| As noted yesterday in the Capitol Alert, Merced County DA Larry Morse has said he will not be a candidate to replace Denham in the June recall election. That would seem to leave Monterey County Supervisor and former member of the Assembly Simón Salinas as the most likely candidate, although he has not yet made any official statements to that effect.
Meanwhile Denham's aggressive defense against the recall has shifted toward questioning the paid signature gatherers - charging that some were from out of state, in violation of CA law, and that most were not from SD-12 - another error. In an interesting maneuver, the Denham campaign went to the very same Larry Morse to ask for an investigation of these charges. Morse refused, but I wonder if that played a role in his decision to not run against Denham in the recall.
Hank Shaw of the Stockton Record explains more:
Regardless of whether Morse or someone else investigates the matter, it's a little odd that the Dems would leave so many bread crumbs for the Denham folks. It appears that the majority of the petition-gatherers were not from Denham's 12th District, as they needed to be. The Denham folks also note that other listed as paid signature-gatherers registered at non-existent addresses or hotels. Add this to the tapes of gatherers telling voters that they're from Detroit or somesuch and it seems like there's enough evidence to hang your hat on...
...now of course in California you cannot tape someone without their acceptance, so those tapes would be illegal, too.
Regardless of whether or not the charges have merit, this is a good strategy for Denham to delegitimize the recall in the minds of SD-12 voters. |
