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'The Viper' revives snakebit Davis recall
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross Wednesday, May 7, 2003
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Just when it looked like the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis was sputtering to an end, multimillionaire Republican Rep. Darrell "The Viper" Issa has raised his head and vowed to drop a healthy dose of "seed money" into starting his own effort.
Word is that Issa -- who made his fortune with the Viper car alarm -- will pump a "low six-figure" contribution into the recall effort this week.
And while that is still far short of the $2 million or so that pundits say it will take to mount a serious recall campaign, Issa's political consultant, Scott Taylor, says it will put paid signature gatherers on the street by this weekend.
Issa's crew -- which apparently doesn't trust the existing recall efforts to get the job done -- is also starting a "Rescue California" fund-raising committee to solicit more money.
The goal is to raise from $1 million to $1.5 million.
The new campaign will be headed by Sacramento consultant David Gilliard, who also represents a number of Republican pols in Washington and Sacramento.
As of late Tuesday, the group was in negotiations with two signature- gathering outfits to handle the recall petitions.
Gilliard and Taylor say they hope to have 200 signature gatherers in place immediately and to start a direct mail campaign.
Recall supporters have until September to come up with 900,000 voter signatures to force a Davis recall onto the November ballot. So far they've come up with about 100,000 that would count no matter what -- and Gilliard boldly predicted that between the various drives the signatures would be in hand by late July, well ahead of the September deadline.
Tough talk -- but can they deliver?
"I'm confident," Gilliard said. "I think this is going to go."
"If that happens," one Democratic heavyweight flatly predicted, "Davis is toast."
One thing is certain: Big-buck backer Issa does have a track record of spending his own money.
He shelled out $9.8 million for his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate back in 1998.
And two years earlier, he paid $50,000 to help jump-start Proposition 209 --
the Ward Connerly initiative that eliminated race and gender preferences in state hiring, contracting and education.
By the way, Issa has made no secret that he'll run for governor if the recall makes the ballot.
PACKING PINK: After years in San Francisco politics, Democratic state Assemblyman Mark Leno is no stranger to special-interest lobbying. But even he did a double-take when a transsexual from the "Pink Pistols" showed up in Sacramento the other day to lobby for a pro-gun bill.
The Pink Pistols (their motto: "Armed gays don't get bashed") were there to testify for a proposal by Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes of Riverside that would give victims of hate crimes and domestic violence the right to pack concealed weapons.
As for why Haynes chose a Pink Pistol to make the point?
"I suppose they were trying to be cute and clever," said Leno -- whose own bill to end job discrimination against transsexuals was being heard the same week.
AND FINALLY: Some things never change.
The other night at John's Grill, an obviously looped customer and his equally looped girlfriend started a scene.
The guy got upset when he couldn't find the jacket he'd left at the bar.
Then he got upset at the waiter for not being upset enough about the missing jacket.
The upset and cursing customer then upset the waiter's tray, sending plates flying in all directions.
The waiter, who was now real upset as well, called 911.
And within minutes, the cops arrived.
Words were exchanged, and for a minute it looked like the next stop might be the station house as the cops started patting down the guy.
Suddenly things got very quiet. The search, it seems, had turned up something.
A badge -- Sacramento PD.
Within seconds, the cops had the drunk outside on the sidewalk -- and a minute later both he and his girlfriend were gone.
No charges were pressed, but as the waiter told us, "At least they paid the tab."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/07/BA174210.DTL
Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross Wednesday, May 7, 2003
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just when it looked like the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis was sputtering to an end, multimillionaire Republican Rep. Darrell "The Viper" Issa has raised his head and vowed to drop a healthy dose of "seed money" into starting his own effort.
Word is that Issa -- who made his fortune with the Viper car alarm -- will pump a "low six-figure" contribution into the recall effort this week.
And while that is still far short of the $2 million or so that pundits say it will take to mount a serious recall campaign, Issa's political consultant, Scott Taylor, says it will put paid signature gatherers on the street by this weekend.
Issa's crew -- which apparently doesn't trust the existing recall efforts to get the job done -- is also starting a "Rescue California" fund-raising committee to solicit more money.
The goal is to raise from $1 million to $1.5 million.
The new campaign will be headed by Sacramento consultant David Gilliard, who also represents a number of Republican pols in Washington and Sacramento.
As of late Tuesday, the group was in negotiations with two signature- gathering outfits to handle the recall petitions.
Gilliard and Taylor say they hope to have 200 signature gatherers in place immediately and to start a direct mail campaign.
Recall supporters have until September to come up with 900,000 voter signatures to force a Davis recall onto the November ballot. So far they've come up with about 100,000 that would count no matter what -- and Gilliard boldly predicted that between the various drives the signatures would be in hand by late July, well ahead of the September deadline.
Tough talk -- but can they deliver?
"I'm confident," Gilliard said. "I think this is going to go."
"If that happens," one Democratic heavyweight flatly predicted, "Davis is toast."
One thing is certain: Big-buck backer Issa does have a track record of spending his own money.
He shelled out $9.8 million for his unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate back in 1998.
And two years earlier, he paid $50,000 to help jump-start Proposition 209 --
the Ward Connerly initiative that eliminated race and gender preferences in state hiring, contracting and education.
By the way, Issa has made no secret that he'll run for governor if the recall makes the ballot.
PACKING PINK: After years in San Francisco politics, Democratic state Assemblyman Mark Leno is no stranger to special-interest lobbying. But even he did a double-take when a transsexual from the "Pink Pistols" showed up in Sacramento the other day to lobby for a pro-gun bill.
The Pink Pistols (their motto: "Armed gays don't get bashed") were there to testify for a proposal by Republican Assemblyman Ray Haynes of Riverside that would give victims of hate crimes and domestic violence the right to pack concealed weapons.
As for why Haynes chose a Pink Pistol to make the point?
"I suppose they were trying to be cute and clever," said Leno -- whose own bill to end job discrimination against transsexuals was being heard the same week.
AND FINALLY: Some things never change.
The other night at John's Grill, an obviously looped customer and his equally looped girlfriend started a scene.
The guy got upset when he couldn't find the jacket he'd left at the bar.
Then he got upset at the waiter for not being upset enough about the missing jacket.
The upset and cursing customer then upset the waiter's tray, sending plates flying in all directions.
The waiter, who was now real upset as well, called 911.
And within minutes, the cops arrived.
Words were exchanged, and for a minute it looked like the next stop might be the station house as the cops started patting down the guy.
Suddenly things got very quiet. The search, it seems, had turned up something.
A badge -- Sacramento PD.
Within seconds, the cops had the drunk outside on the sidewalk -- and a minute later both he and his girlfriend were gone.
No charges were pressed, but as the waiter told us, "At least they paid the tab."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/05/07/BA174210.DTL
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