Posted on 10/29/2002 7:04:40 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Explosive charges that California's prolific fundraiser Governor Gray Davis used his official position to get contributions from developers have surfaced after years of being hidden by court order.
Although Davis has heatedly denied the allegations, leveled against him by a convicted felon seeking leniency in his sentencing, his Republican opponent Bill Simon is demanding that the governor produce certain documents relating to the charges.
Two letters sent by his attorneys to federal prosecutors on behalf of Mark L. Nathanson have been under seal since Nathanson's 1993 conviction. The Sacramento Bee has long sought release of the letters and the U.S. Supreme Court ordered them unsealed in a ruling two weeks ago.
Nathanson charged that when he was a member of California's Coastal Commission and Davis was State Controller, the two worked together to enable Davis to raise campaign contributions from developers dependent on the Coastal Commission for permits.
At the time, federal prosecutors refused to act on the accusations because Nathanson had repeatedly lied to them about other matters. He was forced to serve his full four-year sentence for his conviction for racketeering and tax evasion in a bribes-for- permits scheme.
Nathanson charged that he and Davis allegedly made lists of potential donors whom Davis would contact and imply that he had helped secure Nathanson's help on the Coastal Commission.
In total, the developers named in Nathanson's letters donated about $10,000 to Davis' campaign funds, the Chronicle reported.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Davis campaign spokesman Roger Salazar, insisted Nathanson's accusations were a desperate attempt to cut his sentence and were dismissed by federal authorities. Salazar compared Simon's attempts to capitalize on the letters as akin to his false accusation several weeks ago that Davis illegally accepted campaign contributions in a government office.
"The FBI, the U.S. attorney and the judge all found Mr. Nathanson to be a liar," Salazar said.
But Simon's campaign has zeroed in on the charges, saying the documents show Davis' "pay for play" fund-raising practices and immediately prepared a TV ad on the Nathanson allegation, the Chronicle reported. Republicans also noted that the Nathanson letters are devastating evidence of a pattern of aggressive and potentially illegal fund raising by Davis - an issue Simon has repeatedly focused on.
In remarks at Malibu, Simon demanded that Davis make public his calendars and notes from any meetings with Nathanson and release lists of all contacts he had with developers and applicants for Coastal Commission permits that were named in the court documents.
"When did he speak to them?" Simon asked. "Did he solicit them for contributions? Did he receive contributions? And did he brag of his relationship with Mark Nathanson?" Nathanson, now out of prison, has argued against releasing the letters with the accusations, the Chronicle said, adding that he had written to the federal court in 1999 saying the accusations should remain secret and that he feared physical harm at the hands of one of the developers and other forms of retaliation by Davis.
Coming eight days before the election, the matter has thrown the Davis campaign into what Simon campaign aide said, " Is his worst nightmare."
~growwwwl
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