The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 08, 2003, Page 2, Image 2
Davis ousted in California recall
i
BY ERICA WERNER
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES (AP) r
Californians banished Gov. Gray
Davis just 11 months into his sec
ond term and overwhelmingly
elected action hero Arnold
Schwarzenegger to replace him
Tuesday — a Hollywood ending to
one of the most extraordinary po
litical melodramas in the nation’s
history.
Voters traded a career
Democratic politician who be
came one of the state’s most de
spised chief executives for a mod
erate Republican megastar who
had never before run for office.
Davis became the first California
governor pried from office and
only the second nationwide to be
recalled.
“Tonight, the voters did decide
it’s time for someone else to serve,
and I accept their judgment,”
Davis said in conceding. He
pledged to work for a smooth tran
sition.
“I’m calling on everyone ... to
put the chaos and division of the
recall behind us and do what’s
right for this great state of
California.”
To the victor goes a spoiled
American paradise — a state
mired in economic troubles,
awash with deficits, now governed
by a Republican chief executive
with no political experience and a
Democratic legislature.
Partial returns showed the re
call favored by 1,718,105 voters, or
54.2 percent, and opposed by
1,454,488, or 45.9 percent.
Other returns had
Schwarzenegger ahead with
1,439,374 votes; Democratic Lt.
Gov. Cruz Bustamante with
924,423; Republican state Sen. Tom
McClintock with 376,068; and
Green Party candidate Peter
Camejo with 70,554.
“This is a great day for
California.... In response to a com
mon danger, the people of
California rose to their duties and
ordered a new direction for our
state,” McClintock said in con
ceding.
Schwarzenegger prevailed de
spite a flurry of negative publici
ty in the campaign’s final days,
surviving allegations that he had
groped women and accusations
that as a young man he expressed
admiration for Adolf Hitler.
The 56-year-old Austrian im
migrant — husband of television
journalist Maria Shriver — finds
himself in charge of the nation’s
most populated state with an econ
omy surpassed by only five coun
tries. He takes office as soon as the
election results are certified, no
later than Nov. 15.
Schwarzenegger promised to
return the shine to a Golden State
beset by massive budget problems
and riven by deep political divi
sions.
Voters faced two questions —
whether to recall Davis, and who
among the other candidates
should replace him if he was re
moved. They chose to get rid of the
incumbent and put
Schwarzenegger in his place.
Exit polling explained why:
Many Hispanics and union mem
bers — two key groups in Davis’
past electoral successes — desert
ed him as he suffered extraordi
narily low job approval ratings
amid widespread voter discontent
about the state’s economy.
Davis won election in 1998 with
70 percent support from Hispanics
and a similar percentage of voters
from union households, and he got
about 65 percent of both groups in
his re-election last year. But in the
recall, about half of Hispanics and
of voters with union members in
their households voted to recall
Davis, according to voter surveys
conducted for The Associated
Press and other news organiza
tions by Edison Media Research
and Mitofsky International.
Seven in 10 voters disapproved
of ho w Davis was handling his job.
Nearly half of all voters strongly
disapproved, and among them,
nine in 10 voted for the recall and
seven in 10 voted for
Schwarzenegger, the exit poll
found.
Long lines were reported at
polling places through the day. By
late afternoon, Terri Carbaugh, a
spokeswoman for the Secretary of
State, said a turnout of 60 percent
appeared likely, higher than the
50.7 percent who voted in last
November’s gubernatorial elec
tion. It would be the highest per
centage to vote in a gubernatorial
election since 1982.
Re-elected last year with less
than 50 percent of the vote, Davis
fell victim to a groundswell of dis
content in a state that has strug
gled with its perilous financial
condition.
As colorless as his name, Davis
was also known as a canny politi
cian with sharp elbows. Once chief
of staff to Gov. Jerry Brown, he
rose through the political ranks as
a state assemblyman, controller
and lieutenant governor, before
becoming governor in 1999.
By contrast, Schwarzenegger’s
political inexperience seemed a
virtue to many voters.
The actor’s improbable rise to
political power played out before a
rapt international audience. He
announced his candidacy in
August on “The Tonight Show
With Jay Leno” after aides said it
was certain he wouldn’t run.
Other major candidates seek
ing to replace Davis were the
Democratic lieutenant governor,
Cruz Bustamante, conservative
Republican state Sen. Tom
McClintock and Green Party can- ,
didate Peter Camejo.
The campaign included a pa
rade of bit players among the 135
candidates, including Hustler pub
lisher Larry Flynt, former child
actor Gary Coleman, a publicity
hungry porn actress who wanted
to tax breast implants and an
artist who dressed in all blue and
described his candidacy as the ul
timate piece of performance art.
The cast of characters and out
sized ballot gave the campaign a
camival-like atmosphere and pro
vided late-night comics with a
stream of material.
But to many Californians, it
was serious business.
“I’m horrified at the thought
that Schwarzenegger can be our
governor,” said Gretchen Purswy
25, of Berkeley, who voted agair^P
recall. “I’m sick of Republicans
trying to take over the state.”
Ed Troupe, 69, of Thousand
Oaks, voted yes for recall and for
Schwarzenegger. “As far as I’m
concerned,” he said, “Gray Davis
is one of the dirtiest politicians
I’ve ever encountered.”
Though Schwarzenegger held a
commanding lead over his rivals
going into the final week, his cam
paign was shaken by allegations
published in the Los Angeles
Times just days before the election
from six women who said he
groped them or made unwanted
sexual advances. Allegations con
tinued to surface over the week
end, and by election day a total of
16 women had come forward.
Schwarzenegger also was ccA
fronted with reports that he hm!
praised Hitler as a young man —
accusations he disputed.
Responding to the sexual mis
conduct charges, Schwarzenegger
acknowledged he had “behaved
badly sometimes.” But he attacked
the newspaper and some of his ac
cusers for what he called a last
minute effort to derail his candi
dacy.
Voters also rejected Proposition
54, a contentious initiative that
would have banned state and local
governments from tracking race
in everything from preschools to
police work. Voters across the
racial spectrum rejected the mea
sure, according to exit polling
They also rejected another
proposition dedicating money to
public works projects. |
Davis’ plight reverberated
across the nation, to the 18 other
states that have initiative, refer
endum or recall provisions. If the
state that brought us right-on-red
is again a pioneer, perpetual cam
paigns could become common.
Davis stood to become only the
second governor in U.S. history to
be recalled, after North Dakota’s
Lynn Frazier in 1921. The cost of
the election to California taxpay
ers was estimated at $66 million.
The victor will face daunting
problems, including an ailing
economy, a budget deficitnow es
timated at $8 billion and a tax-and
spending system many believe
needs serious reform. .
PHOTO COURTESY OF KRT CAMPUS
California voters overwhelmingly chose Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace Gov. Gray Davis.
Hotel
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Columbia hotels. He said a new
USC inn would accommodate the
Advocacy Center’s overflow at the
expense of these downtown hotels.
But Susie Van Huss, USC
Foundations director, said the
gradual occupancy phase-in was
implicated so local hotels wouldn’t
feel the brunt of the competition
all at once.
“There’s a lot to be said for peo
ple to be working together instead
of fighting,” Van Huss said. She
said the hotel will not divert a sig
nificant amount of occupants from
private businesses and that much
of the hotel owner’s objections
stemmed from misunderstand
ings.
“There was a lot of misinfor
mation that was out there,” she
said.
More importantly, Van Huss
said, the hotel will serve as a mod
el for possible future public-pri
vate partnerships like the re
search campus.
She said USC is turning to pub
lic-private partnerships after state
budget cuts left the university un
derfunded.
“We can languish here, or we
can go out and be entrepreneuri
al and create our own opportuni
ties,” Huss said.
But Wislinski sees USC’s pub
lic-private interaction in a differ
ent way.
“The university has wrapped
this, almost as one would in an
American flag, in public-private
partnerships,” he said. “This is re
ally about taking market share
from eight downtown hotels.”
Columbia City Council is ^
pected to give second reading to
day to a rezoning request that will
allow the $12.5 million hotel to
move forward. If the request pass
es on third reading next week,
land on Pendleton Street will be
rezoned from C-l, a designation
that does not allow hotels, to
Planned Unit Development, and
the inn could be completed by
2005.
Comments on this story?E-mail
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