Bush Stays Aloof on Davis Recall

By Michael Finnegan and Gregg Jones

July 31, 2003 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writers

President Bush distanced himself from the recall campaign against Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday as the Republican Party’s most prominent potential candidates kept silent on whether they would join the race to topple the Democratic incumbent.

Amid signs that Republican actor Arnold Schwarzenegger would bow out of the race any day, the other GOP favorite, Richard Riordan, was still not ready Wednesday to say whether he would run, an advisor to the former Los Angeles mayor said.

With looming uncertainty over the Republican lineup, Davis tried to keep fellow Democrats from abandoning him. He fears that a prominent Democrat running to replace him on the Oct. 7 recall ballot could undermine his effort to portray the election as a Republican plot to force a conservative agenda on California.

In San Francisco, Davis said one of the Democrats in Congress who have urged U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein to join the race might soon “take their comments back.” Feinstein, the state’s most popular Democrat, has said she would campaign against the Davis recall and did not intend to run.

“She’s called me up constantly, telling me I ought to do this, do that,” Davis said on a visit to a shelter for battered women in Chinatown. “She’s called up other colleagues and told them to support me, and I believe we will go into this election with virtual unanimity in terms of Democratic support.”

He added: “The best chance for a Democrat in the governor’s office lies with me, and beating the recall, and that requires a solid Democratic front.”

But cracks in the facade of party unity grew wider Wednesday as Rep. Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks became the third California Democrat in Congress to call on Feinstein to run. He believes “the only way to boost Democratic turnout and defeat the recall is to get a prominent Democrat on the ballot,” said Mike Gatto, Sherman’s district director.

In Washington, Bush made his first public remarks on the recall drive at a White House news conference.

“I’ve got a lot of things on my mind, and I view it like a interested political observer would view it,” Bush said. “You know, it’s kind of a -- we’re not used to recalls in Texas, for example, thankfully.”

Texas, where Bush was twice elected governor, has no gubernatorial recall law.

“I think the most important opinion is not mine, but it’s the people of California,” Bush said.

He added: “Now they get to decide who the governor is going to be.”

First Lady Laura Bush’s press secretary, Noelia Rodriguez, was in Los Angeles this week helping Riordan -- the White House favorite in the 2002 GOP gubernatorial primary -- assemble a possible campaign team. Rodriguez is a longtime Riordan advisor who was his deputy mayor for communications before moving to Washington.

Mindy Tucker, a senior California advisor to the Bush reelection campaign, said the White House was neutral on the Davis recall, and Rodriguez was helping Riordan “in her personal capacity.”

“Nothing else should be inferred from it,” Tucker said.

State Democratic Chairman Art Torres, however, said it was no accident that a White House official was doing campaign work for a potential candidate in the Davis recall race.

“Karl Rove’s fingerprints are all over this,” Torres said, referring to Bush’s top political advisor.

Torres signaled that Democrats could make an issue of Riordan’s age and health if he enters the race. Riordan, 73, has undergone treatment for prostate cancer.

“He’s got some real weaknesses in terms of age and ability to run a state as large as California,” Torres said. “You’re going to have to have someone with an attention span larger than I think Dick has, given that he’s been in semiretirement since he left the mayorship. I don’t say that in a derogatory sense.”

Riordan did not return calls seeking comment.

Statement Expected

A close Riordan advisor said the former mayor expected Schwarzenegger to announce today that he would not enter the race. Riordan, though, has not assembled a campaign team, so he was not prepared to announce whether he would pursue a candidacy, the advisors said. “He is trying to find the best matches that he can,” said the advisor. “There are somewhat slim pickings out there now, or there are people who have not done a campaign in quite a while.”

If Riordan runs, he would probably cast himself as a problem-solver who would serve out the remaining three years of Davis’ term, but not seek reelection, the advisor said. That pledge would strengthen Riordan’s ability to contrast himself favorably to professional politicians in the race, the advisor said.

Schwarzenegger had planned to adopt a similar outsider’s stance in his first bid for public office, but people close to the actor said he continues to be unlikely to run.

Riordan’s potential candidacy led Davis on Wednesday to defend the millions of dollars in attack ads that he ran against the former mayor in the 2002 GOP gubernatorial primary. The ads were a big factor in the landslide victory of conservative Bill Simon Jr. over Riordan, a relative moderate, in the primary, providing Davis with his preferred opponent in the November general election.

At his San Francisco news conference, Davis said he “didn’t take out anybody” in the Republican primary.

“I didn’t vote in the Republican primary,” he said. “The Republicans made their own choice. We obviously are free to express our point of view, and there was a vigorous give-and-take, and the Republicans decided who their nominee was.”

Challenges Filed

On the legal front, two more petitions challenging aspects of the recall election were filed Wednesday with the California Supreme Court, raising the number of possible recall cases to four.

One of the new filings argues that Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante would automatically replace Davis if he is removed from office. The other challenges the qualifications for candidates getting on the recall ballot.

The secretary of state has said candidates to succeed Davis must pay a $3,500 fee and provide 65 signatures. But those requirements are based on a provision of the election law that says it does not apply to recall elections. If the voting proceeds on the basis of those rules, the petition says, “an invalid election will take place, and a dispute over who is governor will emerge.”

Times staff writers Nick Anderson, Matea Gold, Jean Guccione and James Rainey contributed to this report.