Calif State Senator To File Suit Wed To Void Elec Deals

Wall Street Journal (paid subscribers only) ^ | April 30, 2002 | Jessica Berthold

[snopercod]

LOS ANGELES -- A California state senator will file a lawsuit Wednesday to void all the state's long-term electricity contracts based on an energy consultant's alleged conflict of interest, said a spokesman for Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks.

The lawsuit, which will be filed in state superior court in Pasadena, will claim that Vikram Budhraja violated California's government code when he helped negotiate on behalf of the government $43 billion in power contracts last year while being paid a consulting retainer by Edison International (EIX), McClintock spokesman John Stoos said Tuesday.

[snopercod]

McClintock should file suit to void the Davis Administration instead.

[snopercod]

This Budhraja's for you.

[Servant of the Nine]

How long before out of state energy companies decide dealing with California is just too precarious and stop bidding to supply energy to it?

SO9

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Interesting, but probably won't go anywhere. Good idea though to keep the heat on Davis.

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[Grampa Dave]

This could get very interesting. Tom telegraphed that he would probably sue on his last appearance on KSFO a while back.

I believe his thesis will be that criminals or those who did illegal things while making these contracts, make these contracts invalid.

[Free the USA]

I believe his thesis will be that criminals or those who did illegal things while making these contracts, make these contracts invalid.

Since Cali politics is full of criminals they will be able to void any contract at any time if this theory holds.

[monkeyshine]

Does the senator have standing? When Ron Paul sued to void the War Powers Act, the USSC threw his case out and said he had no individual standing, and that the power was in congress to void the act.

Why would the Senator have standing, and not any citizen (who has to pay these rediculous bills). And why isn't the state Atty General suing?

[Grampa Dave]

That maybe Tom's intention to force these things out into the public via court rooms. Then the leftist media can't hide what's happening, because Dow Jones, the WSJ and other financial newswires will report what is happening. Then that news/data ends up on conservative talk shows and sites like Free Republic. The crooks in Kali (which there are a lot of as you point out)can't stand that type of press coverage.

Socialism and fascism can only work they have basically total control of the media and can spike the bad news.

[ElkGroveDan]

The state Attorney General is a RAT and a big friend of Davis. The Senator has standing as a California taxpayer.

[Dog Gone]

Since Cali politics is full of criminals they will be able to void any contract at any time if this theory holds.

That's exactly the point. This guy had no financial interest in any of these deals, and only an arguable one with Edison.

If a court would hold that California could get out of these contracts by its own "bad behavior" by a consultant, then the state will always have an incentive to be breaking the law in this manner.

It would be odd, indeed, if the only party who could void the deal is the one who did something wrong.

[monkeyshine]

Since Cali politics is full of criminals they will be able to void any contract at any time if this theory holds.

Which may be the reason why they can't/won't overturn the deal. It would create precedent to overturn a whole lot of political deals.

[ElkGroveDan]

These are the same conflict of interest laws that resulted in the conviction and removal of California Superintendant of Public Instruction, Bill Honig in 1993.

This is serious stuff.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This is serious stuff.

Well then this is encouraging!

Guess I should put it on the Calgov2002 list then!

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[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Well, even without a conviction, if the issue and others like it can be forced into that part of the media that the Democrats control against their will then it can have an impact on the fall election for Governor.

Just shows more evidence of the corruption surrounding Gray Davis which is beyond mere mismanagement and political manipulation that has finally appeared in the Media.

It was just a short time ago we had the bad contract with Oracle exposed!
Davis handled that by having Keene resign(I think).
I don't think he has that option here .

[Grampa Dave]

Exactly Dan, this is serious stuff and Honig should have gone to jail with his wife instead of becoming a leftist elite wine guy! However, he is no longer in politics or an office holder.

Then, we had a republican governor and attorney general. Inspite of the screams of the left wing maggots, the CTA, the lefties in the legislature, Honig cut a deal and resigned to avoid jail.

Today, the entire group of lefties in Sacramento from Davis down to the junior maggot legislator are so arrogant, that they feel that they are beyond the law. They are often even more arrogant than the Bent One, the Clintoon while he was the number one lawbreaker in our land.

The mess with Whoreacle ties right into this arrogance. The rats are in power, and the pressitutes are in bed with the Rats. Then instead of reporting high crimes committed by their fellow Rats in office, they bury the stories and worry about abortion and gay rights. This enables the Rats in power to get by with anything from insider trading to being bought out by Whoreacle.

Save California - Abort Davis!

[eureka!]

Hmmm. The plot thickens...

[Gophack]

Davis should be sued for fiscal malfeasance akin to Enron/Arthur Andersen and be PUT IN JAIL for gross and deliberate negligence. Any attorney's out there that know what the technical term is for Davis' fiscal shenanigans? I mean REALLY! If a private company handled their finances like Davis is mis-managing the state of California, they would lose their job, be sued, and likely thrown in jail.

Maybe Davis should pay reparations to the TAXPAYERS!

DUMP DAVIS!

[Angelique]

I just read an article that it is Reardon against Davis. I must have really missed something. This isn't really a choice. right?

[Angelique]

Thank you for this article, but you are correct. The broohaha about suing the the government is like putting a ghost costume on at Halloween

[Robert357]

Let's see if I have the facts straight. A republican senator has filed a lawsuit to void a contract negotiated by a Davis politically appointed consultant, who had a conflict with the SCE company he was negotiating with.

If the Senator wins, what is likely to happen is that SCE will file a lawsuit against the state and the consultant for damages. The consultant probably has some insurance but not enough to cover the losses, so the deep pocket is really the state. How could the state be liable? Because it did not properly enforce the conflict of interest rules or because it did not properly employ checks and balances in the contract review/negotiations process.

So, what is the outcome likely to be....damages filed against the state and more legal fees changing hands.

Now, from a political perspective, will this embaris the Davis administration? Not likely, Davis is beyond shame.

Not sure I see the value in the litigation, except for some republican to say "me too," when Davis talks about protecting the electric customes from profit gouging power companies (not!).