SACRAMENTO - California Republicans are hoping public outrage over higher vehicle registration fees will help them oust Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, and register more Republicans.
The state is expected to issue 6.6 million renewal notices before the Oct. 7 recall election, and state Republicans say those notices with the higher rates are as good as free advertising for the GOP.

"I believe that when people start getting their car tax bill they will be very angry, and we will have a mechanism to take advantage of that,' said San Bernardino County Supervisor Fred Aguiar, who is chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.

The California Republican Party is forbidden under its own policy from endorsing a candidate when more than one Republican is running, as is the case Oct. 7, so the CRP is focusing its efforts on removing Davis from office and growing the party's base.

The Department of Motor Vehicles mails approximately 600,000 vehicle registration renewals per week. At that rate, around 6.6 million motorists will receive notices with an average increase of $150 annually between July 22 and Oct. 7, when Davis will face the voters in California's first gubernatorial recall election.

While a normal election gives voters a choice of candidates, the recall ballot allows them to vote twice: once on whether to recall Davis and once for a successor should he be recalled.

The CRP sees the confluence of the vehicle fee increase and the recall as an opportunity to prepare for the 2004 presidential election and gain ground on the California Democratic Party, which holds a 9.2 percent edge among registered voters, occupies every statewide office and controls both houses of the Legislature.

"There's a lot we can gain institutionally and structurally for the party through this process,' CRP spokesman Rob Stutzman said.

The CRP is keeping its strategy close to the vest, but officials say it is similar to the one employed in 2002 and includes the 72-Hour Task Force, a get-out-the-vote effort implemented three days before the polls close on Election Day.

The party is appointing voter precinct captains statewide to carry its message into local communities and plans to register new Republicans at a variety of special events.

Without a candidate to back, the CRP will simply campaign in favor of ousting Davis without specifying a replacement. And even if Davis survives, party officials maintain the effort will help lay the groundwork for 2004, when President Bush hopes to rebound from the pounding he received in California in 2000 from former Vice President Al Gore.

"The Republican Party will continue with an aggressive voter registration program after the recall that focuses on the illegal tripling of the car tax, using the momentum from that to explain why Republicans should be in charge as opposed to Democrats,' CRP spokeswoman Karen Hanretty said.

These efforts will be driven and determined by the county parties.

Fresno, Sacramento and San Bernardino counties in particular are growth markets for the CRP, grossing about 38,000 Republican registrations in May, June and July numbers the party considers good for an off election year.

Since 1998, when vehicle fees were reduced 68 percent, the average registration has cost motorists $73. But beginning Oct. 1, it rises to $223.

DMV figures show the fee hike is even greater for new cars, rising from $127 to $390 for automobiles purchased at the state average price of $19,494.

The increase was triggered by legislation that allowed Gov. Gray Davis' finance department on June 20 to help offset California's projected $38.2 billion deficit for fiscal year 2003-04, adding $4.2 billion in taxpayer dollars to the state's general fund this year and each year after unless and until it is lowered again.

Rescue California, largely responsible for gathering the 1.4 million valid signatures that got the recall on the ballot, only needed 897,158 valid signatures and always expected to succeed. But Rescue California officials credit the administration's tripling of vehicle fees with putting them so far over the top so quickly.

"The week they pulled the trigger, our signatures doubled,' Rescue California Director Phil Paule said.

The Davis campaign, billing itself as Californians Against the Costly Recall, was hesitant to speculate on how the arrival of renewal notices in voters' mailboxes would affect their mind-set. But spokesman Gabriel Sanchez expects that over the next eight weeks, voters will realize recalling Davis is not the answer.

"Gov. Gray Davis is about solutions,' Sanchez said. "And the recall does not solve problems.'

With three days to go before the filing deadline to formally declare one's candidacy, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, have thrown their hats into the ring, while decisions from at least three other Republicans former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and 2002 gubernatorial runner-up Bill Simon are expected by Saturday.

McClintock, who originally spearheaded the reduction of vehicle license fees in 1998, has vowed if elected to reduce them, as has Issa.