GeekPol's evil twin

Dang me if that California recall thing didn't develop really fast. It's said that Secretary of State Kevin Shelley will certify the recall petition signatures sometime today. And to top it all off, Dan Walters and Nathan Newman and I (self-congratulation) called it - Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante will use the "if appropriate" language in the Constitution to call for a recall election without a successor election. However, Bustamante probably plans to set the election closer to the 80-day limit and let the courts decide on the ambiguity created by "if appropriate", rather than declare himself Governor in case of recall. This gives him some time, should the courts rule that there must be a successor election, to have that added to the ballot and let whoever wants to succeed Davis file the necessary papers within the 59-day time limit.

The same article about Bustamante's probable plans also details his rather strained relationship for the last 4 years with Davis over Prop 187, the anti-immigrant initiative. Bustamante wasn't really on board with the Davis reelection effort last year, when Davis won a squeaker over a monkeybrain with a checkbook. Davis' office has now flushed the parking passes for Bustamante's staff in an "unrelated move". Yeah, right. How cheap.