Giving back these donations is like trying to return the money that you stole back to the bank; you're still a bank robber...
Posted on 05/09/2002 8:16:34 PM PDT by Bad~Rodeo
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Trying to get rid of an election-year embarrassment, Gov. Gray Davis has decided to return a $25,000 campaign contribution from a computer company that signed a potentially costly contact with the state.
Davis has repeatedly denied there was any link between the contribution and the signing of the contract with Oracle Corp. But spokesman Roger Salazar said Thursday the governor decided that returning the money was "the most comfortable thing to do."
Oracle made the contribution last June through a Davis aide a few days after the Redwood Shores-based company signed a $95 million, no-bid contract with the state. The agreement was initially touted as a way for the state to save at least $16 million on database software through volume purchases.
But the state auditor says the deal could end up costing up to $41 million more than if the state had kept its original software supply arrangements, a conclusion Oracle disputes.
A legislative committee and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer have launched investigations of the contract. Davis' director of finance, Tim Gage, and Oracle's representatives have begun discussing how to rescind the contract.
The governor's Republican opponent, Bill Simon, has repeatedly attacked the contract and the contribution.
"It casts a dark shadow - one might say a gray shadow - over this administration and raises serious questions about how campaign funds relate to public policy," said Bob Taylor, a spokesman for Simon.
Davis' announcement came a day after Lockyer returned $50,000 in campaign donations to Oracle, saying he didn't want the money to undermine the credibility of his investigation.
Oracle has said there was "nothing out of the ordinary" about the Davis donation, and that about 30 other technology companies had pledged similar donations.
AP-ES-05-09-02 2258EDT
quote of the day.
-PJ
Do you think Lockyer has an 8-by-10 cell that Davis could share with a tattooed dude who says,"Hi my name is Spike, honey?"
-PJ
Huh, is this normal in California.
Giving back these donations is like trying to return the money that you stole back to the bank; you're still a bank robber...
Give me a break! So help me out here. If I understate my income to the IRS and I am caught, can I simply pay the arrears and say that returning the money was "the most comfortable thing to do." Beam Me Up!!
It's becoming normal for Democrats, and unfortunately, the rest of the country.
-PJ
I am so glad that the governor has decided to do the most comfortable thing to do (for him), rather than deciding to do the right thing which would not have been quite so comfortable for him. < /sarcasm>
They displayed just the proper amount of outrage last Sunday by breaking their anti-Davis stories (on Oracle, and on the Cal-ISO asking Enron to "game the system") on a weekend when nobody would notice. Then, two days later, they changed the subject to Enron.
Clinton may be gone, but the media still know how to spin the news for their boy Davis.
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