U.S. Court Throws Wrench Into Election

Monday

* A federal appeals court panel unanimously ordered the Oct. 7 recall election postponed, throwing the recall campaign into a state of confusion. The three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the state would face an unacceptable risk of errors caused by antiquated punch-card voting machines if the election proceeded on schedule. The six counties that use punch-card machines, including Los Angeles and San Diego, already were scheduled to replace them for the March 2 primary, which will become the likely date of the recall election if the decision stands. The appeals court judges who issued Monday’s decision based it primarily on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Bush vs. Gore case.

* Gov. Gray Davis and each of the major candidates to replace him pledged to continue campaigning until a final ruling. State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) called the 9th Circuit the nation’s “most reversed court -- the same court that banned the words, ‘Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance,” a reference to a decision last year by a different 9th Circuit panel. “This election is called for by the Constitution and demanded by the people of California,” he said. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the other prominent Republican in the race, also responded to the decision. “Historically, the courts have upheld the rights of voters, and I expect that the court will do so again in this case,” he said.

* Conny B. McCormack, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder, said she did not think the county’s new optical-scan voting system could accommodate a March ballot packed with the recall, a presidential primary and an array of initiatives and local races. “We would not have the capacity,” McCormack said after hearing of the federal appeals court ruling. Officials in San Diego, Sacramento and Orange counties said they had spent more than $1 million preparing for the recall election. McCormack did not say how much Los Angeles County stood to lose but said she had budgeted $13 million for the Oct. 7 election and had already spent more than $6 million to print and mail sample and absentee ballots and to hire election workers.

Tuesday

* As the judges considered what to do next, voters expressed widespread cynicism about the motives of the three-judge panel that ordered the postponement. Frustrated election officials expressed fresh outrage over the taxpayer dollars that would be wasted if the postponement stood. Interviews throughout the state suggested that California and its 58 counties had already spent at least half of the $66 million that the recall is expected to cost.

* The California Fair Political Practices Commission told a judge it’s unclear whether Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante’s campaign spending strategy violates state law. The commission filed a 12-page letter as part of a lawsuit filed by state Sen. Ross Johnson (R-Irvine), an author of Proposition 34, the voter-approved measure that regulates political fund-raising and spending. The commission is charged with enforcing that law. Johnson’s suit alleges that Bustamante violated campaign contribution limits by accepting single donations as high as $1.5 million into an old account not covered by the new law, and by using the money to wage his current campaign. Proposition 34 bars candidates in the recall race from accepting direct donations of more than $21,200 from individual donors.

* The Rev. Jesse Jackson exhorted a predominantly African American audience to reject the recall of Davis. It was the latest appearance by a prominent national Democrat to press the campaign on the beleaguered governor’s behalf. With Davis watching, Jackson told about 500 people packed into the Third Baptist Church gymnasium that California’s financial difficulties -- and the frustration of people affected by the hard times -- were no different from those in other states across the nation. “California does not have a monopoly on this frustration,” Jackson said.

* Bustamante picked up endorsements from several environmental groups, using the opportunity to charge the Bush administration with trying to undermine the Clean Air Act and open the state’s wilderness to development. “California, I believe, needs a governor who’ll make clean California water and air a California priority,” Bustamante said.

Wednesday

* Los Angeles County’s chief election official urged a federal appeals court to permit the recall election to be held on schedule Oct. 7, warning that putting off the vote could cause widespread confusion and ballot errors -- precisely the problems the judges said they were trying to avoid when they ordered the election postponed. “I have every confidence” that the election “can and will be administered fairly and effectively in the county of Los Angeles using the punch-card voting system,” Conny B. McCormack, the county’s registrar-recorder, wrote in a letter to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

* Arnold Schwarzenegger took his campaign to the Howard Stern and Larry King talk shows to talk about his personality, entertainment and politics. His hourlong appearance on “Larry King Live” represented easily his longest interview of the campaign. Stern introduced Schwarzenegger on Wednesday as “governor” and noted repeatedly that his guest had “been a friend of the show.” His questions included lighthearted queries about whether Gov. Gray Davis might star in a “Terminator 4” and why the Los Angeles City Council had banned lap dancing.

* Two Vietnam veterans, Davis and U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Massachusetts), appealed to former soldiers Wednesday to rally against the effort to oust Davis from office. They also sought to blame President Bush for many of the problems that fuel the recall effort. Touring a Westwood facility that provides job training, drug treatment and other services for veterans, Davis referred to his tenure in the governor’s office as “my tour of duty,” one that he said he should be allowed to complete.

Thursday

* State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante threatened to boycott the only debate Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to attend. Both candidates demanded that the California Broadcasters Assn. change the format of the debate, which is set for Wednesday in Sacramento. They said it was inappropriate that questions had been provided in advance. Schwarzenegger, however, has agreed to appear only at that forum, and has not responded to invitations to appear in several other debates, including one jointly sponsored by CNN and The Times scheduled for Sept. 30. “This should not be called a debate -- it’s a scripted forum,” said McClintock campaign director John Feliz. “The only one he is attending, he has to have the answers ahead of time. That’s not right.”

* Indian tribes stepped up TV advertising and direct-mail campaigns in support of both Bustamante and McClintock, moves that also have the effect of targeting Schwarzenegger. The actor responded angrily, lashing out for the first time against McClintock. “I think that, as far as Tom McClintock is concerned, the question for him is: What side is he on?” Schwarzenegger said. “Is he on the side of the Republicans? Does he represent the Republicans? Or does he represent Bustamante? Because he’s getting money from the same Indian tribes that are financing his commercials and his TV spots.” John Stoos, McClintock’s deputy campaign director, scoffed at the attempt to challenge the Thousand Oaks senator’s Republican credentials. “Tom’s been laboring for 20 years in the Republican vineyards,” he said. “That’s going to be a tough charge to make stick.”

* Breaking from some other Democratic officials, Bustamante expressed hope that the courts would allow the recall election to continue Oct. 7, as planned, saying voters were suffering from “recall fatigue.”

* Schwarzenegger introduced a proposal to limit fund-raising and make government more open, and immediately used the plan to criticize his rivals. Schwarzenegger’s plan included support for a proposed constitutional amendment to make access to public records a civil right, a ban on fund-raising by state officials during the budgeting process, fuller disclosure of campaign contributions and a constitutional amendment to allow three retired judges selected by lottery to draw the boundaries of legislative districts. “We need to throw open the doors and windows of government,” Schwarzenegger said as he stood in front of a locomotive inside the California State Railroad Museum.

Friday

* The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said it would reconsider its decision postponing the Oct. 7 recall election. The second round of arguments in the case will be heard in San Francisco on Monday by a panel of 11 appeals court judges. The new panel is far more conservative than the group of three that ordered the election postponed. The makeup of the new panel caused one of the original three judges to predict their decision would be overturned. “You know who’s on the panel, right? Do you think it’s going to have much of a chance of surviving? I wouldn’t bet on it,” Judge Harry Pregerson said in an interview. The hearing will be open to live television coverage, the court announced -- a rare move reflecting the extraordinary level of interest in the case. The decision to reconsider the case drew praise from candidates across the ideological spectrum.

* State Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) described Arnold Schwarzenegger as a “vacuum cleaner” for corporate campaign donations and accused the actor of breaking a vow to forgo special-interest money. The rising antagonism came amid fears by some Republicans that the two would split the party’s vote and ensure a GOP defeat. Beyond the public squabbles, intraparty scuffling continued behind the scenes, as county chairmen from around the state hastily scheduled a meeting this week. Some McClintock loyalists viewed the gathering as a backdoor attempt to push through a Schwarzenegger endorsement and pressure McClintock to quit the race. At campaign stops in the Inland Empire on Friday, McClintock questioned Schwarzenegger’s integrity and party loyalty, citing the actor’s outspoken remarks against the GOP after the impeachment of President Clinton. “This is a man who just a few years ago said he was ashamed to be a Republican,” McClintock said during a visit to an Ontario office park. “He has received millions of dollars from special-interest groups after pledging he would not, and he begrudges several Indian tribes a few hundred thousand dollars in support they’ve put behind me. I think that’s just a little hypocritical.”

* McClintock reversed course on his threat to boycott Wednesday’s debate in Sacramento, saying he was satisfied with the format set up by the California Broadcasters Assn. McClintock and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante had threatened to skip the event and hold their own debate unless organizers revamped the program.

Bustamante didn’t say whether he would participate.

* Former Vice President Al Gore accused Republicans of making “a spectacle of our democracy” as he joined Davis to campaign against the recall. “Don’t let them do this!” Gore shouted at a rally of 300 Democratic Party loyalists at a San Francisco union hall. Gore was the latest national Democratic Party star to join Davis in California to denounce the recall.

Among the others have been former President Clinton and two U.S. senators running for president: John Kerry of Massachusetts and Bob Graham of Florida. “You can help the entire country by defeating this,” Gore told the crowd.