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The Sacramento Bee

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2003

RECALL VOTE
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A voters guide

From a sea of faces, one will lead state

By Sam Stanton
BEE STAFF WRITER

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n the surface, its a dream job. Theres a large staff, a nice house and plenty of office space provided for the governor of California. The pay is good $175,000 in base salary although not the best in the nation. (The governor of Michigan makes $177,000, and New Yorks governor pulls down $179,000, according to the Council of State Governments). But, as incumbent Gov. Gray Davis has learned so painfully over the past several months, theres somewhat of a downside. The voters can be fickle, the legislators can be worse, and press can be brutal.
The system is almost inherently set up to inflict pain upon the states chief executive: You cant pass a spending measure without the support of twothirds of the Legislature, and pre-set spending requirements give you little discretion about where to cut costs. Term limits send the most seasoned pols packing every few years, and even a seemingly private comment a joke about someones accent, for instance can dog you for days. I think, superficially, one has to wonder why anyone would want to be governor, said Tim Hodson, who directs the Center for California Studies at California State University, Sacramento. On the other hand, there is a thing called leadership. There is a thing called public service. And America has a history of people standing up who are willing to confront problems and not throw their hands up and say, This is impossible, Im going to retire to the golf course. On Oct. 7, California voters will have two choices to make. The first part of the ballot will ask whether Davis should be retained in office. The second will ask who should replace him if he is recalled, something that will occur if more than 50 percent of the voters say he should be removed. To date, there are 132 active candidates willing to shoulder the burden. But political observers say that whoever emerges victorious on Oct. 7 will have a more difficult time than any other governor in California history to end up being seen as a success. It would take any new governor time
RECALL, back page, 8

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Match the names to the faces, back page, 8.

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OUTPUT: 09/24/03

23:39 USER: BCASEY BEEBROAD MASTER 06-26-02

SACBEE - SPECBEE1 - 1 - 09/28/03

L M 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 L M

BLACK

YELLOW MAGENTA

CYAN

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