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SACRAMENTO — Republican candidate for governor Bill Simon repeated his frequent attacks Wednesday on Democratic Gov. Gray Davis’ handling of the state’s finances, saying Davis “spent California into a budget crisis.” 

Throughout the campaign for governor, which entered its final week Wednesday, Simon has said he expects Davis to raise taxes to address an anticipated multibillion-dollar shortfall next year. In recent days he’s predicted the tax increase will be $10 billion or more. 

But Simon, who appeared with Republican legislators at his Sacramento campaign headquarters, gave no details of where he would cut the budget to avoid raising taxes, which he has pledged not to increase if elected. 

Simon’s stepped up attacks on Davis’ handling of the budget, energy crisis and California’s schools come as part of a last-minute effort to win support in the final five days before Election Day. 

Davis dismissed Simon’s tax claims as “more fantasy and fiction from my opponent” and criticized Simon for not proposing his own plan to close the state’s $23.6 billion shortfall this year. 

“I stepped up to the plate, proposed a responsible budget and signed a responsible budget without any taxes,” Davis said. “Obviously our goal is to do the same in the future.” 

Davis spoke after appearing Wednesday at the groundbreaking of a renovation of the historic Griffith Observatory near downtown Los Angeles, where he announced the allocation of $6 million from voter-approved Proposition 40 for the project. 

Although it was an official state event, the ceremony had the air of a campaign stop as Davis collected praise from Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and the city councilman for the area. 

Davis also criticized new attack ads launched by Simon. 

“It’s really pathetic in the closing days of the campaign that Mr. Simon has no vision, no plans for the state, all he wants to do is attack me,” said Davis, whose campaign has spent tens of millions of dollars running aggressive television advertisements criticizing either Simon or former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, one of Simon’s opponents in the March Republican primary. 

Simon, meanwhile, said his campaign had no role in airing a 60-second Spanish-language radio ad paid for by the Glenn County Republican Party that accuses Democrats of promoting gay behavior and urges a vote for Simon. 

“Democrats are supporting abortion and they are teaching our children in the schools that the homosexual practice is OK,” says the ad, airing on a local station in the far Northern California county. 

The ad also says Democrats don’t want to give drivers’ licenses to “our countrymen” — a reference to a bill Davis vetoed that would have allowed some illegal immigrants to obtain licenses. The ad does not mention that Simon has also said he would have vetoed the bill.