SACRAMENTO — If Gov. Gray Davis decided to mount a court challenge to a recall campaign seeking to remove him from office, the best outcome probably would only delay his day of reckoning with California voters and could end up antagonizing them, legal and political experts said Wednesday.
A legal counterattack on various grounds is being contemplated and debated by the Democratic governor's strategists. But there are differences of opinion within the Davis camp on the issue, with some Democrats emphasizing the political dangers of pursuing a legal strategy.
The governor's supporters have compiled affidavits from people asked to sign the recall petitions and videotapes of the signature collection efforts in preparation for a legal challenge, possibly by the end of the week, said one Davis strategist.
"Presumably there will be legal challenges every step of the way from a number of entities," said Chris Lehane, a Democratic consultant working with anti-recall forces. "There could be countless lawsuits to try to tie up the process."
The recall's sponsors, however, said they were confident that their petitions were properly drafted and circulated. They predicted that any challenge would fail and would only serve to embarrass Davis.
"I think it's safe to assume the persons responsible for circulating petitions were knowledgeable of the elections code requirement for circulating petitions," said Thomas Hiltachk, a legal advisor to the recall groups. "I'm not shaking in my boots worrying about a legal challenge."
Beyond questioning the drafting and circulating of the petitions, one possible avenue of attack for anti-recall forces could be a review of the validation of more than 1 million signatures, which county election registrars are conducting under instructions from Secretary of State Kevin Shelley.
"One of the things, if you were desperate, would be to review all the validation of signatures," said Floyd Feeney, an expert in election law at UC Davis. "You might well have a right. Even if you didn't succeed in that, and I don't think they would, you might be able to delay the process. One goal of the exercise could be to delay and kick it over into the March primary."
A March election is generally seen as more favorable for Davis because it would coincide with a contested Democratic presidential primary in California and thus presumably bolster Democratic turnout. A special recall election in the fall would lack that incentive.
