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| Perata calls off recall, local supporters continue |
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| Written by Jonathan Partridge / Patterson Irrigator / | |
| Friday, 09 May 2008 | |
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One of the top backers of the recall campaign against Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, announced Wednesday he wanted to call it off, though local recall advocates say they are still forging ahead. Sen. President Pro-tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, announced he was calling off the recall in hopes of avoiding another state budget standoff like the one that occurred last year. “A long stalemate is the last thing we need,” Perata said in a prepared statement. “Without a budget, we run out of cash — the richest state in America gone broke!” Perata said he had talked with Republican leader Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Modesto, about the upcoming budget, and said Cogdill regularly brought up the recall as a challenge to coming to an agreement. Cogdill said Wednesday he applauded Perata’s decision. “This eliminates an unnecessary distraction in an already contentious budget year,” Cogdill said. Both supporters and opponents of the recall have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars getting the word out through campaign signs, radio and television commercials and billboards. The recall campaign has spent $558,862, with $20,555 remaining, while Denham’s campaign has spent $646,952, with $641,927 remaining.  Recall signs stand along East Las Palmas Avenue this week. Local recall supporters say they still want to see Sen. Jeff Denham ousted, even as a Democratic party leader has called it quits for the campaign. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator However, some local recall proponents plan to pick up where Perata has left off. Gary Robbins, the Democratic Party activist from Modesto who was the first to sign the recall ballot, said his contentions with Denham remain, and the recall effort will go on. He said 61,000 signatures were collected for the recall within the 12th Senate District, including more than 21,000 from Stanislaus County. “I don’t want to see them disenfranchised because Don Perata pulled the financial plug,” he said. He said constituents initiated the recall effort, not Perata, and that Denham has failed constituents by not fulfilling his promise to serve as a moderate Republican. As examples, he said Denham has voted against minimum wage increases, has publicly opposed Roe vs. Wade, and did not vote for a school bond. “He left the moderate trail for people of the valley to do the bidding of Orange County people,” he said. Robbins hopes the campaign will focus more on policy than personality with Perata out of the picture. On Friday, he and 10 other volunteers gathered in front of the county offices in Modesto to rally support. Denham said he was happy to hear that Perata had withdrawn support from the campaign, but said he still planned to work hard to campaign against the recall and to clear up accusations. He said a commercial that accused him of secretly raising his salary failed to mention that he still gets paid less than other state senators. Denham campaign spokesman Kevin Spillane said he believed the real reason Perata ended his campaign is that it did not have local support. “It should have never gotten to this point in the first place,” Spillane said. Denham said that, regardless of the reason for Perata’s decision, he was happy for it and has been happy to receive support from constituents. Several newspapers and even a few prominent Democrats from Denham’s district and beyond have criticized the recall as retaliation for Denham’s no vote on last year’s budget and as a partisan grab for the 12th Senate District. “The support has been overwhelming throughout the district,” Denham said. “I think Don Perata saw that. I think that he discovered that he’s not going to push this district around.” To reach Jonathan Partridge at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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