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SACRAMENTO, Calif.--A former Oracle lobbyist refused to testify on Thursday about a controversial $95 million state contract, one day after it was disclosed that he had recommended the database giant give campaign contributions to key legislators. Ravi Mehta, who appeared under subpoena before a legislative committee investigating the contract, declined to testify under a state statute based on the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Mehta had already reviewed a list of questions the committee intended to ask him, and added that he had the "right to have this committee not inquire beyond matters in its jurisdiction." Mehta's role in...

<p>Former Oracle Corp. lobbyist Ravi Mehta backed out of his promise to testify before a legislative committee Wednesday amid new disclosures about the tactics he used to influence state officials on the company's behalf.</p> <p>In one instance, according to an e-mail message provided by Oracle, Mehta recommended that it financially sponsor a college project undertaken by the son of a senator who had been "extremely critical" of the company's $95 million no-bid software contract with the state.</p>

<p>Ravi Mehta.</p> <p>SACRAMENTO - Software giant Oracle, which is already under attack for lobbying state leaders to win its controversial contract last year, also discussed giving tens of thousands of dollars to state lawmakers to ease pressure when criticism of the deal mounted, according to new documents released Wednesday.</p>

update As questions mounted about a controversial contract between California and Oracle, a lobbyist for the database giant wrote a detailed memo encouraging the company to make a series of cash contributions to win the support of key state politicians. According to the e-mail, Oracle lobbyist Ravi Mehta asked Robert Hoffman, director of legislative affairs at the company, to "make contributions to a number of individuals who are presently in office or running in safe seats and will be elected to the California legislature next year." The Jan. 5 memo, released Wednesday by the legislative audit committee investigating the...

<p>The company's sales team sought to have its CEO personally call Gray Davis.</p> <p>A week after they persuaded state officials to sign a $95 million no-bid software contract, top Oracle Corp. salesmen asked their boss to place a thank-you call to Gov. Gray Davis, according to an internal company e-mail.</p>

<p>ASSEMBLYMAN: `SOMEBODY GOT TO HIM'</p> <p>SACRAMENTO - A former state attorney who was expected to call into question the truthfulness of one of Gov. Gray Davis' Cabinet secretaries Tuesday abruptly refused to testify before lawmakers investigating California's controversial Oracle deal.</p>

<p>Former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot has been asked to testify next week in Sacramento to discuss allegations that his company helped fleece California's energy market.</p> <p>State Sen. Joe Dunn, D-Santa Ana, on Monday formally requested that Perot appear June 20 before a Senate committee investigating whether energy companies manipulated the market during last year's crisis.</p>

<p>Five weeks after he was suspended with pay for his role in California's computer software scandal, Department of Information Technology Director Elias Cortez was fired Monday.</p> <p>He is the fourth top aide Gov. Gray Davis has fired in connection with state computer woes, which came to light after an audit ripped a $95 million no-bid software contract with Oracle Corp.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - The lawmaker leading the investigation into the Oracle software controversy has been accused of being overzealous and abandoning political allies to advance his career.</p> <p>But Assemblyman Dean Florez's maverick style was shaped before he launched his legislative hearings this spring.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - When the California Legislature began its probe of the state's botched Oracle software contract in April, lawmakers pronounced themselves determined to uncover why state officials signed a deal that could cost taxpayers millions.</p> <p>But nearly two months of hearings have revealed as much about the inner workings of the Legislature as about the administration of Gov. Gray Davis. The contentious inquiry, scheduled to wrap up this week, has exposed the Capitol's web of loyalties and rivalries as lawmakers scramble to boost political futures, protect allies and outmaneuver opponents.</p>

<p>THE legislative hearings on the state's contract with Oracle drag on, proving that finding more pieces for the jigsaw puzzle doesn't necessarily put legislators closer to seeing the whole picture.</p> <p>The Joint Legislative Audit Committee has heard upwards of 70 hours of testimony -- who e-mailed whom, who talked to whom, who persuaded whom -- but it is not becoming clearer whether something is rotten in the state of California, or just muddled.</p>

<p>In the wake of the Oracle software controversy, lawmakers and a state watchdog agency are moving this week to crack down on contracting and lobbying practices.</p> <p>At least two efforts are under way in the Legislature. Another will be considered today by the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).</p>

<p>Memo to future California governors, or Gray Davis, if he wins a second term: Pay very close attention to anything involving contracts and computers, and if it's some kind of computer contract, start fingering your worry beads.</p> <p>About 90 percent of Davis' headaches involve computers and/or contracts, a prime example being the $95 million Oracle software contract that his underlings signed last year under suspicious conditions. A legislative committee, taking its cue from a highly critical state audit, has been delving into the Oracle mess, and the testimony so far proves rank incompetence and hints at more insidious political factors.</p>

Operating SystemsLinux Gets Boost From Dell, OracleLisa DiCarlo, 06.05.02, 3:00 PM ET NEW YORK - In yet another strong show of support for the Linux operating system, market leaders Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ), Dell Computer (nasdaq: DELL - news - people ) and Red Hat Software (nasdaq: RHAT - news - people ) today combined strengths to make the software more reliable, higher performance and easier to buy. For the first time, Dell will resell licenses for Oracle's 9i database and application server software for Red Hat Linux. That lets customers avoid having to buy from...

Auditors for the state of California and Oracle gave conflicting testimony Wednesday over the savings associated with a controversial $95 million no-bid contract being investigated by a state legislative committee. Since the investigation began in April, state Auditor Elaine Howle has maintained that the contract would cost taxpayers up to $41 million more than it should, while Oracle has said it would save the state more than $100 million during the six- to 10-year contract. As expected, Howle reiterated her calculations before the committee on Wednesday, while another witness representing Oracle's position, former California state auditor Kurt Sjoberg, found...

A primer on World Tech Tribune.com's ongoing coverage of the Oracle Debacle: Oracle, the second largest software maker in the world, is based in Redwood City, CA and sold the state of California a $95 million database contract that would reportedly save the state over $100 million. The contract was hastily approved by officials in the Davis Administration in May 2001. After a year of scrutiny by California State Auditors office, the contract was determined to actually cost the state's taxpayers over $41 million over the $95 million price tag, with no savings during the outrageous ten year life span...

"California politicians, high-dollar Oracle execs and Gray Davis’ fall guys play out a courtroom drama worthy of a David Kelly/Steven Bochco production. The scandal involving Silicon Valley-based database software behemoth Oracle and California Democratic Governor Gray Davis’ embattled tech office became more like an episode of a TV show – plenty of drama involving a powerful corporation, a politician running for reelection, big money changing hands, heated discourse during senate hearings, conflicting testimony, hastily called press conferences… Throw in some square-jawed actors and impossibly beautiful actresses pretending to be lawyers and put this show on Thursday nights at 8pm!" The...

<p>Pressure for top state officials to consummate a $95 million no-bid software deal with the Oracle Corp. a year ago came from a host of unusual external influences, a top Department of Finance analyst who recommended against the deal testified Tuesday.</p>

update SACRAMENTO, Calif.--Tensions between Oracle and California officials investigating a controversial contract with the company flared on Tuesday, when an executive walked out of a hearing room after a state senator sharply criticized the company. Ken Glueck, Oracle's vice president of government affairs, was in the audience during Tuesday's committee meeting, part of a state investigation into the controversial $95 million contract with Oracle. Glueck got up and left after state Sen. Steve Peace said he wanted Glueck--who on Monday had criticized the hearing process--to testify before the committee. The hearings stem from a critical state auditors report issued in...

<p>Legislative hearings into the Oracle software contract imbroglio may not pin anything directly on Gov. Gray Davis, but they have been fascinating in their own way, revealing much about the inner workings of the Davis administration and accentuating the Capitol's political fault lines.</p>