Simon Statement on Oracle Shredding Scandal:

Simonforgovernor.com ^ | Friday, May 3, 2002 | Contact: Bob Taylor / (916) 441-3734

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

"Email Traffic Would Indicate the Governor Himself May Have Been Aware of the Oracle Coutract"

SANTA MONICA - This morning Republican gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon made the following statements concerning the Oracle scandal currently engulfing the governor's office:

"Yesterday, I voiced my grave concern about published reports that Governor Gray Davis' Administration was actively attempting to suppress a legislative investigation of the $95 million Oracle software scandal.

"After reading this morning's Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee, and virtually every newspaper in the state, my concern has turned to shock. I am greatly saddened at the revelations that a high-ranking Davis Administration official, Arun Baheti, accepted a $25,000 contribution from Oracle on the governor's behalf after personally shepherding the Oracle contract through the administration.

"Even more incredibly, it appears from the morning's Sacramento Bee, that email traffic would indicate the governor himself may have been aware of the Oracle contract, flying in the face of weeks of denial and deflection from the governor's office about his role.

"The scent of scandal surrounding this administration is growing. Already, three top officials have quit, been forced to resign, or have been placed on leave. Only a full and broad-based investigation can determine the truth.

"Since this scandal began - and repeatedly over the past three years - the governor's staff has insisted that campaign contributions play no role in official state business.

"In fact, the governor's press secretary told the Los Angeles Times one week ago that:

"The people responsible for the contracts would be in no position to know about contributions to the governor, nor should they be. There are no dots to connect."

"We now know that the governor's office has not been telling the truth. In fact at least one of the persons responsible for the contracts, while on government payroll, received a contribution for the governor's reelection campaign. And the governor's top campaign and government advisors knew this for ten months.

"This governor is legendary for his micromanagement. He insists on knowing in detail what every cabinet secretary, and assistant and deputy, are doing. It flies in the face of credibility that the Governor did not know of this contract, and the email reported in the Sacramento Bee points to the truth.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the dots are starting to be connected, and they paint a very troubling picture. The taxpayers need to know whether the dots lead all the way to the governor's office.

"Mr. Baheti is a close confidante of the governor. He served until last night as the governor's personal director of e-government. He was the number two man at the scandal-ridden Department of Information Technology. He worked for the governor's chief campaign strategist, Garry South, on the governor's election campaign in 1998.

"The Joint Legislative Audit Committee is scheduled to convene Monday to continue their investigation of this matter. I encourage the committee to pursue their investigation aggressively.

"Californians have a right and a need to know, and to know quickly, if their tax dollars are being wasted through gross incompetence, or worse, being used to facilitate corruption.

"To aggressively press ahead to find the truth, it is critical the committee on Monday undertake the following:

• Swear in all witnesses before the committee so that they are testifying under oath.

• Call Mr. Baheti before the committee so his role, and those connected to him, is fully known. Every investigation begins with the simple questions, what did he know, and when did he know it? In Mr. Baheti's case I would add, who directed him to pick up the campaign contribution from Oracle? If the governor's office knew ten months ago, as reported, that he had accepted contributions for the campaign, why was he not forced to resign for this offense until last night? What communications has he and other state employees had with the Governor's campaign?

• The Governor's chief campaign strategist, Garry South, has served as a spokesman for the Governor in matters relating to both public policy and campaign activity. Mr. South should also appear before the committee to account for campaign dollars flowing through state employees to the Governor's campaign. Did he direct Mr. Baheti, a former campaign official for the Governor, to accept this contribution? Was Garry South involved in any way in the decision to put the taxpayers on the hook for this contract? Does Mr. South serve as a paid representative for any of the companies that profited from this deal?

• The governor's legal advisor, Barry Goode, should appear before the committee and testify as to why he appears to have given employees at the Department of Information Technology advance warning that law enforcement officials were en route to determine if documents were being shredded at DOIT offices. What exactly was shredded at the DOIT last night? Contracts? Emails? Memos or phone logs? Did the shredding only occur yesterday, or has it been going on for days? Mr. Goode should provide a full timeline and sequence of events regarding the destruction of documents.

• The committee should call the governor's deputy chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, and Finance Director, Tim Gage, to testify under oath about their knowledge of events surrounding this scandal, since both of them approved the Oracle deal.

• It has come to my attention that significant additional documentation may exist at the Technology Information Review Unit in the Department of Finance about the Governor's office role in this contract. Debbie Leibrock, A senior official of TIRU, should be called by the committee and should provide any relevant documents.

"Finally let me say this.

"I am greatly saddened by these startling revelations. This type of scandal wounds our system and prevents government from serving our people.

"The state is facing a $22 billion deficit, and every tax dollar is precious. We have seen accounts that school districts may have to end class size reduction due to funding shortages. The money wasted on this Oracle contract could have paid for thousands of teachers, textbooks, or lunches for needy children.

"Moreover, we have learned the painful lesson that scandals like this only destroy citizens' trust and confidence in their government. The only way to restore trust is for the truth to come out and for those responsible to pay a price prescribed by law.

"The sooner we know the full truth behind this scandal, and the sooner those responsible for it are held accountable by the authorities, the sooner we can restore our government as legitimate and worthy of the people's trust and confidence.

"I urge the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and the Attorney General to press ahead aggressively, quickly and thoroughly with their investigations."

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________________________
BILL SIMON FOR GOVERNOR
770 L Street, Suite 950
Sacramento, CA 95827

Website: http://www.SimonForGovernor.Com

[NEWwoman]

Good job for digging this out!!

[harpo11]

Very happy to read that Bill Simon is on top and firing away at the latest always
expected democrat scandal of our great corrupt Govenor Techno-dud & Electricity-dolt Davis.

However, I believe a US Attorney should be involved in the investigation and not Davis's Attorney,
er, I mean, State General Attorney and the democrat rat infested state legislature.

[NormsRevenge]

BUMP

DUMP DAVIS




SEMPER FI
Norm