COUNTYWIDE : Green Party Backs Wilson Recall Effort

Ventura County’s Green Party council has endorsed a grass-roots petition drive aimed at recalling Gov. Pete Wilson from office.

The local party council decided at a meeting Wednesday night to back the San Jose-based recall organization called Bite ‘Em Back, which kicked off its recall drive in September.

Gerhard W. Orthuber, county coordinator for the Green Party, blamed Wilson for what he called the state’s moribund economy and said the governor’s State of the State address Wednesday showed “no new ideas will be tried.”

Tom Stafford, a member of the local Green Party council, said the group will circulate recall petitions and conduct rallies promoting the recall drive.

The group holds Wilson and Democratic Assembly Speaker Willie Brown of San Francisco “equally to blame for the fiasco of last year’s budget crisis,” Stafford said. “They brought California to a standstill economically.”

Bite ‘Em Back needs 950,000 signatures by March 18 to qualify for the statewide ballot in June, organization spokesman Ed Foglia said. With organized supporters in 42 of the 58 counties in the state, the recall effort has 100,000 signatures so far, he said.