Davis Takes Recall Fervor in Stride

An embattled Gov. Gray Davis hewed closely to his official duties Monday as advisors to Arnold Schwarzenegger said the actor remained undecided about whether to jump into the frenetic political free-for-all unfolding across the state.

By Monday afternoon, about 90 potential candidates had pulled papers to run to replace the governor in the Oct. 7 recall election, according to county registrars’ offices, although only a fraction of those had so far paid the $3,500 filing fee.

In Los Angeles County, 38 people have taken out papers, including Angelyne, the billboard pinup, and a person identified as S. Issa. Aides to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), the only declared candidate so far on the Republican side, said they believed there was no connection between the two.

Schwarzenegger met Monday with George Gorton, his political consultant, at the star’s home in Brentwood. After the meeting, Gorton released a statement saying that Schwarzenegger had not made a decision.

“He will continue to weigh the pros and cons with his family,” Gorton said.

However, a person close to Schwarzenegger said the actor was “leaning against” entering the race.

As the race continued to intrigue candidates both well-known and obscure, columnist Arianna Huffington said on CNN that she was interested in running.

She said, however, that she would not run if her ex-husband, Michael Huffington, decided to.

“As a mother, you would understand that I would never put my children through” that sort of strain, she said.

Michael Huffington, who lost a Senate campaign to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 1994, has expressed interest in the race and taken out papers, but has not declared a candidacy.

The possibility of both Huffingtons running had intrigued political insiders, including Davis.

“The Huffingtons, you know, they may, you know -- that’d be sort of interesting,” Davis said with a chuckle during an appearance at an elementary school in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, efforts to halt the recall election in the courts continued with two new lawsuits.

In one, a prominent San Francisco attorney asked the state Supreme Court to separate the recall vote from the vote on potential successors to Davis.

Attorney Jerome B. Falk Jr. argues that the state Constitution provides that the lieutenant governor takes over if the governor leaves office.

That provision takes precedence over the recall law, Falk contends.

Falk said that he has had “no contact with the governor, the lieutenant governor or any other political official.”

The court told Falk and the state attorney general’s office to file briefs on the case by the middle of next week, but did not indicate whether the justices would take the case.

Davis tried to ignore the swirl of developments when he stopped in the afternoon at Vine Street Elementary School in Hollywood, where he read “Charlotte’s Web” with some third-graders and helped kindergartners make a collage.

Davis praised the state Senate for approving a budget Sunday and urged the Assembly to follow suit, warning that delay on the budget is holding up money needed by school districts.

“I urge the Assembly: Do the right thing to pass a good budget,” he said.

Davis also defended his record. “In the end, Californians are fair-minded and they realize that while not everything I did was perfect, we’re basically on the right track,” he said.

Davis got a boost from L.A. schools Supt. Roy Romer and from representatives of environmental groups who called a news conference in San Francisco to denounce the recall.

“In the middle of a 100-year storm -- and that’s what we’ve got economically in California -- you don’t gather all the crew and say, ‘Let’s vote on whether the captain ought to still run the ship,’ ” Romer said.

Meanwhile, in San Diego, U.S. District Judge Barry T. Moskowitz plans to hold a hearing today on the constitutionality of a portion of the recall law that says voters who choose not to cast a vote either way on whether Davis should be recalled cannot vote on those running to replace him.

Two law professors from UC San Diego have challenged that provision, saying it violates the 1st Amendment rights of voters who might want to abstain from casting ballots in the recall.

In briefs filed with the court, Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer defended the law as “a reasonable demand” to restrict the election of a successor governor to those voters who have made a choice on whether the existing governor should be removed.

In a separate petition, Oakland attorney Jon B. Eisenberg urged the state Supreme Court to remove two measures set for the Oct. 7 recall ballot.

Supporters of the measures had expected them to be voted on in March, but now the timetable for the two measures has been accelerated.

Eisenberg’s petition argues that the faster timetable will not give voters enough time to debate the measures.

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Times staff writers Miguel Bustillo, Michael Finnegan, Jean Guccione, Allison Hoffman and Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.