Posted on 11/23/2004 9:00:16 AM PST by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO -- The first federal corruption probe since five lawmakers went to prison a decade ago has hit the Capitol like a tornado over the last few days, raising both hopes and fears for legislators statewide, analysts said Monday. Some senators are concerned the probe of the Senate leader-elect and its aftermath could damage majority Democrats in coming clashes with Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over issues such as the budget.
Others see chances for higher-ranking jobs in the potential toppling of Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, which could upset the balance of power between Northern and Southern California in the Legislature.
"This developing storm has more trickery and ruses than a North Korean state dinner," said David McCuan, a political science professor at California State University, Sonoma.
"The machinations among Senate Democrats are beginning to look like a frenzy of sharks," McCuan said. "With each new revelation acting like an additional drop of blood in the water, Perata's would-be rivals are circling, waiting for the opportunity to pounce on their prey."
The FBI and a federal grand jury are investigating Perata, who analysts say is known as a "wheeler-dealer." Majority Democrats chose him in August as their new leader -- to fill the second-most-powerful state post -- when they resume work next month.
Perata is asking authorities to probe leaks of the investigation that he says were politically motivated to derail him. His supporters said the leaks could have come from his own district, the FBI itself or competitive senators -- an assertion lawmakers have denied.
"I do believe that it was politically motivated," said Barbara O'Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics in Sacramento. "I think there will be an investigation of the leak by the U.S. attorney."
The investigation centers on whether Perata and his relatives received payoffs through one of his former aides, now a powerful Oakland lobbyist, for approval of contracts or projects.
"Senator Perata has never tied anything he did to the receipt of money," said George O'Connell, Perata's attorney.
Attorneys for Perata's children joined O'Connell on Monday in requesting an investigation by federal officials in San Francisco and Washington. Officials declined to comment on the requests.
Perata's chief rival for the post, Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Whittier, along with other Democrats and Republicans, expressed support for Perata.
"The caucus voted on this August 24. Senator Perata is the pro tem. That election will stand on December 6, period," she said. That's when the Senate returns briefly for a 2005 organizing session.
Senators, however, withheld predictions of what Democrats, who hold 25 of the Senate's 40 seats, would do if Perata is indicted. On the other hand, if Perata survives the episode, no senators want to have appeared as if they were scheming on his job, lest they be punished.
"I had several interesting conversations with senators over the weekend," said O'Connor. "They are all being very cagey."
Analysts said that if Perata loses his post, it could hurt Democrats' hopes of standing up to Schwarzenegger on issues ranging from the budget to Bay Bridge cost overruns to Indian gambling.
"The leadership of the Senate Democrats is a job that is even more critical with fresh, new Assembly leaders and a governor whose popularity knows no bounds," McCuan said.
"To be an honest broker, Senate Democrats need some one who has the guts of (former Senate President Pro Tem) John Burton, which Perata does, but the moral certitude to face up to the Governator on certain issues," said McCuan.
Perata isn't the first Califor nia legislative leader to face a corruption probe. San Francisco Democrat Willie Brown was reportedly the target of an investigation in the late 1980s and early 1990s when he was Assembly speaker.
Brown was never charged with a crime, but five other legislators or ex-lawmakers, including the Assembly Repub lican leader at the time, were convicted of or pleaded guilty to corruption charges and served prison terms.
The investigators are ... breaking the law, say Perata children in letter demanding a federal probe.
Here are excerpts from a letter sent Monday by attorneys Elliot Peters and Cristina Arguedas -- representing Nick Perata and Rebecca Perata Rosati, respectively -- to FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The letter asks them to punish any federal law enforcement officers who leaked information about a grand jury probe of their father, state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland:
"THESE LEAKS are criminal and constitute violations of the very laws that these officers have sworn to uphold. They are unfair, because they pervert the grand jury process. And they are scurrilous because Nick Perata and Rebecca Perata Rosati have never engaged in any form of criminal conduct."
"SENATOR PERATA is a Democrat who holds an extremely significant political position. His upcoming re-election as California's Senate President Pro Tem could be influenced by these leaks.
As Republicans, charged with leading our federal law enforcement efforts in these fractious times, it is of the utmost importance that you take action to stop the apparent leaking of grand jury information for partisan political purposes."
"AN EVEN more troubling feature of these leaks is their baseless attack on the integrity of Senator Perata's grown children, in obvious calculation of doing harm to the Senator. This tactic is truly disgraceful.
Nick Perata and his sister Rebecca Perata Rosati are smart, successful business people who have worked hard to establish businesses and reputations in the communities where they live. They have done nothing wrong. They have never funneled money through their businesses improperly in order to put that money in their father's hands. Never, ever, ever."
"FOR FEDERAL agents, sworn to uphold the law, to then break it secretly, hiding behind their badges and their confidence that their superiors will not call them out, to tarnish the reputations of these decent people in order to smear their father, is truly an outrage, and one we are more than proud to take a stand and fight against."
"THIS INVESTIGATION of our clients, such as it is, will lead nowhere. The investigators are the ones who have been breaking the law."
"MORE CHUM!!! MORE CHUM!!!!"
bttt
The liberals in the Bay Area control the Upper House. One wonders what's going to happen in the Senate if The Don is replaced by a Democrat from Southern California.
That's because the Slave Party has a LOT more in common with North Korea than simple craven criminality.
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