CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPERS COMING OUT AGAINST THE RECALL

San Jose Mercury News:

The recall is no solution to the state's budget crisis, no solution for struggling schools, and no solution -- quite the opposite -- for the poisonous partisanship that prevents the Legislature from finding solutions on issues from energy to health care.

The seven months of paid-for signature-gathering, partisan ma- neuvering, legal hair-splitting and political campaigning since then have made the recall look even worse.

Californians should vote ``no'' on the recall.

The recall is wrongheaded even though Gray Davis has been a mediocre governor. The indictment against him is familiar: budget mismanagement, perpetual fundraising, a personality that not only distances him from the voters but also limits his effectiveness with the Legislature.

The indictment fails to mention that Davis has championed major increases in education funding, protection for the environment, and a hard line against crime -- all of which are priorities Californians tell pollsters they endorse.

But even if all of the charges against Davis are true, they don't add up to a case for dumping him mid-term. After all, the federal budget is in trouble, and Republicans are aggressive fundraisers as well.

Los Angeles Times:

If state voters are to throw out a governor less than one year into his term, the replacement should be demonstrably superior. This field of contenders offers no such person. Changing the governor in midstream would not address what really ails California state and local governments; the recall of Davis instead would invite more political chaos and economic uncertainty. Worse, the state and the nation could look forward to more recalls pushed by poor losers who simply didn't want to wait for the end of a four-year term. The vituperative, scorched-earth politics of partisan payback would be never ending.

The recall is a form of misdirected anger at what's wrong with Sacramento. Here's what causes most of California's dysfunction: illogical tax laws and policies; gerrymandering; term limits, which take power from the elected and hand power to the lobbyists; a political system fueled by big business and big union cash; and, yes, ill-considered ballot initiatives and recall elections. As soon as this recall is over, voters finally can collectively concentrate on ridding Sacramento of the real causes of the state's problems. Recall might feel good, but it would cause the worst political hangover California has ever had.

San Francisco Chronicle:

The first and most important question on the Oct. 7 ballot is whether the case has been made that the governor has engaged in malfeasance, impropriety, blatant deception or other misconduct so egregious that his immediate removal has become imperative.

It has not. The imperfections in Gray Davis that have been highlighted in this campaign were known and aired when he defeated Republican Bill Simon one year ago.

The speedy timeline of the recall has not diminished its potential damaging impact on California's future, in which a political neophyte could be chosen to instantly take the reins of a nation-state whose economy is vital to the rest of the world. If anything, it has lowered the standard for electing public officials, since, according to public opinion polls, many voters have embraced the "throw the bums out'' mentality that ignited the recall process this summer...

That chaos has swirled around the recall process from day one shouldn't surprise anyone - since it invites disorder. If Davis is ousted, his successor will have almost no time to set up an appropriate transition team to ease the transfer of power. It could take several weeks to count all the ballots, assuming there aren't the type of election snafus that were the target of numerous lawsuits to delay the recall. And of course, if the recall is successful, it has the potential of being used and abused more often in the future, essentially creating a new growth industry for campaign consultants. Clearly, if an ambitious pol like Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, can change the balance of California's politics for less than $2 million, there are many more potential powerbrokers with deep pockets who might want to take a crack at removing the governor's successor.

The recall has made a freak show of the state's political process at a time when California needs serious, thoughtful and bold leadership. It may be great entertainment - and appears to have raised voter interest in politics, at least for the moment - but it does not solve any of the state's problems.

Sacramento Bee:

But all the things that the recall's supporters hold against him -- the power companies' gouging of consumers in the 2000 electricity crisis, his inability to drive an ideologically divided Legislature to workable budget solutions, his perpetual fund-raising -- are things voters knew about him when they reelected Davis less than a year ago.

And the good things remain the same, too. Davis is still the governor who has sharply boosted school spending. He's the one who pushed and defended, often over the opposition of the teachers unions, an agenda of school reform and accountability that is boosting student achievement around the state. He has supported and signed important progressive legislation protecting HMO patients, borrowers, car buyers, nursing home patients and children that the Republicans vying to replace him would likely have vetoed. On issues involving women's and civil rights, the environment, crime, abortion and health, he has consistently spoken and acted in line with the views of the majority of citizens.

And he has offered (albeit belatedly) hard but specific proposals, including tax increases and spending cuts, for closing the state's budget gap. He should have offered this unpalatable but necessary plan sooner and fought harder to sell it, but none of the other major candidates has come as close to telling Californians that they can't have something for nothing...

We said it before and it's still true: A real political leader knows where he or she wants to go, and has the courage to make the case to voters. Schwarzenegger has bombed his audition. He has given voters little reason to believe he knows the answers to California's problems, let alone to believe that he is the answer.

Having endured this distraction from the real business of governing, we would like to be able to say that California could get stronger leadership out of the recall. We can't. With no chance to trade up, the argument of pragmatism reinforces the argument of principle that a recall driven by partisanship is bad for California.

Modesto Bee (9/28 through lexis-nexis, cant find the link, though you can try too):

We do not see the recall as the way to solve California's problems. And we do not see a replacement candidate deserving this paper's endorsement.

We're not big fans of Davis. We held our nose and endorsed his re-election bid last fall only because, in our view, the alternatives were worse.

The governor is better known for his fund-raising than working with a divided Legislature to achieve budget solutions. He wasn't honest about the severity of the state budget crisis. And he continues to cater to public employee unions and Indian gaming tribes.

But Davis alone cannot be blamed for the mess California is in. Legislators, who were cutting deals in the middle of the night, bear a large part of the responsibility. So do voters, who have approved referendum after referendum in the last 25 years, dictating the use of tax money and therefore tying the hands of legislators.

Davis has good points. He sharply boosted school spending and, over the opposition of the teachers' union, pushed and defended an agenda of school reform and accountability. On issues involving women's and civil rights, the environment, crime, abortion and health, he has consistently spoken and acted in line with the majority of citizens.

The governor has come to recognize the special challenges facing the valley. He has appointed effective Cabinet members, such as Modestan Bill Lyons as secretary of agriculture, and he has given top priority to the University of California at Merced, a project that is crucial to the improvement of education and the economy of the valley.

Remember, too, that we had our chance to give the governor the heave-ho only 11 months ago. Despite Davis' record of mistakes and shortcomings, voters saw strengths and sent him back to Sacramento for another four years.

So here we are, less than a year later, being asked if we want to change our mind, kick Davis out of office and replace him with someone else.

Again, we say no.