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<p>SACRAMENTO - As controversy rages over the role of politics in the state's botched Oracle contract, a Mercury News investigation has found multiple instances in which Gov. Gray Davis has taken positions that favor large campaign contributors and clients of one of his closest political allies.</p>

<p>Gov. Gray Davis is a man of his word. Looking for the endorsement of the state's powerful and influential prison guards union in his 1998 run for governor, Davis apparently promised the correctional officers that, if elected, he'd do his best do eliminate five privately run prisons that the guards union wanted to kill.</p>

update Oracle came out swinging Tuesday, disputing claims that it sold the state of California more software than it needed--and warning that if that state cancels a $95 million contract, it could create problems for agencies already using the software. "Nearly 50 California state and local agencies have already used the new contract," Oracle Chief Financial Officer Jeff Henley said in a statement. The contract gave agencies a volume discount on the price of the software, he said. "If the state elects to withdraw from this contract, these savings will be lost." The $95 million deal is all but...

<p>A $95 million state software no-bid contract is the center of controversy.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO – Lawmakers probing Oracle Corp.'s $95 million state software contract zeroed in on two key Davis administration officials Saturday as the Senate prepared to approve twice-vetoed legislation that would close a major loophole in California's high-tech contracting.</p>

<p>Wide-ranging investigations into the state's $95 million computer software contract with Oracle Corp. began focusing Friday on the role of Logicon Inc., which brokered the suspect deal.</p> <p>Attorney General Bill Lockyer said he was zeroing in on the role of the Virginia-based information technology company, which served as consultant to the state and stands to collect as much as $28.5 million from the Oracle contract.</p>

<p>Sacramento -- In its first detailed response to a scathing state audit of a controversial software contract, Oracle Corp. said Friday that auditors had failed to calculate savings of up to $163 million over 10 years.</p> <p>"We've demonstrated that this is a fabulous value proposition for the state, " said Ken Glueck, vice president for government relations for Oracle.</p>

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gray Davis scrambled yesterday to contain a computer software scandal that threatens to become a dominant issue in his re-election campaign. The governor said his administration has opened talks to scrap a $95 million contract with Oracle Corp., which he insisted was approved without his knowledge. He also took credit for removing three state officials who promoted or signed off on the much-criticized deal. "I had no idea this contract was being negotiated," Davis told reporters. "I think most of you know I'm barely on the information on-ramp, much less proficient in technology. So this is...

<p>SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gray Davis, under fire for his administration's approval of a $95 million no-bid software contract that could cost taxpayers an extra $41 million, said Friday that he wants to toss out the deal with Oracle Corp.</p> <p>"We are working closely with the attorney general and negotiators to try and rescind this contract," Davis said.</p>

PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - At a time when Oracle Corp. was already grappling with slumping sales, a key executive departure and a stock price hovering near three-year lows, the No. 2 software maker has now become embroiled in a controversy over a deal with the state of California. Analysts said that while it is not clear whether Oracle did anything wrong, the controversy surrounding the $95 million deal has brought the company's selling -- and discounting -- practices under public scrutiny, an unwelcome distraction as Oracle heads into the last weeks of its fourth quarter, when it traditionally...

<p>Sacramento -- Gov. Gray Davis' opposition to a bill to expand collective bargaining issues for teachers came two months after the powerful union behind the bill rejected the governor's request for $1 million in campaign contributions, officials from the labor group said.</p>

By IRWIN SPEIZER, Staff Writer Attorney General Roy Cooper said Monday that state investigators have turned up credible evidence of possible misconduct by Division of Motor Vehicle officials in Western North Carolina, and he called for help from federal prosecutors in pursuing the case. "We ... have gathered information that leads us to believe that the public duties of some members of the state Division of Motor Vehicles may have been compromised," Cooper said at a news conference in Asheville. Cooper said the State Bureau of Investigation is probing allegations that some DMV officers have misled investigators; mishandled private...

FBI director presses for Manila solon's extradition Posted:0:02 AM (Manila Time) | Mar. 19, 2002 By Christine Herrera, Juliet L. Javellana and Michael Ubac Inquirer News Service MANILA Representative Mark B. Jimenez is no international terrorist, but the head of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation wants him badly just the same. How badly? Nothing short of a swift extradition, according to visiting FBI director Robert Mueller who refuses to even acknowledge Jimenez's current official title. To Mueller, the fugitive is just plain old "Mr. Jimenez". "We want Mr. Jimenez extradited expeditiously back to the US to face charges. The...