The proponents of the recall of Sen. Jeff Denham announced today they are turning in 50,000 signatures to try to unseat the Central Valley Republican – likely enough to qualify the measure and begin what promises to be an expensive and bitter campaign.
The recall, which has been funded by a combination of money from the state Democratic Party and a campaign committee linked to Senate leader Don Perata, needs 31,084 valid signatures from the five counties in Denham’s district to qualify for the ballot.
Paul Hefner, a spokesman for the recall campaign, said he was confident they would reach that benchmark. “It’s certainly enough,” Hefner said.
The recall effort began last summer, when Denham joined all but one of the members of the Senate Republican caucus in opposing a state budget they decried as unbalanced.
With the budget stalled a single vote short of passage for much of the 52-day standoff, Democrats ratcheted up pressure on Denham.
Education advocates hosted events in his district, as did Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and, ultimately, Democrats initiated a recall petition.
Tim Clark, a spokesman for Denham, called the recall “the worst that politics represents.”
“It’s very shameful that with California facing a $14 billion budget deficit and a rocky economy that Senator Perata would instead choose to focus on recalling Jeff Denham because Denham refused to vote for a flawed budget,” Clark said.
The 2007-08 state budget did prove out of whack, as Schwarzenegger has declared a fiscal emergency with the economy faltering and revenues fallingl below projections.
Hefner, who also is a spokesman for Perata, said the recall is about more than Denham’s budget vote.
“The guy just hasn’t been candid and honest with the people he is supposed to represent,” he said.
Hefner cited a recent Capitol Alert story showing Denham has quietly accepted pay raises and a decisive “no” vote by Denham to oppose legislation, authored by Perata, which aimed to ease the subprime mortgage foreclosure crisis.
The legislation would have required lenders notify homeowners in advance as payments rose and tell renters when the owners of their property faced possible foreclosure. It failed on the Senate floor, one vote shy of passage.
The submission of signatures is likely to spur legal action by Denham, said Clark. During the signature-collecting phase, Denham supporters accused the recall proponents of using out-of-district signature gatherers (which is not allowed) and filed a complaint with the attorney general’s office and local district attorneys. Now those complaints are likely to turn into court appearances.
Perata and the Democratic Party have reported spending roughly $275,000 on the recall effort. Denham, who can raise funds outside of the usual contribution limits to fight the recall, has raised $561,000. He spent almost $200,000 in 2007, including airing television ads defending his vote on the budget.
Clark said the recall boils down to Perata being a “just a bareknuckles guy…out there trying to exact revenge.”
Legislative politics are also at likely play.
The Senate currently has 25 Democrats – a strong majority in the 40-member house – but two short of the 27 needed for a supermajority. Such a supermajority would render Senate Republicans essentially powerless, as their votes would not be needed on the budget or a handul of other measures unless a Democrat strayed from the party line.
Perata has said he would like to expand the Democratic majority to 27 members and includes Denham’s district among those considered winnable, along with the seats of GOP Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, who is running for reelection, and termed-out Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.
But Perata said last summer he wouldn’t actively challenge Maldonado. “I'd be happy to go down to Santa Maria any time and knock on doors and say what a solid guy he is," Perata said after Maldonado voted for the budget.
That leaves only the seats of McClintock, which Democrats plan to contest in November, and Denham, who was reelected with almost 60 percent of the vote in 2006.
“Anybody can do the math and speculate, but my focus is on getting one (seat),” said Hefner, the Perata and recall spokesman.
“I can certainly say more Democrats make for a better California,” Hefner added. “And it is always a one-at-time effort in the Senate (to pick up seats) and the issues in this recall are all about one senator and one district.”
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