Meanwhile, the Davis administration's efforts to renegotiate the contracts continue, with an unfortunately familiar flavor of conflict of interest. The most important lobbyist for the state's backdoor bailout of Calpine, the San Jose power company, is actually a top state official -- Jeremiah Hallisey, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer (Standard Oil et al.) and longtime associate of Davis' from the Jerry Brown days, who now serves on the state Transportation Commission.
The two chief negotiators for the state are former L.A. Assemblyman Richard Katz, who had virtually no involvement with energy issues until last year and knows that the governor referred to the company as a "white-hat power generator," and Michael Kahn, another San Francisco lawyer, who represented the polluters in the infamous Stringfellow toxic-waste-dumping case.
Calpine is in danger of bankruptcy after the latest downgrade in its junk-bond-class credit rating and the canceling or delay of billions in power-turbine purchases.
Simon can run a stealth campaign to defeat "Big Mouth Davis", and RINO reporters can "eat rocks."
I'm sure glad we have the web to look up sources. Robert Novak's column sounds bad, when put into the context the Weekly uses. But read the column, and it doesn't look like a big deal at all. Note especially the last sentence of the section on the Governor's race:
Parsky has strongly endorsed Simon, and Bush will visit California later this month to campaign for the GOP nominee.So much for the idea of a seriously divided GOP.
In terms of the fundraising and other issues, this is of course an ancient article. Looks to me that Simon has found a voice in criticizing the Oracle scandal and similar problems that are erupting.
Finally, note in the last paragraph that Davis is getting ready to kowtow to those nice people who contribute money to him. Maybe we should be glad he's corrupt, for that global warming bill really would be a disaster, and I'm betting that on principle, he would love to support it.
D