarzenegger was flanked by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and former Secretary of State George Shultz at the meeting with 18 other business and government leaders, which was closed to reporters after early comments.
``Everyone agrees the economy is one of the most pressing issues facing California,'' Schwarzenegger said as he convened the meeting. ``How do we turn California's economy back to a powerful job-creating machine that it once was?''
Buffett, who lives in Nebraska, said he wants to help California to pull out of its economic nosedive.
``If California prospers, the country prospers,'' he said.
Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth also was kicking off his campaign Wednesday with a press conference in Los Angeles to detail parts of his economic recovery plan - one of several in the works this week as major candidates finally begin to address the issues in detail.
On Tuesday, Gov. Gray Davis took his case for remaining in office to the people, telling Californians the campaign to recall him is part of a wider attempt to ``steal elections Republicans cannot win,'' evoking the impeachment of former President Clinton and Florida's 2000 presidential election fiasco.
Making the first major address of his fight for political survival, Davis took a defiant stance during a televised speech, denouncing the Oct. 7 recall vote as a Republican power grab and making no apologies for his actions as governor. He planned to follow up the speech with a series of ``town hall' meetings around the state, beginning with one Wednesday in Hollywood.
``The Republicans behind this recall say they want you to oust me for past mistakes,'' Davis said. ``My friends, they don't give a rip about past mistakes. This is all about control in the future, seizing back the governor's chair and believing with so many candidates running they can do it with just a handful of California voters.''
In Washington, Democratic party leaders were closely watching the polls Wednesday to see if Davis' address succeeded in reversing the governor's declining support.
Democrats are united against the recall but split on whether to back an alternative candidate. The top choice would likely be Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who recent polls show neck-and-neck with Schwarzenegger as the leading replacement candidates.
A senior party official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Davis has until shortly after Labor Day to shore up his support. Otherwise, Democratic leaders will begin signaling their support for Bustamante. Another party official said Davis is having trouble raising money.
Democratic Party chairman Terry McAuliffe is sending former Clinton White House spokeswoman Ann Lewis to California this week to head up the party's communications strategy for the recall.
Hours before Davis addressed supporters at the University of California, Los Angeles, Bustamante released his plan, calling for raising taxes on cigarettes and higher taxes on high-income residents.
Ueberroth, another of Davis' Republican rivals, offered broad proposals on measures to close California's anticipated $8 billion budget gap but provided scant details.
The centerpiece of his plan is a one-time tax amnesty, which he said could raise up to $6 billion. He also proposed a state government hiring freeze and review of employee salaries, cuts in spending, renegotiated state labor contracts and an assault on fraud in the Medi-Cal system.
Californians could also get a better idea on Wednesday whether the recall will really take place Oct. 7. U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson of Los Angeles has said he hopes to rule then on a request by the American Civil Liberties Union to delay the election to avoid possible ballot-counting problems.
The ACLU lawsuit seeks to postpone the recall to March, by which time the counties of Los Angeles, Mendocino, Santa Clara, San Diego, Sacramento and Solano plan to have scrapped punch-card voting machines like the ones that caused the hanging-chad controversy during the disputed 2000 Florida presidential vote.
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Associated Press Political Writer Ron Fournier in Washington contributed to this story.
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