The Gray Davis Appreciation Thread

[JBMoney]

<table width="95%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2"><tr><td bgcolor="#FFCC00"><center><p><font size="6" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#990000">DAVIS PHOTOSHOPS HERE:</font></b></font><font color="#990000"><br><a href="http://bushwhacked.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1686%20"><font size="2" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>http://bushwhacked.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1686</b></font></a></font></p></center></td></tr></table>

I realize that this is a California thing and a lot of you folks could care less (except that he may run for President some day), but I need a place to save some of my favorite articles about California Governor Gray Davis.

Trust me that it's not a left vs. right thing. If it was strictly about ideology, I wouldn't even bother. This isn't about a 'woman's right to choose', it's not about my 2nd amendment right to own my own missile silo, it's not about price per megawatt on some energy contract, it's all about Davis's non-stop quest to sell California to the highest bidder.

Gray Davis is clearly the most openly corrupt statewide officeholder to ever have the nerve to ask voters for another four years.

I'll be adding things that catch my eye (I've already missed some real winners). Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves on this thread, but don't expect me to 'parse words' with you, especially on policy.

I'm going to start out with my favorite of all time. When I was in college I ran a volunteer club of students and if an office-holder ever asked me this I would have told them to jump and go fuck themselves. CLASSIC DAVIS!!!

Davis hits up students for cash: Asking $100 each from UC Democrats spurs new criticism of his fund raising
Carla Marinucci, Greg Lucas, Chronicle Staff Writers

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/12/MN21176.DTL

The invitation to young Democrats at UC Berkeley was enticing, offering an unusual opportunity to speak with their party's leader, Gov. Gray Davis, only a few days after he won the March primary.

But there was a catch.

"I am sure all of you know students and young professionals who are politically interested," said the letter from Mike Montgomery, a fund-raiser for Davis. "This is a great opportunity to interact with the governor for a mere $100."

It's not so much the price tag -- rock bottom by political standards -- but the brassy techniques of Davis' re-election fund raising that have critics up in arms and his ethical standards under a microscope.

The current Oracle Corp. scandal, involving a $25,000 check that a company representative passed to a Davis agent after the award of a $95 million no-bid contract, has underscored questions about the governor's quest for campaign cash, his leader even whether his policy pronouncements carry a price tag.

The March 8 event for Berkeley students underscores the degree to which the Democratic governor has taken his fund-raising mission as he faces a November election against deep-pocketed GOP millionaire businessman Bill Simon.

STUDENT PITCH PUSHES ENVELOPE

"When you're asking college students for $100 a pop, you've entered a new realm," said Steve Weiss, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, based in Washington. "The envelope is being stretched."

The governor's letter, which was obtained by KTVU as part of the television station's joint investigation with The Chronicle, evoked mixed emotions in the students who saw it.

"As a Democrat, I support Gov. Davis," said Jeremiah Frei-Pearson, 24, a law student and party activist. "But I can't support the decision to charge students to meet with him. . . . I don't think access to the political system should be for sale."

Bruce Cain, who heads UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies, which oversees the university's student political organizations, said the appeal illustrates how completely "the governor is tone deaf with respect to how people outside of his world view his activities.

"He doesn't realize that he basically is shaking down students for the lunch money," said Cain. "He is not interested in their enthusiasm or their volunteerism; he is interested in squeezing every last cent he can, out of whatever source he can."

"It's a sad commentary," Cain added, "that instead of saying, 'Come join me, ' he treats students like he does every other interest group in the state."

CAMPAIGN DEFENDS FUND RAISING

Davis representatives note the letter initially was sent only to students who had contributed to Davis in the past.

Davis' chief campaign strategist, Garry South, argues that the governor -- who lacks the deep pockets of wealthy Simon -- has no practical choice but to solicit a broad range of support in California, where getting a message to 15 million voters requires expensive media in 16 major television markets.

"Every candidate running for public office, in both the major parties, does segmented fund raising that ranges from asking people for $25 . . . to having dinners like Simon just had for $100,000 apiece," South said. "People are acting as if Gray Davis was the first person in the history of the world to raise money."

But that hasn't stopped Republicans from hinting that they intend to make an issue of the Davis war chest.

"Gray Davis has turned his administration into the equivalent of Crime Inc., " said GOP strategist Sean Walsh. "He has always completely stretched fund raising to the limit. . . . It sends the message that if you want to conduct your business, you're going to have to pay to play."

South countered that critics -- particularly Republicans encouraging a "feeding frenzy" over the time and effort Davis spends on campaign fund raising -- are guilty of "a lot of hypocrisy and jealousy.

"We're successful. We do this well. George Bush did it well," South said. "What's the dif?"

DISCONTENT AMONG DONORS

But in an ominous signal for Davis, increasingly harsh complaints about the governor's activity are beginning to echo from Democrats at all levels -- from budget-conscious students to major CEO donors.

Paul Turner of the Greenlining Institute in San Francisco said the Davis approach has sparked a growing discontent among the Democratic base.

"The idea that we have to pay homage to the pharaoh," he said, "is like somebody standing at (Davis') door and saying, 'What gifts do you bring the governor, that you have an audience with him?' "

Indeed, interviews with a number of Democratic political insiders suggest increasing resentment with the aggressive nature of the governor's fund- raisers -- and even the governor himself -- in the pitch for donations.

Most ask that their names not be used, saying they fear retribution from the powerful governor or his staff. But some allege more serious grievances, insisting they have been informed directly that access, or action by Davis, was denied specifically because they had not donated sufficiently to his campaign.

"I'm not naive. . . . We've contributed quite a bit of money and sat next to him at dinner," said one prominent California chief executive officer who said he has given more than $25,000 to the governor. "I know people give money to get access."

But the CEO said his own disillusionment began when, hoping to press Davis on a policy issue, he was told by Davis' staff that the governor's ear was also getting bent by out-of-state business interests -- who gave bigger checks.

"It was so direct. It's, 'These guys are giving me the money, and I've got to listen,' " the CEO said. "This is entirely about, 'If you give me money, I will do this for you.'

"This guy's for sale. . . . I have a huge problem with that."

'YOU DIDN'T GIVE HIM MONEY'

The sentiments are echoed by a prominent state lawyer and Democratic activist, who said she was "astonished" by the Davis campaign's letter to the Cal students.

But the attorney, who also spoke to The Chronicle only on the condition of anonymity, was not surprised. She said she called the governor's office when he failed to sign legislation supporting an initiative with wide following among grassroots Democrats.

"Somebody very high up in the (Davis) administration," she said, told her that "the reason he didn't sign (the bill) is 'because you didn't give him money.'

"I could not believe my ears," the attorney said. "I went crazy."

Political consultant Marc O'Hara, who said he has heard countless similar stories, also supports Davis' Democratic agenda -- and is also concerned.

Wanting to get the governor's attention on environmental issues, he said he offered to do a fund-raiser to gather grassroots supporters and raise $25,000 for Davis. O'Hara said he was told "it wasn't enough to qualify" for Davis' appearance.

Party loyalists -- from students to activists to business leaders with cash -- are "now competing for the governor's attention . . . with industries with hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend," he said. "Democrats are the party of the people. But a lot of Democrats have felt hijacked -- not only the agenda, but by the cost of doing business."

South adamantly denied accusations of promises made in exchange for campaign contributions, and he said the governor has never, and will never, tie campaign cash to policy.

"Whoever told you that is a . . . liar," he said angrily. "We don't promise anybody anything. They can come to a decent event, and we won't tie up too much of their time. That's all they're promised."

And, he said, stories of inordinate pressure to give are simply inaccurate. "No one in the state of California, or the rest of the world, has to give Gov. Gray Davis a penny for his re-election campaign. They can do so if they choose to. No one will hold a gun to their head. We don't force people to give us money."

But Warren Alford, regional director for the Sierra Club, called Davis' outreach to the students "stunning" and said it -- and the other evidence of growing troubles -- bode ill for Davis come November.

"The way we look at things from a grassroots angle is: There are two types of power -- money and people," Alford said. "That's an incredible example of how the people side of the Democratic Party is being pushed to the sidelines."

[JBMoney]

Another good story. This issue has been ongoing for a while. We have areas in California where steel pipes rust out in a matter of years and then homeowners have to replace the whole thing. Funny thing is... California is one of only two states in the US that do not allow plastice pipes. Why is that? Because of the carrot that California trade unions hold in front of the Governor and Democrat legislators, and we all know Gray can't pass up another check...

The union opposes using plastic pipe in homes because it is cheaper and easier to install than traditional copper pipe.

Pipe fitters' gift swells governor's war chest: Recent ban on plastic is what union wanted
Greg Lucas, Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writers

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/14/MN242992.DTL

Gov. Gray Davis picked up a $260,000 contribution during the weekend from a trade union that won a key ruling this month in its fight to keep plastic water pipe from replacing copper pipe in homes.

The governor's weekend fund-raising activities -- punctuated by lengthy conference calls with his staff about the state's potential $22 billion budget shortfall -- also included a Monterey County golfing event that netted Davis more than $400,000.

Law enforcement groups sponsored the Ninth Annual Gray Davis Classic, a $5, 000-a-head golf tournament at a course partly owned by Clint Eastwood in Carmel Valley.

Davis told supporters Saturday that his participation in the budget discussions prevented him from playing golf with them.

The day before, however, Davis collected the $260,000 check from the California Pipe Trade Council, which was meeting in Half Moon Bay, according to sources who attended the event.

Earlier this month, the union secured a ruling from the Davis-appointed Building Standards Commission that prohibits the use of a type of plastic pipe for carrying water in homes until a complicated environmental review can be completed.

Sources close to the pipe fitters' union said the contribution had nothing to do with the Davis administration's rulings on the use of plastic pipe. Less than 10 percent of residential housing work done under union contracts in California involves plumbing, sources said.

Efforts to reach a representative for the pipe fitters' union for comment about the latest contribution were unsuccessful Monday.

MOST STATES ALLOW PLASTIC PIPE

The union opposes using plastic pipe in homes because it is cheaper and easier to install than traditional copper pipe. California is one of only two states that do not allow plastic pipe in homes.

The union, meeting at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, had already given Davis $1.3 million.

At a news conference Monday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon charged Davis with "abuse of power" and using "strong-arm, pay-to-play" tactics.

John Herrington, who chairs Simon's campaign, said Republican candidates often schedule the type of fund-raising events in which Davis participated, but he said that in times of crisis, "most governors would cancel their plans and deal with them. Davis is abdicating governing in favor of fund-raising."

The new attacks come after reports in The Chronicle that Davis fund-raisers sought $100 contributions from young Democrats at UC Berkeley and that Davis asked the leader of the state's largest teachers union for a $1 million donation.

Some of the governor's supporters have stepped up defense of his money- raising tactics.

A BIT OF REST

"It's a sad day when we can't let our chief executive take a few hours off without criticism," said Aaron Read, a Sacramento lobbyist for the Peace Officers Research Association of California and the California Association of Highway Patrolmen, which sponsors the golf tournament.

"Those of us who know Gray, and I've known him well for 15 years, know he works day and night," Read said. "He rarely takes any time off. If there's any relief he gets at all for anything, golf would be it."

Hilary McLean, a Davis spokeswoman, said the governor participated in lengthy budget-related conference calls throughout the weekend.

"Entire basketball games -- and then some -- went by while we were on the same call," McLean said.

Davis campaign strategist Garry South said Davis "does not spend an inordinate amount of time raising money as governor of California. . . . It's all mythology. Or partisan criticism."

And the GOP, he says, has no room to talk. "You have Bill Simon demanding we release our fund-raising schedule to find out if the governor is using official travel into areas of the state as a peg for fund-raising. What did Bush just do (on a recent trip to California)? They admitted it."

The highway patrol association is a generous donor to Davis. Since 1998, it has given more than $100,000.

BIG RAISE FOR CHP

This year, CHP officers received a lucrative new contract with the Davis administration that could give officers raises of as much as 25 percent.

Also given a generous new contract by the Davis administration was the state's prison guard union. The guards' raises are tied to those of CHP officers.

The prison guards also sponsor an annual tournament for Davis, at Pebble Beach. Those golf tournaments have poured $356,000 into Davis' campaign coffers.

Not all of the 70 golfers playing at Saturday's event came from law enforcement groups. There were some labor union lobbyists, education lobbyists and others, Read said.

The governor didn't play in the tournament last year, although he did show up for the awards reception afterward. He said he was too busy with the energy crisis.

This year he did the same thing, telling golfers he had to huddle with budget advisers about how to erase the state's enormous shortfall.

Davis spokesman Roger Salazar said the governor -- like it or not -- has to raise funds to get his message out in California. "We're resigned to the fact that this is a no-win situation. . . . We're damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

[JBMoney]

Another Davis classic!!! First he uses his taxpayer financed office and staff to hit up the California Teachers Assn (CTA) for a $1 MILLION contribution. Then... when they spurn his request he uncharacteristically opposes one of their most important pieces of legislation (CTA is the largest donor to Democrats in the state). Coincidence??? I think not.

Davis Used Capitol to Seek Funds, Union Says
By DAN MORAIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gray Davis, whose written policies warn aides against mixing policy and politics, used his Capitol office and had a top government aide with him when he requested a $1-million campaign donation from the California Teachers Assn., people who attended the Valentine's Day meeting said.

California Teachers Assn. President Wayne Johnson said Davis made the solicitation during a talk that focused primarily on policy issues.

Johnson said in two interviews with The Times that he doesn't believe the governor was soliciting money in exchange for support of any union legislation. But the former high school teacher and others at the meeting said they were taken aback that Davis mentioned campaign money in his private Capitol office. "We were talking about various kinds of things, legislation and problems," Johnson said. "In the middle of the conversation, sort of out of the blue, he said, 'I need $1 million from you guys.' "

Johnson said he, along with two other union officers and the union's governmental affairs director, responded with "absolute stone silence." Cabinet Secretary Susan Kennedy, one of Davis' closest advisors, also said nothing, Johnson recalled. Once the "awkward silence" ended, the discussion returned to policy matters and the meeting ended without resolution of the question of campaign money.

State law bars officials from actually accepting campaign checks in the Capitol but does not prevent them from asking for money on state property. Still, many elected officials in Sacramento decline to discuss donations when they are in the statehouse, preferring to make such requests while at campaign offices scattered near the Capitol.

Davis' initial solicitation in the Capitol did not end the conversation, according to Johnson. Two weeks later, Johnson and Davis appeared together at a Compton school event to encourage students to read, Johnson said. After their public appearance, Davis invited Johnson to a private one-on-one meeting in a Compton Unified School District office.

During that meeting, which occurred a few days before the March 5 primary, Davis told Johnson that the main GOP gubernatorial candidates, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and the ultimate nominee, Bill Simon Jr., would be bad for public education.

"He was running late," Johnson said. "There were people outside who wanted him to go, and he just kept talking.... Again, he said, 'I need $1 million from CTA.'"

Johnson's comments underscore a deepening rift between Davis and a union that is among California's biggest campaign donors and was one of Davis' biggest backers in 1998. In addition, the question of the governor's use of the Capitol for raising money adds to the mounting list of fund-raising issues that Davis is confronting as he runs for reelection.

Already, he and his staff are dealing with criticism relating to contracts with state prison guards and a number of computer firms--in each case, groups that received state money and that donated to Davis' campaign committee.

Davis campaign strategist Garry South declined to discuss Johnson's comments directly, but said the governor has met many times with the union's leaders, "including twice at his home for dinner, at his campaign office, at his Capitol office" and elsewhere.

"During some of those conversations," South added, "CTA offered an endorsement and inquired about how they could provide other assistance in the governor's reelection campaign. The governor recalls those brief discussions, but has no recollection of exactly where they occurred."

Responding to a question about the conversations, Davis last week said: "I don't recall it. I can't tell you with certainty that I didn't make a request."

Johnson first discussed the solicitation in an April 20 speech to the 760-member teacher union's leadership council, and some aspects of it were reported earlier this month in the San Francisco Chronicle. Without mentioning where the request was made, Johnson cited in that speech Davis' opposition to the union's top priority for the year, legislation to make textbooks and other classroom issues subject to collective bargaining. Davis' education advisors have been unanimous in their opposition to the measure.

"He opposes this crucial piece of legislation at the same time he hounds CTA for a million-dollar contribution to his campaign for reelection," Johnson said in the speech.

In an interview with The Times, Johnson said that he doubted Davis' opposition to the bill was based on the union's balking at giving him $1 million. "I honestly believe we could have given him $2 million, and he still would have taken a position against us," Johnson said.

Johnson's disclosure comes after Davis forced Arun Baheti to resign as director of e-government earlier this month. Baheti had accepted a $25,000 donation on Davis' behalf last year from a lobbyist for Oracle Corp., shortly after Oracle won a $95-million software contract with the state.

When he announced Baheti's resignation, Davis released internal codes of conduct cautioning gubernatorial aides against becoming involved in political affairs while on state time. One such memo, dated Jan. 29, said that although appointees can engage in political activities off-hours, "political activities cannot involve any use of state resources other than an incidental or minimal use, such as the referral of unsolicited mail ... to proper political organizations."

"We must make every effort," the memo concluded, "to distinguish between official state functions performed with state resources, and private political activities that cannot be supported with public funds."

In a second memo, called "Standards of Ethical Conduct," Davis told his appointees that they may not use "the prestige or influence of a state office for the appointee's private gain or advantage, or the private gain or advantage of another."

Davis' aides, without saying Davis made a solicitation while on government property, noted that asking for money while in a taxpayer-funded office is not illegal. But others say that given the power a governor wields, a chief executive who prospects for money while sitting face-to-face with donors in his private office gains significant advantage.

"It's an abuse of the office," former Gov. Pete Wilson, Davis' Republican predecessor, said in an interview.

Like many public officials, Wilson had a separate phone in the office for making political phone calls. He noted that raising money "obviously is a necessity" for candidates. But Wilson also said he never requested contributions from people who visited him at the Capitol.

"The setting of the governor's office is to at least a number of people a special place," Wilson said. "It bespeaks the powers of the office.... I think it is intimidating to some people."

Current law allows statewide candidates to raise unlimited sums from individual donors. Davis has received 56 donations of $100,000 or more since taking office in 1999. But though a handful of donors spent $1 million or more to help him win election in 1998, no single contributor has given him a seven-figure donation in his reelection campaign.

"That the request was made at all is shocking," Jim Knox of California Common Cause said. "But that it was made in the governor's office makes it that much worse.... If you're talking about policy with the governor in the governor's office, that would certainly maximize the governor's leverage."

Other critics of the campaign financing laws were less harsh. Bob Stern, director of the nonpartisan Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, called it ironic that the California Teachers Assn. raised the issue, given that it is among the largest campaign spenders in California.

"Are we going to require that he go across the street every time he wants to fund-raise?" Stern said, though he added that he was troubled that the pitch came during a discussion of policy issues.

The teachers union was among Davis' biggest supporters in the 1998 election, spending $1.3 million to help the Democrat beat then-Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren. Importantly, the union lent its well-organized political operation to Davis, having teachers make phone calls to voters urging that they support him.

The governor, who calls public education his highest priority, clashed with the teachers union almost from the start of his tenure. In 1999, Davis pushed legislation requiring more use of standardized student tests aimed at making schools more accountable, and giving merit pay to teachers whose students excel on the tests.

The union has endorsed Davis' reelection. It has given him $10,000 this year and $50,000 in 2000. Hard feelings eased in 2000 when Davis, then presiding over multibillion-dollar budget surpluses, earmarked $1.8 billion for teacher raises and became among the most vocal foes of an initiative that would have allowed tax-funded vouchers for private-school tuition. Still, Johnson said he doubts the union will contribute much more unless Davis goes out of his way to ease hard feelings with the union.

"Our membership is angry with him," Johnson said. "We could not make major financial commitments to him unless he does something to really improve dramatically his popularity with teachers. Otherwise we would have a revolt on our hands."

[Dan]

<center><img src="http://www.sacbee.com/ips_rich_content/985-0514Babin500x350.gif"></center>

[Auff]

Hey, y'all voted for him. And all those other liberal California shake downers. How about that women senator who voted not to go after bin Laden? Be careful what you wish for.

California could have been the number one state in the union. But now it's high taxes, overrun with foreigners who can't speak English, dirty slums, and huge disparages between the ultra rich and pitiful poor. Most of us “unsophisticated” Americans wouldn’t step foot in the place.

And GD is not the most corrupt- look at Robert Byrd (Clansman), Teddy Kennedy (murderer, swimmer), Hillary (murdered Vince Foster, her lover), Billy Bob Clinton (what didn't he do?). Heck- Al Gore even tried to steal the Presidency. How about Bugsy Daly? He helped all those liberal college students in Illinois to each vote several times each for Al Gore?

[JBMoney]

If you're going to try and tank my thread, just because your 'pissy' about not being able to run rampant and insult everyone on my board, at least make some sense.

Hey, y'all voted for him. And all those other liberal California shake downers.

I did not vote for him, but that doesn't make your statement any less relevant than it already is. Because other Californians elected him to office, I have no right to talk about him?

How about that women senator who voted not to go after bin Laden? Be careful what you wish for.

Barbara Lee is a congresswoman, not a Senator. Hence, not a statewide officer.

California could have been the number one state in the union. But now it's high taxes, overrun with foreigners who can't speak English, dirty slums, and huge disparages between the ultra rich and pitiful poor. Most of us “unsophisticated” Americans wouldn’t step foot in the place.

California was and is still the number one state of the union, economically.

And GD is not the most corrupt- look at Robert Byrd (Clansman), Teddy Kennedy (murderer, swimmer), Hillary (murdered Vince Foster, her lover), Billy Bob Clinton (what didn't he do?). Heck- Al Gore even tried to steal the Presidency. How about Bugsy Daly? He helped all those liberal college students in Illinois to each vote several times each for Al Gore?

None of whom are from California and like I said, this is a 'California thing'.

=========================

With regard to your other post about my 'Latino of the Year' thread being inflammatory, I deleted your reply. The big difference between my thread and yours, was that my thread IS about a current political issue, and, it WAS NOT inflammatory toward any member of this board. Also, it didn't make any conclusion on the issue or use any racial sterotypes, but encouraged people to discuss the issue of ethnic politics.

If you feel a need to discuss your board problems, you can PM me. Don't vent in these discussion groups.

[Allison]

I LOVE that cartoon about the kid asking his dad for $100. A classic. I know you have a lot of photoshop contests, are you going to have a Gray Davis photoshop contest? Or, did you have one and I already missed it :cry:

Today's headlines are just great ...

Davis Taxes

Budget Plan Called Unfair to the Poor

Davis Counts on borrowing, new taxes to cover most of deficit

Ballot-box budgeting and park-barrel politics

... And more!

[cuda]

Gray Davis photohop thread (http://bushwhacked.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1686)

[JBMoney]

Note: In case you've noticed, I rarely provide direct links to LA Times articles. The reason for this is that they archive things very fast, and then require 'membership' to see an article (info that you can usually find in 10 other places without the bother). Also, they currently implement those really annoying ads that fly across your screen while your trying to read.

=========================

Shameless Governor is a Compulsive Money-Grubber
Los Angeles Times
by Steve Lopez

If you're reading this over bacon and eggs, Gov. Gray Davis has already raised about $10,000 in campaign contributions today. If you're reading at dinner, rest assured Davis is working harder than anyone in hot pants and pumps, hustling to stay on his pace of $35,000 a day and $1million a month.

The state of California is not doing nearly as well. With a budget deficit that has ballooned to $23.6billion on his watch, Davis was forced to take time out from his busy fund-raising schedule Tuesday to be governor.

I thought maybe he was going to offer the state a loan from his reelection campaign fund. Instead, he came up with a plan to strip health-care services for the poor, chop education funding and raise taxes, which he'd told us he would never do. But neither the suffering of the poor nor the jeers of critics will distract Davis from his one true passion--the donation shakedown.

He's a marathon man who doesn't break a sweat or get a single hair out of place, let alone display anything resembling a human emotion, even when caught in compromising positions with his donors. It's almost as if he's got a pathological disorder.

Just out of curiosity, I did a little research and came upon the National Institute of Mental Health Web site, which describes obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) like this:

"The individual who suffers from OCD becomes trapped in a pattern of repetitive thoughts and behaviors that are senseless and distressing but extremely difficult to overcome.... If severe and left untreated [OCD] can destroy a person's capacity to function at work."

Ring-a-ding-ding.

The way Davis works donors, you'd think he was running against the ghost of Ronald Reagan, when in fact Bill Simon is the ghost of Dan Lungren. That's two flat-footed oafs in a row as opponents, and yet Davis raises money like he's having a nervous breakdown.

Two UCLA psychiatrists told me Davis' behavior doesn't necessarily mean he has OCD. But I can't think of a kinder act on my part than to attribute Davis' behavior to a medical condition. No one of sound mind can be as unremittingly shameless in hitting people up for money.

Teachers, prison guards, software salesmen, energy barons, grandmothers, enterprises big and small--Davis has his hand out to one and all. If your child puts up a lemonade stand this summer and someone pulls up in a limo to strong-arm a piece of the action, you'll know who.

In what might be Davis' lowest, grubbiest act to date, one of his fund-raisers invited UC Berkeley students to come chat with the governor. "This is a great opportunity to interact with the governor for a mere $100," the e-mail said.

Bruce Cain, of UC Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies, recalled one of these students running into his office, stunned by the brazen come-on.

"He was in a tizzy about it, saying I wasn't going to believe what just happened," says Cain, who thinks there might be something to the idea that Davis should have his head looked at by trained professionals. "He is a compulsive human being who has allowed his compulsiveness to consume him."

On Sunday, my colleague Dan Morain wrote about California Teachers Assn. President Wayne Johnson's Valentine's Day visit with the governor in Sacramento. It almost sounded like a visit to a Mafia don, so I called Johnson to see if he wouldn't mind re-creating the scene for me.

"We sat down and started talking, I forget about what; some legislation, I guess," says Johnson, who was with two aides. "So we're talking, and out of the blue, he said, 'I need a million dollars from you guys.'"

It almost sounds like Tourette's syndrome; an uncontrollable neurological impulse. I asked Johnson if there was any detectable change in Davis. A normal person can't ask someone for a million dollars without guilt, fear or shame creeping into his eyes.

"Nothing," Johnson said.

There was a silent, pregnant pause, he says. Johnson didn't respond to the request, and Davis didn't repeat it. Just silence. Then the conversation picked up where it left off, as if nothing had happened.

"It didn't seem to throw him at all," Johnson says. A month later, Johnson added, Davis hit him up again for the million.

Hot pants and pumps, 24-7.

Davis palmed more than $2 million in campaign contributions from prison guards, then handed them a gargantuan raise even as the budget deficit grew into double-digit billions. Last year, after Oracle won a sweetheart $95-million, no-bid contract from the state, Davis got a $25,000 check from an Oracle lobbyist.

Why would he risk public flogging for such smarmy displays?

It's part calculation. Davis knows he'd have to commit greater sins than selling off contracts and access before Democrats go running into Bill Simon's arms.

And it's part obsessive compulsion. Prozac is often prescribed, but there may be no drug powerful enough.

[JBMoney]

http://www.ocregister.com/commentary/editorial2.shtml

Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Davis' pay to play game
EDITORIAL
Orange County Register

To understand the fund-raising scandals that are engulfing the Davis administration, one needs to understand an anecdote shared on National Public Radio recently by Dan Walters, the Sacramento Bee columnist whose pieces regularly appear on these pages.

Back when Gray Davis was an assemblyman, Mr. Walters asked him which politician he most admired. The answer was U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston. Was it because of his principles? Nope. Mr. Davis was impressed that Cranston spent a portion of every day dialing for campaign dollars.

Fast forward. One news story after another is emerging about Davis and his fund-raising techniques - all of which fit the profile Mr. Walters described:

• The L.A. Times reported on Sunday that "Gov. Gray Davis, whose written policies warn aides against mixing policy and politics, used his Capitol office and had a top government aide with him when he requested a $1 million campaign donation from the California Teachers Assn."

• Also on Sunday, the San Francisco Chronicle revealed Davis fund-raiser Mike Montgomery's pitch to Democratic students at UC Berkeley: "I am sure all of you know students and young professionals who are politically interested. This is a great opportunity to interact with the governor for a mere $100." One source called it "shaking down students for lunch money."

• The Chronicle article captured the gist of another Davis scandal: "The current Oracle Corp. imbroglio, involving a $25,000 check that a company representative passed to a Davis agent after the award of a $95 million no-bid contract, has underscored questions about the governor's quest for campaign cash" such as "whether his policy pronouncements carry a price tag."

• Last Friday, The San Jose Mercury News "found multiple instances in which Gov. Gray Davis has taken positions that favor large campaign contributors and clients of one of his closest political allies." In one instance, Davis changed his mind on an insurance industry tax break following a hefty contribution.

• On Tuesday, the Chronicle reported that "Davis picked up a $260,000 contribution ... from a trade union that won a key ruling this month in its fight to keep plastic water pipe from replacing copper pipe in homes."

• In March, Gov. Davis voted to close five private prisons despised by the prison guards' union, which gave Davis $2.3 million in contributions for his first gubernatorial campaign.

• In December, the Sacramento Bee reported on "allegations by a former Coastal Commission member that he and Davis had conspired to fix cases pending before the commission in the 1980s in return for campaign contributions to Davis," according to a Walters column.

Too bad Attorney General Bill Lockyer is too busy harassing Microsoft to pay much attention to the scandals of a fellow Democrat.

[Freida]

But wait, there's more.... the ORACLE SCANDAL

In case you’ve missed the headlines, Davis received a $25,000 campaign contribution from Oracle Corporation just days after his administration signed a $95 million contract with that company. An independent audit shows the contract not only to be useless, but suggests it may actually cost taxpayers an additional $41 million.

Davis insists he had no knowledge of the Oracle contract prior to receiving the campaign contribution, and his spokespeople sound like a broken record when they repeat over and over that Davis’ policy decisions are not tied to donations.

However, in the wake of investigations—both the FBI and the State Attorney General’s Office are looking into the Oracle matter—Davis has returned the $25,000 contribution. In his statement to the press, Davis cited “recent developments” as his reason for returning the money that Arun Beheti, former Director of E-Government, received on Davis’ behalf nearly a year ago. If there's no connection between contributions and policy, then why not keep the money? Does Davis feel that keeping the campaign contribution would make him less objective? And why is he returning the money almost a full year after receiving it and only after the public started to question the contribution?

Like many politicians caught in an act of impropriety, Davis will likely claim that he did not break the letter of the law. His campaign staff defends his questionable fundraising practices by saying that since Davis doesn’t have the personal wealth to finance his own campaign, he has no choice but to raise tons of money from where ever he can get it. But voters should demand more than a governor whose talent lies in knowing just how far he can bend the rules without actually breaking them. California deserves a leader.

[Auff]

Let's face it. Hes liberal, therefore he gets a walk on corruption.

[jjorsett]

Originally posted by JBMoney
Another good story. This issue has been ongoing for a while. We have areas in California where copper pipes rust out in a matter of years and then homeowners have to replace the whole thing.

Actually, copper doesn't ever 'rust out'. The galvanized steel pipes that were (I think it's now against code to build a new house with it) put in some houses does. That said, this plastic pipe decision is really dumb.

[JBMoney]

Thanks for the correction. A typo on my part as I was actually involved with this issue in the early 90's, when a whole area of Highland, CA had their pipes rusting out. For some reason, copper was not an option, and because of the law against plastic their only option was to redo in steel again (which would have to be replaced again eventually).

The one word has been substituted.

[Auff]

I am like so glad we have these smart liberal pols to take care of us.

Hey, what about the 1.6 gallon flush toilet. Who was the wack bag pol who sponsered that law? I need to send him a bill for my weekly toilet snaking here. I figure at $100 minimum plumber's charge, that but hole owes me $5200 per year, every year, until he buy and installs new toilets that actually work. And saving water? NOT! I've taught my wife and kids to flush every drop, and every wipe. That's the only way to keep them from clogging daily.

[Eddy's Geist]

I remember when I was doing this consulting gig for the state parks and rec.
Lot's of wasted money and the director and co-director (relatives and friends of Davis of course) had cetain sites set "off limits" on the Internet filtering. Yup. Bressler.org was one of them. Classified under "tasteless".. if they only knew. :)

[Allison]

Originally posted by Auff
Let's face it. Hes liberal, therefore he gets a walk on corruption.

You are SO RIGHT about that. However, while the press has given little ink to his opponent in the election who has called for Davis to release his fundraising schedule, etc., etc., they HAVE been pretty hard hitting on this Dem. Maybe the REAL liberals (the Socialists who control California and its media) have a problem with blatant, unrepentant corruption.

At least Bill Clinton said he was sorry. Gray Davis just picks up the phone and dials for more dollars.

Dump Davis.

[Eddy's Geist]

Yeah, Allison is right. Even the really liberal people hate Davis. I can't remember the last time I saw a whore in office that was so unrepentent about he operates. What's kind of sad is that ANYONE who does beat him is going to have their hands full trying to unravel the mess that he leaves behind.

[Auff]

Reminds me of the Clinton years.

[shotglass]

Missouri is now going through what Californistan will soon have to go through.

When Carnahan was Gov. all we heard about was the big budget surplus the state was running. It was all accounting gimmickry. After he died (flying in a storm to go get campaign cash) the new Gov. had to start unravelling the trickery, and we have found out that we are hundreds of millions of bux in the red. You in CA are going to find this out, too. If you think Enron gouged you, wait til Grayout Davis' handiwork gets exposed.....

[Auff]

Exactly waht Clinton did at the Federal level?

[JBMoney]

Davis' nonstop cash machine
Many big donors have interests in governor's decisions
Lance Williams, Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, May 19, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/05/19/MN182963.DTL

Gov. Gray Davis is a moneymaking dynamo -- pulling in campaign donations at a rate of $1,800 an hour, 24 hours a day for the past five years, a Chronicle computer analysis shows.

A multibillion-dollar budget shortfall, threats of statewide energy blackouts, the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorism -- no crisis was so severe that Davis stopped the fund-raising efforts that have brought him an average $44,100 a day to keep his office.

Since his earliest days in politics, money has been the strongest part of Davis' political game, people who know him say. They describe the 59-year-old Democratic governor as tireless, enthusiastic and absolutely dedicated in his pursuit of campaign cash.

In a July 2000 trial over Proposition 208, an initiative that briefly imposed a cap of $1,000 per donor in state races, Davis was described by his campaign manager as that rare politician who doesn't need to be prodded into raising money.

He enjoys it, Garry South testified, and willingly "spends a lot of personal time as a candidate doing the things a candidate has to do to successfully raise money."

In the months in 1997 before the donation cap was lifted by the courts, South said, then-Lt. Gov. Davis devoted "very, very substantial" efforts to fund raising.

"I mean, we're talking some days that would range from eight hours to 12 hours in the office on the phone trying to raise money," South testified, ". . . asking for money or attending events, fund-raising events."

Times are different now, South says. A full-time staff handles campaign finance for the governor, raising the money South says Davis needs to compete against millionaire Republicans. Still, that relentless drive has helped make Davis the most successful political fund-raiser in California history, a review of campaign finance records shows.

Critics say the sheer size of Davis' fund-raising operation -- and the way in which it has become entwined with his public duties -- is cause for concern.

Since he first launched his successful campaign for governor in June 1997, Davis has raised an astonishing $78.7 million, with donations ranging up to $500,000 per check. Of that, Davis has obtained $46.5 million for his re- election campaign against Republican businessman Bill Simon, the records reflect.

Few candidates anywhere -- save presidential nominees and a couple of self- financed multimillionaires -- have ever tapped into so much money, campaign finance experts said.

In most campaigns, the so-called "$100,000 club" represents the select inner circle of backers. But with Davis '02 campaign that's not the case.

Davis obtained donations of $100,000 from 93 different interest groups and high-wealth individuals -- developers, retailers, Indian tribes and high-tech companies, records show.

Call them the outer circle -- they've been surpassed by 28 other Davis donors, including insurance concerns, law firms and energy companies, who gave Davis more than $250,000 during the same period.

And even that select group was outstripped by 13 other donors who ponied up more than $500,000. Among them were telecommunications firms, labor unions, Hollywood concerns and unionized government workers.

Davis even has four $1 million donors: affiliates of the Service Employees International Union, which represents many government workers; locals of the state carpenters unions; affiliates of the pipe trades unions; and the California Teachers Association.

SOMETHING TO GAIN
Public records show that in amassing his campaign war chest, Davis has accepted huge donations from a wide spectrum of donors who have big financial stakes in state government decisions.

They include labor unions whose members' pay can turn on a public works contract, government employees whose wages are set by the state, and heavily regulated industries whose financial bottom lines are directly affected by how the government enforces tax, environmental and consumer-protection laws.

Davis has raised more than $3 million from donors who sought appointments to state boards and commissions, the records show.

Jim Knox, chairman of the reform group California Common Cause, uses the term "pay to play" to describe the Davis fund-raising dynamic: Donors on all sides of a political issue feel compelled to give, he says, because Davis' middle-of-the-road politics put virtually every decision in play.

"With this governor, you know you're not going to get everything you want," he says. "But if you want anything, you know you have to ante up. . . . On every issue he drives right down the center, and that allows him to collect money from both sides. Nobody is out of the picture. Nobody is protected. Everybody has to invest."

DAVIS' EXPLANATION
For years, Davis has deflected criticism of his fund raising. A career politician of modest means, he says he must raise huge sums to fend off candidates like aviation tycoon Al Checchi, who spent $40 million of his own money in a losing campaign for governor in 1998.

"The governor is not a wealthy man," says spokesman Roger Salazar. "He has to raise money in order to be competitive with these multimillionaires who keep running against him."

Besides, Davis has insisted, donations play no role in his governmental decision-making.

"There is an absolute separation between politics and policy," Salazar says.

"The governor doesn't base his decisions on contributions -- never has, never will."

But as Davis has rolled out his re-election campaign, some Democrats complain about what they see as Davis' ever-more aggressive search for campaign cash.

"It's never enough," one longtime party loyalist says of Davis' fund- raising efforts. "It's a bottomless pit."

Meanwhile, Simon has seized on the botched Oracle computer deal -- an affair involving a no-bid, $95 million state contract and a $25,000 donation that a lobbyist delivered to a Davis aide in a Sacramento bar -- to accuse Davis of conducting cash-and-carry politics.

State decisions are exchanged directly for donations, Republicans claim. Davis is holding "a liquidation sale of state government and everything must go," said GOP spokesman Rob Stutzman.

South dismisses the criticism as "absurd hysteria."

COMPLICATED DYNAMIC
A review of Davis' fund raising shows that the dynamic is more complicated than the GOP claims.

To be sure, the public record is peppered with examples of Davis mega- donors who obtained the government action they sought.

The union for the state's prison guards, which has donated $416,000 and raised thousands more, won a 30 percent pay hike this year while a state budget deficit loomed.

Delta Wetlands Properties, which gave $116,000, won state approval for a controversial reservoir project in the Sacramento River Delta last year.

Children's entertainment tycoon Haim Saban, who has given $590,000, was named a University of California regent in February.

But other big donors have been handled roughly by Davis. He didn't hesitate to tee off on what he called the "greedy, out-of-state" Enron Corp. during last year's energy crisis, despite $117,000 in donations. The California Teachers Association pumped $1 million into Davis' 1998 campaign and has clashed with him ever since.

For still other donors, any benefit may lie in the future.

Jerrold Perenchio, CEO of the Univision Spanish-language television network,

has given Davis $961,000; if a Malibu mega-development Perenchio has proposed moves forward, it will eventually need multiple state permits to be built, environmentalists say.

From June 1997, when he geared up his fund-raising machine after a moratorium imposed by the old Proposition 208 political reform measure, until April 26, the last date for which data was available, Davis has been on a fund- raising tear, a computer analysis shows.

Checks were recorded virtually whenever banks were open, including days rarely associated with political fund-raising: New Year's Eve, election day and throughout September, the hectic month when the governor must decide whether to sign or veto hundreds of bills -- and when other governors have said they were too busy to raise money.

In March 2001, Davis was criticized for attending a fund-raising golf tourney in Palm Springs while the Legislature deadlocked over measures to ease the energy crisis.

On Sept. 20, while the nation was still reeling from the aftershock of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Davis attended a Los Angeles fund-raiser hosted by Cadiz Corp., which hopes to build a water-banking system for Southern California.

Four days later, he attended one hosted by Wetherly Capital Group, Los Angeles investment bankers. He raised $157,000 on the two dates, records show.

South said many other events, including a fund-raising trip to the East Coast, were canceled because of Sept. 11.

GOVERNOR'S WIDE REACH
A Chronicle analysis reveals the extraordinary reach of Davis' fund raising.

The analysis, based on a computer review of more than 19,000 donations, shows that Davis raised huge sums from two interest groups that have been his most reliable donors since his days as state controller -- labor unions ($7.3 million) and the heavily regulated real estate industry ($6.3 million).

But Davis also raised more than $1 million from 14 other interest groups, many of them with frequent business before state government.

Unionized government workers whose paychecks and working conditions are directly affected by state action gave $4.3 million, and unions representing state teachers and school employees chipped in $1.7 million more.

Davis also raked in huge sums from five other industries subject to heavy governmental regulation: banking ($4.6 million), health care ($3.4 million), telecommunications ($2.8 million), insurance ($2.4 million) and energy ($2.1 million). Gambling interests -- including Indian tribes now subject to state regulation -- gave $1.5 million.

Davis tapped Hollywood for $4.9 million, the high-technology sector for $2. 7 million, the state's lawyers for $3.6 million and political committees associated with the Democratic Party and its candidates for $1.5 million more.

Davis '02 could wind up the most expensive nonpresidential campaign in U.S. history.

According to information provided by the Center for Responsive Politics, in Washington, Davis has already surpassed Rep. Rick Lazio, R-N.Y., who raised more than $40 million in 2000 in his losing U.S. Senate race against Hillary Clinton.

Now Davis trails only financier John Corzine, who spent more than $60 million of his own money to win a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey and media baron Michael Bloomberg, who also spent more than $60 million of his own funds to be elected mayor of New York.

BEGINNINGS AS FUND-RAISER
Davis got his political start in the 1970s as a fund-raiser for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley. After serving as chief of staff to then-Gov. Jerry Brown, he was elected to the state Legislature from the west side of Los Angeles.

By then he was already adept at working donors, people who know him say. Today, after honing his skills during his years as state controller and lieutenant governor, he is more successful than even San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who as Assembly speaker was a fund-raising legend, says a lawyer who knows both men and asked not to be named. Davis works even harder, the lawyer says.

"I don't think Gray ever rests at fund raising," he says. ". . . He has no compunction at calling people up and saying, 'You should give me three times, 10 times what you've given before.' "

Davis' average donation today tops $4,000, according to a Chronicle analysis.

Most of it comes to Davis in six-figure bundles, via an unending series of political fund-raisers -- breakfasts, luncheons, dinners and receptions -- at which donors pony up $2,500 or more for some personal time with the governor.

State records show that hosts for Davis fund-raisers span the spectrum of interest groups with business before the state: from insurance concerns, auto dealers and timber industry representatives, to dairy workers, trash haulers and financiers.

And they reflect just how lucrative the fund-raisers are: According to the records, Davis raised more than half of his war chest on just 154 dates, on which he netted $150,000 or more.

Some fund-raisers are even more productive. In December 2000, Saban, the video tycoon whom Davis later named to the Board of Regents, shelled out $59, 000 to put on a birthday party for the governor at his Los Angeles home; another birthday event was held in Sacramento. Donations topped $490,000, campaign finance records reflect.

The prison guards union twice held the so-called Governor's Cup golf tournament: The events raised $356,000.

A Democratic insider says Davis is an attentive guest at fund-raisers, working the room and making notes on a pad he keeps in the breast pocket of his jacket.

"He spends plenty of time, going around to each person at the event: 'How's it going? Anything I can do for you?' And he makes notes to himself in his notebook on what they say," said the insider, who asked not to be named.

Donors who have concerns about pending state matters get calls from the governor's staff, the insider says, usually the next day.

"Word gets around -- if you need something finished, you've got to show up" with a check at the big-ticket events, the source says.

Since the March 5 primary, Davis has raised $3.2 million, including $15,000 on election day itself, records show.

The fund-raising pressure is unrelenting, insiders say. The campaign spent $10 million on television ads to undercut former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in the GOP primary, and Davis is once again squared off against a multimillionaire: Simon. An investment banker whose net worth is thought to be hundreds of millions, Simon has already pumped $8.4 million of his own money into his campaign and raised $10.4 million more. He won't say how much he's willing to spend.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

E-mail the writers at lmwilliams@sfchronicle.com and cmarinucci@sfchronicle.com.

THE GOVERNOR'S MEGA-DONORS
Since 1997, the following contributors have donated the most to Gov. Gray
Davis:
.
1 SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION
Represents many government workers. $1.6 million
2 PIPE TRADES UNIONS
Sources said they gave $260,000 more after a
favorable state ruling on the use of plastic pipe. $1.2 million
3 CARPENTERS UNIONS
Have a pro-construction agenda. $1.1 million
4 CALIFORNIA TEACHERS ASSOCIATION
After disputes over educational issues, it spurned a
plea for another $1 million. $1.1 million
5 A. JERROLD PERENCHIO INTERESTS
President of Spanish-language network Univision is
backing a big Malibu development. $961,000
6 AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE, COUNTY
AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES
Affiliates represent state workers. $961,000
7 CALIFORNIA CORRECTIONAL PEACE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION PAC
Includes proceeds of two golf tourneys. $772,000
8 LABORERS UNIONS
Construction unions also represent some
government workers. $763,000
9 FIREFIGHTERS UNIONS $668,000
10 ELECTRICAL WORKERS UNION
Also represents utility, telecom workers. $630,000
11 DEMOCRATIC GOVERNORS' ASSOCIATION $620,000
12 RON BURKLE INTERESTS
The grocery magnate and developer is a Davis confidant
who has employed the governor's wife. $609,000
13 HAIM SABAN INTERESTS
CEO of Fox Family Network was named a UC regent. $590,000
14 AMERICAN TELEPHONEAND TELEGRAPH CO.
Telecom is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission. $589,000
15 CALIFORNIA STATE EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION $545,000
16 GARY WINNICK INTERESTS
The investment banker and Davis confidant is CEO of
bankrupt Global Crossing telecom firm. $525,000
17 DAVID SHIMMON INTERESTS
His Kinetics Group supplies high-tech infrastructure
for silicon chip factories. $520,000
18 OPERATING ENGINEERS UNIONS
Heavy-equipment operators push for public works jobs. $462,000
19 STEPHEN L. BING
Screenwriter is heir to New York real estate fortune. $450,000
20 WALTER SHORENSTEIN INTERESTS
San Francisco developer is a Democratic booster. $445,000
21 AMERIQUEST CAPITAL CORP.
Former executive Judith Hopkinson was named a UC regent. $423,000
22 E & J GALLO WINERY
Vintners are regulated by multiple agencies. $415,000
Source: California secretary of state, Statenet reporting service, June 1997-
April 2002





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------





-- Interest group donations to Gov. Davis, 1997-present
Measured in millions of dollars
1 LABOR UNIONS $7.3
2 DEVELOPMENT INTERESTS $6.3
3 ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY $4.9
4 BANKING CONCERNS $4.6
5 PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNIONS $4.3
6 LAWYERS $3.6
7 HEALTH CARE CONCERNS $3.4
8 COMMUNICATIONS FIRMS $2.8
9 TECHNOLOGY CONCERNS $2.7
10 RETAILERS $2.4
11 INSURANCE FIRMS $2.4
12 ENERGY FIRMS $2.1
13 TEACHERS UNIONS $1.7
14 DEMOCRATIC PARTY PACS $1.5
15 GAMING INTERESTS $1.5
16 AGRIBUSINESS CONCERNS $1.2
.
Source: California secretary of state, Statenet reporting service

©2002 San Francisco Chronicle Page A - 1

[JBMoney]

Quotes from A few Good Men - Jack Nicholson's response to Tom Cruise's questions in court:

Cruise: I want the truth.

Nicholson: Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand at post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.

Cruise: Did you order the code red?

Nicholson: You're - damn right I did!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Gray Davis were to testify before JLAC, here's how it might go if asked about the "truth" behind the Oracle deal.

Committee: We want the truth.

Governor: You can't handle the truth. Son, we live in a world that needs software and that software has to be ordered by people with forgetful memories. Who's gonna do it? You, Senator Peace? You, Senator Haynes? We have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Cortez' firing, while tragic, probably saved other people's jobs. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves Democrats. You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't like to talk about at parties, you want me on that GAR, you need me on that GAR. We use words like ELA, DOF, DGS, OPR, CMAS. We use these words as the backbone of a life purchasing information technology. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a committee that rises and sleeps under the very vision that I ask you to implement, and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a computer and use Oracle software. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."

Committee: Did you order the Oracle contract?

Governor: You're - damn right I did!

[mhans]

JB$ these articles about Davis are right on the money. From a personal standpoint I can tell you that we ran into the Davis - Plumbers Union problem ourselves. This issue dealt with them giving him money and then him enforcing a relatively obscure section of the California Plumbing code that requires all restaurants over 5,000 square feet to have an employee restroom in addition to the customer restrooms. This adds over $10,000 to the cost of building a restaurant.

[JBMoney]

Yep. Honestly, I have to be selective about these articles because there are so many that I don't have the room or time. Just about every week there are three or four new mini-scandals about situations where Davis took actions contrary to the interests of most Californians, only to find out later that some kind of contribution was involved.

A related issue has sprung up that really demonstrates how things work up here. In one of these articles it mentions how Davis hit up the Ca Teachers Assn, in his office, for $1 million. They turned him down and he subsequently opposed their most important legislation (pretty odd for a Dem).

The President of CTA later made some comments about how much they had given Davis before and basically said CTA expects that when they buy a politician they stay bought. It was very blatant and raised quite a few eyebrows. A rare look at realpolitik in action.

[wrecker05]

Tuesday, July 30, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis' Toxic Scandal http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/7/30/205854

California Gov. Gray Davis is so terribly complex. On one hand he styles himself as an "environmentalist" and makes cars even more expensive. On the other hand he lets "one of California's largest polluters" increase toxic discharges into San Francisco Bay shortly after the company hands him $70,500.

A contradiction, you think? Oh my, no. In his craze for re-election, Davis is, after all, as famous for shakedowns as Jesse Jackson. He'll gladly pursue money from anti-school-choice teachers unions and corporate polluters alike.

Davis' greed and corruption are becoming so notorious even California's leftward-tilting big newspapers are starting to notice and object.

Dioxin Drama

The San Jose Mercury News, in breaking the story Monday, discovered that after Tosco forked over the booty, a state water board decided to let the company spew more deadly dioxin, "one of the most toxic synthetic chemicals known," into the bay.

A coincidence, you think? Then consider these fun facts:


Davis appoints the members of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Just four months before reversing itself in June 2000, the board had rejected Tosco's request to pollute more at its Avon refinery east of Martinez.

Davis received $55,500 of the windfall the day after the board's initial refusal in February 2000.

"That donation was 10 times larger than any other single donation Tosco had given Davis during his governorship. An additional $15,000 followed before the board issued its unusual reversal," the newspaper reported.

Before discovering that money is the way to win friends and influence people in the Davis administration, Tosco had tried for seven YEARS to win the exemption.
'Ludicrous' Indeed

Davis mouthpiece Steve Maviglio sputtered this denial, presumably with a straight face: "There is no way in the world that contribution had anything to do with policy, because it is public for all the world to see. Any allegation to that effect is ludicrous."

Communities for a Better Environment attorney Richard Drury sputtered this denunciation, presumably with an angry face: "I am astounded. The implication is that the Davis administration was willing to sacrifice the health of San Francisco Bay for campaign contributions."

Oops, one little snag: Last week a San Francisco judge ruled the water board's mysterious change of heart illegal.

As the Mercury News noted: "The disclosure that an oil company made large contributions to Davis, and then finally won a loosening of its water pollution permit, comes amid other accusations that Davis, since taking office in 1999, has aggressively raised funds and linked those donations to policy decisions.

"The governor's most high-profile fundraising controversy has been the case of Oracle, in which the Redwood City company gave a $25,000 check to the governor's staff almost immediately after the state purchased millions of dollars of software it might never need."

'Sick'

Drury observed: "In a lot of ways, this Tosco case is worse than the Oracle case. Oracle dealt with software. In this case, they decided to sell out human health. Dioxin is a deadly chemical.

"The whole thing makes me sick."

Well, so much for the environmentalist vote.

[JBMoney]

Posted For Freida:

[cuda]

I think this guy might have been Gray's college roomate:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/politics/31INQU.html


Ethics Committee Faults Torricelli on Gift Violations
By TIM GOLDEN

This article was reported by David Kocieniewski, Tim Golden and Carl Hulse and written by Mr. Golden.

WASHINGTON, July 30 Ñ The Senate Ethics Committee tonight "severely admonished" Senator Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey, saying he had violated Senate rules by accepting and failing to disclose expensive gifts from a former contributor to whom he repeatedly gave help.

On the basis of thousands of pages of information developed in an earlier federal inquiry into Mr. Torricelli's activities, the committee chastised him for using poor judgment and disregarding Senate rules in his dealings with the former donor, David Chang.

"Your actions and failure to act led to violations of Senate rules (and related statutes) and created at least the appearance of impropriety," the three Democrats and three Republicans on the committee said in a three-page letter to Mr. Torricelli, a Democrat.

The ethics panel also ordered Mr. Torricelli to pay back Mr. Chang Ñ with interest Ñ for the full value of a large-screen television and compact-disc player and for expensive earrings the businessman gave to Mr. Torricelli's sister, a close aide and one of his former girlfriends.

The committee's action comes six months after federal prosecutors ended a lengthy criminal investigation into Mr. Torricelli's activities without filing criminal charges.

Within minutes after the committee released its letter publicly, Mr. Torricelli took the Senate floor tonight to apologize to the people of New Jersey for allowing his seat in the chamber "to be placed in this position."

The ethics panel, to which evidence from the criminal case was forwarded, concluded its review just as Mr. Torricelli is gearing up his campaign for re-election against the Republican candidate, Douglas R. Forrester. After months in which polls showed Mr. Torricelli well ahead of his relatively unknown Republican rivals, the contest has narrowed in recent weeks.

It was the first time that the Senate Ethics Committee voted to take action against a senator since 1995, when it recommended that Bob Packwood, an Oregon Republican, be expelled on the ground of sexual and official misconduct. Mr. Packwood later resigned.

Senator Daniel K. Inouye, who led the ethics inquiry, said he believed the investigation was thorough and fair but would not offer a detailed description of the committee's secret deliberations. "The document speaks for itself," said Mr. Inouye, who added that he considered the matter closed with the letter.

During nearly seven hours of sworn testimony last week before the members and staff of the ethics panel, Mr. Torricelli argued that he had not taken any gifts from Mr. Chang, saying that what items he had accepted from the businessman he had later paid him back for, one person familiar with his account said.

Mr. Torricelli also insisted that he had not done any unusual favors for Mr. Chang, who first turned to the senator in 1995 for help in winning the repayment of some $71 million he said he was then owed in a failed business deal with the North Korean government.

The ethics committee was unconvinced.

In its letter, which was signed by all six members, the panel wrote that it was "troubled by incongruities, inconsistencies and conflicts, particularly concerning actions taken by you which were or could have been of potential benefit to Mr. Chang."

The committee criticized Mr. Torricelli for maintaining a "personal and official relationship with Mr. Chang under circumstances where you knew that he was attempting to ingratiate himself, in part through a pattern of attempts to provide you and those around you with gifts over a period of several years."

During that time, the panel said, Mr. Torricelli and members of his Senate staff took a series of actions to help Mr. Chang, contacting American government officials, writing letters to foreign governments and bringing Mr. Chang or his business representatives into meetings with foreign officials.

The committee did not confirm some of the most serious of Mr. Chang's allegations, including his claim that he gave the senator tens of thousands of dollars in cash.

The committee said it had weighed the fact that the credibility of Mr. Chang, "has been called into question by the Department of Justice, a United States District judge and his own conduct."

In May, that judge sentenced Mr. Chang to 18 months' imprisonment for obstructing justice and making $53,700 in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign.

But at the time of Mr. Chang's sentencing, the federal judge, Alfred M. Wolin, also said the businessman had cooperated closely with federal investigators, providing them with information that was "material and credible."

The ethics committee has the power to punish lawmakers with sanctions ranging from public or private letters of admonition to censure or expulsion. In Mr. Torricelli's case, it acted without conducting a full investigation, saying the case had been exhaustively scrutinized by federal authorities.

A lawyer for Mr. Chang, Bradley D. Simon, said tonight that he was disappointed that the ethics panel had confirmed only a handful of the gifts he said his client had given Mr. Torricelli and had not dealt with what he said were actions by the senator to thwart the federal investigation. "This matter was far more serious than what the committee found," Mr. Simon said.

According to two government officials involved in the inquiry, the ethics committee received a vast amount of information from federal investigators, some of it under a court order issued in March.

That information included witness statements, store receipts and other documents indicating that Mr. Chang had paid for expensive items that were given to Mr. Torricelli, his sister, one of his longtime aides, Roberta Stern, and one of his former girlfriends, Judy D. Balaban.

The committee's letter did not mention gifts that Mr. Chang said he had made to the senator of an $8,100 Rolex watch, about a dozen Italian-made suits and a $3,816 antique grandfather clock.

Nor did it cite a $1,590 Oriental carpet that Mr. Chang gave to Mr. Torricelli's former wife, Susan Holloway Torricelli. A government official involved in the inquiry said that evidence of those gifts was either incomplete or the subject of conflicting accounts by different witnesses.

The committee confirmed Mr. Torricelli's claims that he had made partial repayments to Mr. Chang for two gifts: a large-screen television set and a stereo compact-disc player. But it said the senator had showed "poor judgment" by failing to reimburse him for the full market value of the gifts.

A person familiar with Mr. Torricelli's testimony to the committee said he had told its members that he repaid the wholesale cost of the appliances because Mr. Chang told him that was what he had paid.

The ethics panel also criticized Mr. Torricelli for taking two bronze statues on loan from Mr. Chang. The statues, the existence of which had not been publicly known before, were displayed in Mr. Torricelli's Senate office.

Finally, the committee appeared to have discounted Mr. Torricelli's contention that he was not responsible for expensive earrings that Mr. Chang had given as Christmas gifts to his sister, Ms. Stern and Ms. Balaban.

The senator's belief "that such items were of little value or were not gifts to you under the circumstances" displayed poor judgment and violated Senate gift rules, the panel found.

According to a government official involved in the inquiry, the information reviewed by the committee also included an analysis by federal investigators showing that during the period in which Mr. Chang said he had made numerous cash payments to Mr. Torricelli, the senator spent thousands of dollars more in cash than investigators could account for from his bank withdrawals and other known sources of income.

The analysis, which was assembled from banking and credit records, income-tax returns and congressional financial-disclosure forms, showed by March of 1998, Mr. Torricelli's cash expenditures were more than $22,000 in excess of the cash he had generated from checks and automatic-teller machines, an official who has reviewed the document said.

A spokeswoman for the senator, Debra DeShong, said he had fully accounted for all the money he had spent.

"Senator Torricelli provided the committee with a full explanation of sources of income and any funds used for cash purposes," she said.

Moving quickly to make a campaign issue of the Senate letter, Bill Pascoe, Mr. Forrester's campaign manager, said the findings were evidence that Mr. Torricelli had undertaken an "extensive campaign of misinformation and deceit," and called on him to release the sworn testimony he gave to the panel.

Mr. Pascoe said, "Only then will New Jersey voters be able to decide Mr. Torricelli's fitness for office."

[JBMoney]

Source: California Republican Party
August 14, 2002

Meet Steve Maviglio, Gray Davis’ auctioneer

Brazen doesn’t begin to describe Davis auctioneer and spokeman Steve Maviglio’s quote in an AP story this afternoon regarding the farm worker binding arbitration measure that is headed for Gray’s desk.

After state employee Maviglio confirmed to AP that Davis had held a fundraiser (aka non-state activity) with growers recently, he went on to make the following statement:

"If anyone's keeping score, the contributions are about 5-1, labor over growers,'' Maviglio said. (Associated Press, August 14, 2002).

If there was still a voter under a rock somewhere in California that didn’t think there was a culture of pay to play in the Davis Administration, this remark should remove all doubt.

We suspect Maviglio will suggest he was just joking, but a) California business leaders who are tired of getting shaken down by Davis are not laughing; and b) why would taxpayer paid Maviglio even know such a fact?

Attention Growers! Do we hear 5-2? We have 5-2! Hello UFW can I get 7-2?

[wrecker05]

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2002 http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/8/13/205155
Citigroup Buys Its Way Into Gray Davis' Heart

Does Citigroup want only Democrats for customers? First it pays Clintonoid and Enron pal Robert Rubin $40 million a year even as he continues to help Democrats sabotage President Bush. Now there's new information on how Citigroup is abetting scandal-ridden California Gov. Gray "Shakedown" Davis.

"Since January 2001, the company has donated at least $200,000 to Davis, including $75,000 in May, when the company threw a fundraising luncheon for Davis, state campaign finance records show," the Associated Press reported today.

How cozy: Davis' brother-in-law George Ross is the company's chief credit officer and a longtime associate of Citigroup chief executive Sanford Weill.

Hmm: "Citigroup's May donations came just before its Citibank subsidiary sued the state over a law that would require credit card companies to warn customers on their monthly statements how long it would take to pay off balances by just paying the minimum monthly payment."

Robert Stern, president of Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles think tank studying campaign finance and elections, said: "What do they want for that big investment? My assumption is that the return will be enormous, if they get what they want."

Back in February the New York Times snickered that "affronted" Citigroup clients were flooding brokers with "irate e-mails" about Rubin's campaign against President Bush's tax cuts and other policies. Have these clients all found new brokerages yet?

[JBMoney]

http://www.ocregister.com/commentary/editorials/81502paying.shtml

Thursday, August 15, 2002
Paying off prison guards
OC Register

Talk about return on investment! The Correctional Peace Officers Association, the state's prison guards union, has given $200,000 to Gov. Gray Davis since 1998, part of the $1.9 million it gave to politicians of both parties in 2000. In the midst of one of the worst budget crises in memory, the administration negotiated a new labor agreement with the union in January that, according to state auditor Elaine Howle, will cost taxpayers an additional $518 million a year in salary increases.

No wonder that in March the CCPOA gave another $251,000 to Gov. Davis' re-election campaign - the biggest single donation Davis has received since taking office. You could say, if you were of a cynical bent, that it was payment for services rendered.

Ms. Howle projected earlier this month that the generous union agreement will increase prison guard salaries by 37 percent over five years. It links prison guard salaries to rising police salaries, which means it will push top annual pay for the guards to $73,428 after five years. And the estimate of rising costs due to the agreement doesn't include big outlays for overtime, a likely event because 1,000 positions are vacant. Overtime amounted to $110 million in the last half of 2001.

Invest half a million over four years and get a return of $518 million each and every year. That makes the dot-com bubble look like a game for pikers. Fair warning, though. It could only happen in government, which has the power to take money by force, especially when legislators aren't vigilant. Not even boom years bring such sweet deals in the private sector.

[JBMoney]

http://egray.org/

[JBMoney]

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/4041648.htm

Posted on Tue, Sep. 10, 2002

Davis' fervor to raise funds irks many backers
By Dion Nissenbaum
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - They commiserate about Gov. Gray Davis and his zealous fundraising the way veterans share war stories.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch tells of being pressed for more money when he called Davis to push a bill to combat global warming.

California Teachers Association President Wayne Johnson remembers being squeezed for $1 million during a meeting on education in the governor's office.

Energy company executives recall being told that they would need to raise $100,000 to get an audience with Davis -- and then having to make up the difference when they failed to hit the target.

Each case was an instance when it became clear how important money is to Davis -- and how far the Democratic governor would go to get it.

Politicians often pressure supporters for contributions, and Davis officials say they have done nothing wrong. But the governor has taken it to a new level by sending a clear signal that donations are essential to getting in the door, many of his backers say. In the process, he has alienated a growing number of Democrats who are beginning to question whether he has sacrificed core values in an almost-compulsive pursuit of cash.

``It's hard to tell if the guy's a Democrat or a Republican because he's anything you want him to be if you're writing the biggest check,'' said one disgruntled Democratic supporter.

In more than three dozen interviews with the Mercury News, many Democrats, donors and former Davis fundraisers said they were shocked when discussions with the governor and his staff were clouded by questions about how much money they had given to Davis.

Robert M. Stern, executive director of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles, said Davis has created the impression that ``he has put government up for sale.''

``The perception is that money talks and that you don't get a fair hearing without anteing up,'' Stern said.

But Davis senior strategist Garry South strongly rejected suggestions that state business is in any way linked to the governor's campaign.

``We have been very, very consistent over the course of this administration to make sure there is as bright a line as possible between the fundraising side and the policy side,'' he said.

Case in point

One recent target of the governor's high-pressure tactics was Infoseek founder Kirsch, who has quietly become the nation's single largest source of soft money, steering more than $2 million to the Democratic Party.

Kirsch is known for his passion for social issues -- from fighting junk faxes to campaign finance reform.

This year, he focused his energy on supporting landmark legislation recently signed by Davis to combat global warming.

When the bill stalled in the Legislature, Kirsch called the governor's office to try to get Davis to take a stand.

When Davis called back a few minutes later, according to a source familiar with the conversation, the governor's first question was: ``How come you weren't at my last fundraiser?''

The comment startled Kirsch, who had already held his own fundraiser for Davis -- and given $22,000 to his re-election campaign.

Kirsch declined to comment on the story, but it mirrored one told by CTA president Johnson, whose union has been one of Davis' biggest donors.

Johnson described meeting with Davis in his Capitol office when the governor -- in front of his staff -- made a blunt request for $1 million. Davis later said he could not recall having made the comment.

``We all understand one principle that every politician follows is that you're always careful not to let conversations about substance bleed over into politics,'' said one Democratic fundraiser. ``Gray is just the inverse: He is careful to make sure that the substance and politics are tied together.''

The governor's fundraising has become a major issue in his re-election campaign. Republican challenger Bill Simon has accused Davis of serving as California's first ``coin-operated governor.''

The perception that Davis has blurred the line between politics and policy has been reinforced by a series of news reports that special interests -- from prison guards to oil companies -- have won key state battles after making donations to the governor.

Davis has steadfastly denied that his decisions are influenced by campaign donations and defended his need to raise money to compete with wealthy candidates like Simon who can pump millions of dollars of their own cash into their campaigns.

``I make decisions based on what I think the merits are -- and I will continue to do so,'' Davis said last week.

Throughout his 28-year career, Davis has established himself as one of California's most prolific fundraisers. Since 1973, Davis has raised an astonishing $116 million. As governor, Davis has raised almost as much in the last 3 1/2 years -- $56 million -- as he did in the previous 25 -- $60 million.

``An important element of Gray's success is his ability to extract the maximum contribution possible from each donor,'' said Marianne Gaddy, a longtime San Francisco fundraiser who worked with Davis for nearly 20 years. ``He seems to have a sixth sense to know where to push. By that I mean if a donor has $100,000 in his pocket, Gray will get it. He won't settle for a lesser amount. In other words, there will be no money left on the table.''

So pervasive is the culture that sources said it trickles all the way through the administration.

Last year, two businessmen went to the state Capitol for a meeting with Davis policy director Kari Dohn on one of their industry's top issues.

After the business leaders made their case, both men left with the distinct impression that their concerns would not be taken seriously because they had not given enough money to Davis.

Dohn, they said, told them that the governor was more likely to listen to his top contributors who were working to defeat the bill the two businessmen were supporting.

According to both men, Dohn told them: ``When the governor gets these calls from the top CEOs that back him, it's tough to say no.''

``A lot of his supporters have become disillusioned that it has become entirely about raising money and not about core convictions,'' said one of the participants.

Dohn declined to talk to the Mercury News. But Davis spokesman Steve Maviglio categorically denied that any such conversation had taken place.

``It's a total, complete and utter fabrication and defamatory of Kari Dohn,'' he said.

Dohn isn't the only Davis aide who Democrats said has interwoven discussion about campaign donations with talks about state policy.

Chris Martin, a managing partner of the Cannery marketplace in San Francisco, said he was grilled by the governor's first appointments secretary about his political donations during an interview for a post on a minor state commission.

``The first question in the interview was: How much did you donate to the governor?'' Martin said. ``The second question was: How much did you give to the other guy?''

A chilling effect

When Martin told Appointments Secretary Dario Frommer that he had given to neither, he said, a distinct chill came over the talks and he knew he had lost his chance at getting the appointment.

``I went in with fairly idealistic notions,'' Martin said. ``And I walked out of that room being very disenchanted that money still played an important role with public policy.''

Frommer, now a state assemblyman from Glendale, said that he did ask potential appointees if they were Democrats, if they had endorsed Davis and, sometimes, if they were ``active in the governor's campaign.'' But he denied ever asking Martin or other candidates whether they had donated to Davis or his opponent.

``I would never have discussed money in any conversation like that,'' Frommer said.

The governor has raised $56 million for his re-election, in part by putting a high price on some of his appearances. Several donors said they were asked to raise at least $100,000 to ensure that Davis would attend their fundraiser.

In at least two cases, the Davis campaign went back to the organizers and asked them to make up the difference when an event had fallen short of expectations, according to several donors.

One of the organizers was Kirsch, who helped Davis raise money two years ago from Bay Area environmentalists.

When his event failed to raise the promised $100,000, Kirsch said, campaign officials asked him to give $17,000 -- which he did.

Kirsch defended the governor and said he saw nothing wrong with the governor's decision to limit his participation to high-priced events.

``It's understandable because he is in high demand,'' Kirsch said. ``Unless he wants to spend all of his time fundraising, then he has to set a minimum threshold for him to take time off as governor to do the fundraising.''

South added that setting such limits can free up the governor to devote more time to running California.

``We had many events where they did not clear $100,000. There is absolutely nothing unusual whatsoever about putting targets on fundraising events,'' South said. ``That's how you separate the wheat from the chaff.

``If someone says they're going to raise $1 million for you and they raise $800,000, it's hardly untoward to go ask that person where the rest of the commitment is.''

Another group asked to raise $100,000 to meet the governor were energy company executives.

On May 31, 2000, the Independent Energy Producers, a trade group whose members include such major power generators as Calpine, Duke and Reliant, hosted a fundraiser for Davis at the posh Sutter Club near the Capitol.

Industry sources said they were taken aback by the demand from the governor's campaign.

$100,000 minimum

``It was point-blank put to them that for him to have dinner with them they had to put together $100,000, that that's the price for having dinner with the governor,'' said Gary Ackerman, executive director of the Western Power Trading Forum, whose member companies attended.

The companies that took part -- Calpine, Dynegy, Reliant, Enron, Duke, Thermo-EcoTek and Williams -- each donated $10,000 to Davis' campaign within weeks of the event, but because fewer companies attended than expected, the total fell short of $100,000.

Industry sources said the Davis administration then called the IEP and asked that the organization make up the difference; records show the IEP then donated $25,000.

[GrantMan]

http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2002/9/12/01307

Thursday, Sept.12, 2002


Davis Gives Trial Lawyer Contributors a Bonanza


A bill purporting to help 9/11 victims turned out to be a gravy train for some of California Governor Gray Davis's biggest contributors.

When he signed into law a bill making sweeping changes in tort law avidly promoted by his state's trial lawyers, California's Gov. Gray Davis pretended that all he was doing was making it easier for relatives of victims of the terrorist attacks to get more time to file civil lawsuits.

What he didn't bother to explain was that the main thrust of the so-called 9/11 law will provide the state's trial lawyers, as a group among his biggest supporters and contributors, a bonanza of benefits certain to make them happy they had poured millions into his campaign coffers.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, during a bill signing ceremony, Davis focused on only a mere four paragraphs of the seven-page bill - the part that tosses a few crumbs to the terrorist victim's relatives.

Davis failed to dwell on the fact the majority of the bill's provisions, which according to the Chronicle, extends from one year to two the filing period for ALL personal injury or wrongful death lawsuits in California, not just those involving 9/11 cases. Nor did he mention that because of those provisions the law is opposed by more than 80 companies and business groups who warn that it will sharply increase their insurance and litigation costs - increases certain to be borne by consumers.

"My primary motivation is to assist the victims of Sept. 11, but I do think it is proper in general to expand that right to two years," Davis said. "That will bring California in line with where most other states are."

Davis' attempt to describe the bill as a measure dealing principally with the Sept. 11 tragedy drew quick criticism.

"It's like putting lipstick on a pig," Republican state Assemblyman Rod Pacheco told the Chronicle.

Opponents including insurance firms, computer giants Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, drug firms and farmers said they didn't object to the tiny portion of the bill relating to Sept. 11.

"We would probably have supported a 10-year increase in the statute of limitation for 9/11 victims in exchange for not including the rest of the universe in this bill," Dan Dunmoyer, president of the Personal Insurance Federation told the Chronicle.

"The trial lawyers used this issue as a smoke screen to mask an attempt to fatten their own wallets," Dunmoyer said.

Businesses affected by the new law insist that the two-year statute will drive up their already high liability insurance costs.

Bernard Wheeler-Medley, senior vice president for ARV Assisted Living Inc., the largest company of its kind in California, told the Chronicle its liability rates had already increased 200 percent this year without a single complaint being filed.

The Chronicle explained that the second part of the law Davis didn't bother to talk about during the signing ceremony gives trial lawyers more time to respond to efforts by their opponents to end a case through summary judgment - a motion - usually by the party being sued urging dismissal of the case because the facts are on the defendant's side.

Under the new law, defendants must notify the other side 28 days before filing such a motion, and the other side must respond within 14 days. The law, however, gives plaintiffs a full 75 days' notice and 61 days to respond.

Opponents said giving plaintiffs more time to respond would draw out the case, adding to legal costs.

Trial lawyers say the bill inserts more fairness in the legal process by giving consumers more time to file a lawsuit.

"It's not that we're trying to create more business for ourselves, we're trying to create a more fair process for those people we represent," said Robert Cartwright, a San Francisco lawyer and president of the Consumer Attorneys of California.

Since 1998, the Chronicle reported, Davis has collected more than $4.2 million in campaign donations from trial lawyers - $500,000 since June 30 alone.

It was, it seems, money well spent

[Eddy's Geist]

Wouldn't it be refreshing to read a newspaper article that calls it like it is?

"A lot of his supporters have become disillusioned that it has become entirely about taking bribes and not about core convictions,"


Originally posted by JBMoney
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/4041648.htm


``A lot of his supporters have become disillusioned that it has become entirely about raising money and not about core convictions,'' said one of the participants.

[JBMoney]

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/ca/election/story/4460214p-5480955c.html

Plumbers flood Davis with campaign dollars
By Margaret Talev -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Thursday, September 19, 2002
An obscure battle over what sort of pipes can be used in California homes has become a cash cow for Gov. Gray Davis.

Plumbers unions, whose members stand to lose pay if copper water pipes are replaced by a less-expensive plastic known as PEX, have donated at least $384,000 to the Democratic governor's re-election campaign in a post-Labor Day wave.

That brings the industry's support for Davis to more than $2 million since his run for office four years ago, according to campaign finance records, making plumbers one of the governor's largest backers.

The latest contributions also come as the state Building Standards Commission, an independent board whose members are appointed by the governor, gears up for a new review of what materials should be included in the state plumbing code.

A bid by manufacturers to include PEX in the code failed in May. Commissioners agreed with unions and other critics who said the material could have negative environmental effects and needs further study.

After the commission's vote, plumbers contributed $280,000 to Davis.

Davis' acceptance of the donations has fueled criticism that the governor runs an administration that forces special interest groups to contribute large amounts in order to influence policy.

PEX is the latest controversy between plastic pipe manufacturers and the unions in a two-decade struggle with state regulators. The California State Pipe Trades Council's executive director and the industry's lobbyist did not return calls for comment.

Kevin Eckery, a spokesman for a consortium of PEX makers, said that financial rather than environmental considerations are driving the union.

PEX is easier to install, taking workers an average of eight hours a house instead of 20 hours for copper, plastics manufacturers say. That translates to a $500 difference per home, or roughly $50 million in lost labor statewide in a year.

California and Massachusetts are the only states that haven't approved PEX, Eckery said. And 130 California cities, including Sacramento, have decided to approve PEX locally, something state law allows cities to do.

"There's no safety problem -- this is strictly a political problem," Eckery said. "They wanted to keep this pipe out of California, and they got their way. People are paying hundreds of dollars more for each house in return for millions of dollars of contributions."

Stan Nishimura, executive director of the Building Standards Commission, said the governor did not influence the May vote. "I'm not aware of any comments or suggestions made by the Governor's Office on this issue," Nishimura said.

Davis repeatedly has said that donations don't affect his policies. A friend of organized labor, he has defended the millions he has raised from groups representing prison guards, teachers and construction trade workers.

"If people are upset because things didn't go their way, it's understandable they'd make an assumption to fit the conclusions they've already reached," campaign spokesman Roger Salazar said. "When it comes to decision-making for the governor, contributions don't come into play at all."

Republicans this week asked state Attorney General Bill Lockyer to investigate Davis in 21 fund-raising instances, including the PEX controversy. Lockyer has agreed to review the cases but says he has not seen evidence that the governor has taken action in exchange for money.

Meanwhile, PEX manufacturers have gone to court to challenge the Building Standards Commission's decision. Nishimura said a trial date is set for December.

[JBMoney]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/09/20/MN225126.DTL

Davis fund-raiser follows bill signing
Rail contractors invited to contribute -- governor's campaign denies any link

Carla Marinucci and Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writers

One day after he signed a $9.95 billion bond measure to construct the state's first high speed rail line, Gov. Gray Davis has scheduled an exclusive fund-raiser with executives who "will build, operate and maintain the system," according to e-mails obtained by The Chronicle.

The event today is at the Santa Clara home of Rod Diridon -- Davis' appointee to chair the California High Speed Rail Authority, a board charged with planning construction of what is expected to one day be a $25 billion, 700-mile network of high speed rail lines stretching from Sacramento to San Diego.

Diridon, in the days leading up to Thursday's bill-signing ceremony at the California Railway Museum in Sacramento, sent out an e-mail addressed to "high speed ground transportation advocates," offering "a special opportunity to communicate with and help Governor Gray Davis."

"To help assure his re-election we're asking $2,000 per attending group (two attendees per group) as a donation to his campaign," the e-mail says.

"The Gov's staff needs the names, etc. of those attending by Wednesday PM" - - a day before the bill was scheduled to be signed by Davis in the ceremony at the California Railway Museum in Sacramento.

With Diridon at his side, Davis penned the bond measure authorizing the high speed system, which, if approved by voters, would help link San Francisco and Los Angeles with trains that could zip commuters from downtown to downtown in 2 1/2 hours.

"This launches a new era of transportation in this state," the Democratic governor said, starting what he called "the largest public works project" in the history of the state.

In the e-mails that went out before the signing ceremony, Diridon reminded rail advocates that Davis has been "a strong supporter of high speed ground transportation, and incorporated that message in his first campaign and in this re-election effort."

Davis will attend the fund-raiser "specifically to visit with you who will build, operate and maintain the system throughout the nation and especially here in California," Diridon wrote.

Roger Salazar, spokesman for the governor's re-election effort, said Diridon's appeal was not authorized -- or approved -- by the campaign.

Today's fund-raiser "is not a high speed ground transportation event -- and any communication that suggests that is a misstatement," he said. "We do not connect our fund raising to public policy. . . . That's not the way we operate. "

Asked why the communication is specifically addressed to those with an interest in the high speed rail system, Salazar said, "We don't understand why Mr. Diridon sent out that communication. It certainly isn't something that we condoned, and it isn't something we authorized -- and we have asked him to make it very clear."


DAVIS FUND-RAISER NONPLUSSED
Davis' chief fund-raiser in Northern California, however, appeared to have no problem with Diridon's appeal for cash. Mike Montgomery, the Northern California finance chairman for the Governor Gray Davis Committee, told Diridon in a separate e-mail that checks for the event "can be made payable to the Governor Gray Davis Committee. We also accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express contributions."

"You can personally accept contributions and give them to me at the event," he advised Diridon, in the e-mail obtained by The Chronicle. "Let's make this one hugely successful."

In an interview, Diridon insisted that the bill-signing for the rail measure and the fund-raiser for the governor were on separate tracks -- and also denied that the invitation list zeroed in on construction firms that might seek contracts to build the proposed multibillion-dollar rail system.

"The fund-raiser is not a targetted fund-raiser," he said. Invitations went "to everybody I know," including environmentalists and educators as well as "the design and construction community," Diridon said. "Because I've always been involved in transportation, there were probably more people from transportation on the list than others," he said.

Diridon said that he had raised money for other Democrats and that in February, he volunteered to hold an event for Davis in his home. Its timing was set some time ago, he said.

Diridon heads the California High Speed Rail Authority, an organization that the Public Utilities Commission defines as responsible for "planning, construction and operation of high-speed passenger train service," including entering into contracts with both public and private firms regarding the design and construction of the huge project.

Last year, Davis publicly condemned as "inappropriate" the notion of letting his appointees raise campaign money after a Chronicle story revealed that the president of the Public Utilities Commission, Loretta Lynch, and his energy czar, S. David Freeman, were scheduled to appear at $1,000-a-head fund- raiser to "provide powerful and engaging insights" into the state's energy crisis.

"I don't like my appointees going to fund-raisers,'' Davis said then. "I know that's the practice in Sacramento, but I don't think it's appropriate. . .

. I have banned them from coming to mine."

Davis has also appeared to change his positions on the issue of high speed rail in California. Shortly after taking office in 1999, Davis referred to the project as a space age "Buck Rogers" system and said he'd prefer to improve commuter trains.

He said Thursday that he couldn't remember making that remark and would be an "active voice" urging voters to approve the bond sale.

Construction unions and engineering firms that could expect to help build the giant public works project -- some of them heavyweight Davis donors -- support the rail system. They include the state Laborers and Operating Engineers unions, each of which have donated $1 million to Davis in the past two campaigns.

Another firm that weighed in on the measure, the Colorado-based CH2M Hill engineering concern, also hired Davis fund-raiser Darius Anderson as its lobbyist on the measure and related bills, paying him $117,000 in the past two years, records show.

"It's just another indication of the degree to which fund raising has contaminated the policy making process," said Jim Knox, chairman of Common Cause. "Unfortunately, this isn't the first instance we've heard about gubernatorial appointees raising money on behalf of the governor. It's the continuation of a disturbing trend."

Chronicle Sacramento bureau chief Greg Lucas contributed to this report.

[JBMoney]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/09/22/BA95426.DTL

Davis angry over flak on fund-raiser
In outburst over canceled event, he lashes into Simon's remarks

Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Sunday, September 22, 2002

In the wake of a major fund-raising embarrassment, a visibly angry Gov. Gray Davis defended his push for campaign cash Saturday and said his challenger, Republican Bill Simon, "has no business lecturing me on how to do business."

The governor's spirited remarks came a day after he abruptly canceled a Friday fund-raiser aimed at "high-speed rail advocates," scheduled less than 24 hours after the governor signed a $9.95 billion bond measure to fund California's first high-speed rail system.

The Chronicle reported Friday that in the days before the bill signing, Rod Diridon -- Davis' appointee to the state High Speed Rail Commission -- sent e- mails to a group of rail advocates "who will build, operate and maintain the system," offering them "a special opportunity to communicate with and help Gov.

Gray Davis."

In the e-mail, Diridon wrote that "to help assure his re-election we're asking $2,000 per attending group (two attendees per group) as a donation to his campaign."

After the e-mails were published, Davis' campaign canceled the event at Diridon's home, hours before it was to begin.

But GOP gubernatorial candidate Simon, who faces Davis in the November general election, showed up anyway -- and lambasted the governor for what he called "corrupt" and "unethical" pay-to-play fund-raising practices.

In his first public remarks on the matter Saturday, the governor appeared both annoyed and angered after he was dogged with questions about the canceled fund-raiser at both an East Bay campaign stop with union activists and at an official bill-signing to underscore his support for three bills related to consumer protection.

Davis said he canceled the event because "we have strict procedures that everybody has to notify us in advance of any (fund-raising) communication they make. So we said, 'We're just not going to let this happen. We're canceling the event. We're returning all the money.'

"I'm going well beyond the law in saying that I do not want my full-time appointees to be conducting fund-raising," said Davis. "I didn't solicit this event. I have no idea, frankly, how it got on our schedule."

Asked if he would revise his fund-raising practices in the wake of the brouhaha, the governor said, "We're going to look more closely at what people do in my name. Mr. Diridon made a mistake. Clearly, we don't want to have any more mistakes made."

But state GOP spokesman Sean Walsh, in response to Davis' remarks, said, "He's lying. . . . Davis has been caught in what is possibly an illegal pay-to- play scheme, in which state employees are contradicting his campaign staff, and the Democratic attorney general can no longer look the other way."

Davis also insisted the notion of a connection between the timing of the signing of the high-speed rail bond bill and the fund-raiser invitation aimed at transportation insiders was "nonsense."

"I've been a proponent of rail in the Bay Area for four years," he said. "People know I'm a rail advocate, and anyone who's a rail advocate and wants to give to me, fine. But we don't like specific (fund-raising) events. We like general events where people of all types are invited, not a specific, targeted event."

Still, the governor appeared at a loss to explain how the fund-raising event differed from past fund-raisers, which have focused on various special interest groups, including law enforcement and health care.

Asked about Simon, Davis appeared to be especially riled -- at one point walking away, then wheeling back to reporters to make a point.

"Mr. Simon is in no position to lecture me," the governor said.

His voice rising, Davis told reporters, "Bill Simon is going to put $9 million back in his pocket with campaign contributions -- and we'll never know who gave him money.

"I signed the laws that allow you to know within 24 hours what a (campaign) contribution is," added Davis, his finger repeatedly stabbing the air in front of the chest of the KCBS radio reporter who asked him about his cancellation of the fund-raiser. "You can look at what I've done, and judge it against what actions I've taken. But at least, you'll know on election day who's giving money to my campaign."

Before an enthusiastic crowd of 300 Teamsters and other union activists Saturday, Davis and other Democratic offici