The recall effort of Sen. Jeff Denham and Denham's campaign traded charges late last week over audio recordings of signature gatherers saying they were from outside Denham's district.
Jake Henshaw at the Salinas Californian has the story today:
At issue are charges from Denham that recall proponents are illegally using signature-gatherers from out of state or district to collect the 31,084 signatures necessary to put the issue before 12th Senate District voters in Monterey County and all or parts of four other counties stretching into the Central Valley.
At least one section of the California election code says only registered voters in the district of the elected official targeted for recall may circulate recall petitions.
...
"These people (volunteers) have come to us and said, 'These things are going on,' and we said, 'We don't have proof,' and they went out and got proof," Clark said.
He said the Denham campaign has directed its attorneys to prepare a complaint that was to be filed Friday or (Monday) with the attorney general.
So far the Democratic Party and a campaign committee linked to Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, the Voter Education and Registration Fund, have spent more than $130,000 in the recall Denham campaign. They must gather 31,084 signatures by Feb. 13, 2008 to qualify the recall for the ballot.
The Democrats were none too pleased with the charges of illegal signature gathering. Henshaw quotes Paul Hefner, a spokesman for both Perata and the Voter Education and Registration Fund.
He charged the Denham campaign appears to have violated a state law prohibiting taping confidential conversations without the consent of all participants.
"The only question I have is what did Sen. Denham know about these clearly orchestrated efforts to spy on his own constituents to try to hang onto his job," Hefner said.
He said his organization may call for action by district attorneys in the affected counties.
"Quite frankly I am staring at letters to district attorneys trying to decide whether we need to investigate," Hefner said.
Ah, politics.
As for the tapes themselves, Jon Fleischman at the FlashReport linked to the recordings on Friday.
@Nyx.CommentBody@