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.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday July 30, 2003 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 1 inches; 40 words Type of Material: Correction
Law professors -- An article in Tuesday's Section A incorrectly named the university affiliation of two law professors who have challenged a portion of California's recall law. They are professors at the University of San Diego, not UC San Diego.
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.
*
Times staff writers Miguel Bustillo, Michael Finnegan, Jean Guccione, Allison Hoffman and Henry Weinstein contributed to this report.
