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Sun 12 May 2002 10:02
by Kevin McGehee
in Coweta County, GA
[Here's Your Sign]
[Flyover Blogdom]
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Software Deal Shakes Up California Governor’s Race reads the Fox News headline on an article about the now-heating-up scandal over Gray Davis’ corrupt deal with Oracle—seems to me from what I’ve read, using the word “corrupt” in any sentence containing either Davis’ name or the name “Oracle” is redundant.
“In the past, the state would procure a component at a time, project at a time,“ said Elias Cortez, the director of the state’s Department of Information Technology.
Not so this time, and Cortez has been suspended after claims that inexperienced negotiators botched a deal that would have saved the state money by buying the software in bulk.
But critics say incompetence was just part of the problem. Charges of corruption now loom over the administration of Gov. Gray Davis.
As the deal was being negotiated, Oracle donated $25,000 to Davis’ re-election campaign.
“It looks like it was more than a quid-pro-quo. It smells like a payoff,“ said Shawn Steel, chairman of the California Republican Party.
Davis claims he knew nothing of the deal or the donation. And after ordering an investigation, he sent the highway patrol to guard trash at the DIT to make sure no documents are shredded.
“No one’s more interested than I am to find out exactly what happened and get to the bottom of it and make it right,“ he said.
Thursday, he returned the $25,000 to Oracle, and he is trying to rescind the contract and contain the damage. He received resignation letters from two state workers close to the deal.
But as the fall campaign season approaches, Davis’ $30 million warchest — and the way he raised it — will come under scrutiny.
Not mentioned here is the fact the big contribution was promised months in advance of the contract, yet—as noted in the quote—handed over only afterward.
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