Posted on 11/01/2002 11:36:41 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
Gov. Gray Davis' pay for play fundraising scandal continues to metastasize, with new reports of official corruption impacting hard on his reelection chances against GOP challenger Bill Simon.
News reports detail letters submitted to prosecutors in 1993, kept under wraps until this week, containing allegations that implicate then-State Controller Gray Davis in multiple schemes to trade official favors for campaign cash.
In a 1993 letter released Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence Karlton, an attorney for Davis accuser Mark Nathanson alleges, "a number of instances where Gray Davis approached Mr. Nathanson, who was then a member of the California Coastal Commission, to assist various friends or supporters of Davis who had matters pending before the Commission," according to excerpts quoted in the Washington Times.
Nathanson's attorney at the time, Stephen Braga, detailed to the court several conversations his client claims to have had with Davis in other excerpts published by the Sacramento Bee.
"Davis told Nathanson that he was going to ask (real estate developer Alexander) Haagen and his friends for significant campaign contributions, but did not want to do so until after he had helped resolve (Haagen's) son's Coastal Commission problem," Braga wrote.
Davis also allegedly solicited another local developer, Sheldon Gordon, for campaign cash in exchange for official favors, according to Nathanson's then-attorney.
"Davis told Nathanson that Gordon and his friends were substantial contributors to his campaign funds," Braga wrote. "He wanted to have a function to ask them for more contributions but wanted to help Gordon with the Coastal Commission before doing so."
Braga wrote the letter in a bid to win leniency for his client after Nathanson was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison and fined $200,000 for soliciting cash in exchange for commission favors.
The Davis accuser's credibility is also hurt by Mr. Gordon, who told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday, "I don't know a damn thing about a quarter-million dollar bribery request (by Davis)."
The Davis' campaign, not unexpectedly, denies all of Nathanson's allegations.
"In a last desperate attempt to salvage his campaign by making further reckless accusations against Davis, the Simon campaign has been pumping a story about ridiculous charges by a criminal seeking to reduce his prison term," campaign spokesman Roger Salazaar told reporters this week.
Still, despite the denials and Nathanson's criminal record, the charges are being taken seriously by the California press.
"A close reading of letters from Nathanson's lawyers to the feds suggests that the accusations were credible," the Bee editorialized this week.
While the paper noted that the letters don't prove criminality on Davis' part, it went on to say "Nathanson's allegations are instructive because they capture Davis at his most cynical: hitting up people for campaign cash on the guise that he had helped them, even if he hadn't."
The swirl of allegations may finally be catching up to the man some Californians have dubbed "Gov. Shakedown."
By Thursday the Simon campaign was touting an overnight survey of 500 voters by pollster Kellyanne Conway that showed Simon actually pulling slightly ahead of his scandal-scarred Democratic opponent, with support for both candidates hovering around 40 percent.
Other surveys show that up to 25 percent of California voters remain undecided going into the final weekend before Election Day.
Great News! Go Simon!
Fire "Gov. Shakedown."
Well good news anyway!
Memories:
California Power Crisis animations featuring Governor Gray Davis
AND......................
...to see what bad, bad things Davis has done... - CLICK HERE
calgov2002:
 calgov2002: for old calgov2002 articles. calgov2002: for new calgov2002 articles. Other Bump Lists at: Free Republic Bump List Register |
It's a .pdf file, so you'll need Acrobat Reader... it's free, and chances are good you already have it on your computer. Try the link and see.
Print it using the printer-icon button in the Acrobat toolbar in your browser (not File|Print in your browser's menu). It's intended for double-sided printing using single pieces of paper-- no stapling needed if you do it that way, and saves trees! ;-) Print one side, then invert the paper and feed it through a second time for the second side. Fold, and sally forth to get out the vote!
Give this to friends, walk your neighborhood, take it to stores, give a wad of 'em to your school, hand some out at your house of worship, at clubs, at stores and small businesses...
Let's retire Gray Davis!
Let's show the media and RINOs that "It's the base, stupid!"
Let's show Gray Davis that money can't buy him love ...or re-election!
Freepers and RLC activists can claim considerable credit for nominating Bill Simon, so now let's elect him!
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