Sep 27, 2008 10:23 am US/Pacific
Romney, Wilson Speak At State GOP Convention
ANAHEIM
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former California Gov. Pete Wilson are scheduled to speak Saturday at the California Republican Party 2008 Fall Convention in Anaheim, while a party volunteer group will consider backing the recall effort against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The board of directors of the California Republican Assembly, a group once described by Ronald Reagan as "the conscience of the Republican Party," will meet in conjunction with the convention and vote whether to back a recall attempt against Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican.
"In the last five years (Schwarzenegger) has brought more debt, more government, bigger deficit and fiscal failure," California Republican Assembly President Mike Spence told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.
The bid to support the recall needs a two-thirds vote by the 65-member board to be approved.
Spence told the Tribune a key issue on whether his group will back the recall will be whether they think it has a chance of succeeding.
The California Correctional Peace Officers Association, the union representing the state's prison guards, is seeking to recall Schwarzenegger.
A political aide to Schwarzenegger described the recall effort as an attempt by the guards' union "to intimidate the governor into giving them the exact same sweetheart contract they had under Gray Davis."
"We feel confident that CRA shares our opposition to a demand for an additional $1 billion of taxpayer money," Julie Soderlund told the Tribune.
Schwarzenegger was elected in 2003 when then-Gov. Gray Davis was recalled, in large measure because of the state's large budget deficit, which has continued to grow under Schwarzenegger.
Wilson, California's governor from 1991-99, will speak at a luncheon, while Romney, who unsuccessfully ran for the party's presidential nomination earlier this year, will speak at a dinner banquet.
A variety of workshops and training sessions for party activists are also planned for Saturday.
The three-day convention will conclude Sunday.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)
