Allen Foes Predict Recall Vote

The Republican forces campaigning to recall Assembly Speaker Doris Allen Monday declared they had collected enough signatures to force an election, perhaps by late November.

An enthusiastic contingent of anti-Allen volunteers, led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), turned in a final batch of recall petitions to the Registrar of Voters office Monday morning, predicting they had gathered a sufficient number of signatures to reach the total of 25,606 needed to force a recall.

“It feels great, but there is also the feeling there is a big job ahead,” said Jeff Flint, coordinator of the Committee to Recall Doris Allen, which gathered the required signatures in 76 days. The group spent $125,000, $50,000 of it supplied by the Lincoln Club, an organization of influential Orange County conservatives.

County Registrar of Voters Rosalyn Lever said she expects to tally and validate the signatures by Friday. If a sufficient number of signatures have been turned in, Gov. Pete Wilson must set a date for a vote 60 to 80 days after the registrar’s official announcement.

The same ballot would include a special election to fill Allen’s seat if she is successfully recalled. Allen has estimated she would spend $500,000 to $1 million to fight the recall. Her opponents have declined to predict how much they would put into the effort.