Facing the biggest decision of his career, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante said Tuesday he will likely take no more than 24 hours from the day the choice is his to set the date for the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis.

But he said he will leave to an independent commission and the California Supreme Court a decision on whether he becomes governor himself -- without an election to determine a successor -- if Davis is recalled.

Under the California Constitution, the lieutenant governor sets the date for the recall election, which must take place 60 to 80 days from the day the election is certified by the secretary of state.

In an interview, Bustamante said he is leaning toward the 80-day time period.

"The day of the election depends on when the (recall is qualified)," he said. "But right now, I think 60 days is not likely. I would like to give stability to the process and make it work."
The lieutenant governor, however, said he would not call for the election of a Davis successor on the same ballot.

After consulting with lawyers from the offices of the state attorney general and legislative counsel, Bustamante said he believes the California Supreme Court will ultimately decide a successor should Davis be recalled. The interpretation calls into question the widespread assumption that the election would determine a possible successor as well.

"Article 5, Section 10 of the Constitution states the lieutenant governor becomes governor in the event of a vacancy," said Deborah Pacyna, a spokeswoman for Bustamante. "It provides that the state Supreme Court has exclusive jurisdiction to determine questions regarding succession. And it calls for a body, the Commission on the Governorship, to be created by the Legislature to consider such questions."

The commission has exclusive authority to petition the Supreme Court regarding succession to the office of governor, Pacyna said. The panel's chairman would be Senate President John Burton. The other members would be Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, the University of California president, the California State University chancellor, and the governor's director of finance.

The involvement of the commission and the state's highest court raises the prospect of added confusion about the final composition of the recall ballot.

The law that sets up the commission is one of many under intense scrutiny by California officials and election lawyers.

Prodded by recent court rulings, California Secretary of State Kevin Shelley has ordered counties to verify petition signatures and report the results to his office by today.

If the number of signatures surpasses 110 percent of the 897,158 required for an election, Shelley will certify that the ballot measure has qualified, and the spotlight will shift to Bustamante. Barring last-minute legal developments, that could occur as early as today.

Bustamante has been busy conferring with lawyers from the attorney general's and secretary of state's offices and said he will decide the election day "probably within a day" of the recall's certification.

Bustamante said he would not run to succeed the governor if a successor election is held. But sources say he has also been calling supporters and friends around the state seeking advice about whether he should enter the race.

Last month, Bustamante joined the state's other high-ranking Democrats in denouncing the recall effort and said he did not "intend" to put his name on the ballot.

Yet privately, some Democrats singled out Bustamante as the most likely member of the party to break ranks.

Bustamante is not a prolific fund-raiser, they said, pointing out that the recall's short campaign could be his best shot at becoming California's first Latino governor.

They cited his high standing in the polls, especially among Latinos, and they noted there is no love lost between the lieutenant governor and governor.

After their public falling-out in 1999 over Davis' decision to mediate parts of Proposition 187 left unresolved, Bustamante called the ballot measure to deny illegal immigrants services "morally indefensible."

In a move Davis' staff claimed was unrelated, the governor's office repossessed parking passes assigned to the lieutenant governor's staff. The chasm has persisted: Bustamante's involvement in Davis' re-election campaign last year was tepid.

On Tuesday, Bustamante's political consultant, Richie Ross, emphasized that under no scenario would the lieutenant governor run in a recall election.

"(That's) been our intention all along, from the time he put out his initial statement," Ross said. "Everyone treated the statement as though Bill Clinton had written it and it needed to be parsed, but we've tried to make it clear to people."