**Exhibit 31.1**

 

**CERTIFICATIONS**

 

I, Thomas T. Hawker, President andChief Executive Officer of Capital Corp of the West, certify that:

 

1. I have reviewed this quarterlyreport on Form 10-Q for the Quarter Ended September 30, 2003 of CapitalCorp of the West;

 

2. Based on my knowledge, this reportdoes not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state amaterial fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of thecircumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading withrespect to the period covered by this quarterly report;

 

3. Based on my knowledge, the financialstatements, and other financial information included in this report, fairlypresent in all material respects the financial condition, results of operationsand cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in thisreport;

 

4. The registrant’s other certifyingofficer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosurecontrols and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined inExchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and we have:

 

a) Designed such disclosure controlsand procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to bedesigned under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating tothe registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us byothers within those entities, particularly during the period in which this reportis being prepared;

 

b) Designed such internal control overfinancial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reportingto be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regardingthe reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financialstatements for external purposes in accordance with generally acceptedaccounting principles;

 

c) Evaluated the effectiveness of theregistrant’s disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this reportour conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls andprocedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on suchevaluation; and

 

d) Disclosed in this report any changein the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting that occurredduring the registrant’s most recent fiscal quarter that has materiallyaffected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant’sinternal control over financial reporting; and

 

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5. The registrant’s other certifyingofficer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internalcontrol over financial reporting, to the registrant’s auditors and the auditcommittee of the registrant’s board of directors (or persons performing theequivalent functions):

 

a) All significant deficiencies andmaterial weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control overfinancial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect theregistrant’s ability to record, process, summarize and report financialinformation; and

 

b) Any fraud, whether or not material,that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in theregistrant’s internal control over financial reporting.

 
| Date: November 12,  2003 |                       |   |   |
|-------------------------------|----------------------------|--------|--------|
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|                          |  /s/ Thomas T. Hawker |   |   |
|                          | Thomas T. Hawker           |   |

 

Presidentand Chief Executive Officer

 

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