California Insider

David Gilliard, consultant to Darrell Issa’s Rescue California recall committee, says the price per signature is up to $1.40 -- thanks to the Davis forces’ move to pay for signatures on a legally meaningless petition opposing the recall. But he disputes my theory that the dueling petitions will lead to an all-out bidding war. “You have to remember,” Gilliard says, “that it’s a lot harder to gather signatures on a petition supporting Gray Davis. If someone can get 200 signatures on the recall petition in the same time they could get 25 on the Davis petition, which one are they going to circulate?” Good point.

Nicolle Devenish, the former Californian who’s been working in the White House regional press operation, will begin a new gig Monday as the communications director for President Bush’s reelection committee. Devenish cut her teeth in the state capitol as a press aide to then-Assembly Republican Leader Bill Leonard and worked briefly on Dan Lungren’s 1998 gubernatorial campaign. She was a casualty of that year's Republican debacle in California but landed on her feet, to say the least, becoming press secretary to Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. Devenish was working for Jeb when all hell broke loose in Florida during the November, 2000 vote count, and soon was spinning for W in front of the press mobs that converged in Dade County. She’s been in the White House ever since.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has just sent a 400-word op-ed piece to California newspaper editors condemning the Davis recall campaign. She calls it “mean-spirited,” a waste of money, and a move that could result in a “fringe candidate” winning with a small percentage of the vote. What Difi doesn’t say in her piece is whether she would run if it qualifies. I asked that question of her spokesman, Howard Gantman, who replied:

“Sorry. This is her statement on the recall. She does not believe that the recall would be in the best interest of California.”

The omission is obviously glaring--and intentional. And at this point, I can only speculate that the piece was designed to let Feinstein take the high road while keeping her name in the mix as a possible successor to his Grayness.