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Lockyer returns Oracle's $50,000 contribution He wants to avoid appearance of conflict during investigation Paul Feist, Lynda Gledhill, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Thursday, May 9, 2002 Sacramento -- Attorney General Bill Lockyer returned $50,000 in campaign contributions from Oracle on Wednesday, saying he wanted to remove even the "slightest appearance" of a conflict of interest as he probes a state contracting scandal involving the software giant. Lockyer, who has opened civil and criminal investigations into a $95 million software contract, had faced questions from Republicans about whether he could impartially investigate the no-bid deal that state officials signed with Oracle last...

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...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SANTA BARBARA - Gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon today delivered the following remarks to reporters during a media availability in Santa Barbara: "Thank you all for coming. I am traveling in Santa Barbara today on my campaign to unseat Gray Davis, and to restore leadership and integrity to the office of the Chief Executive of California. The needs of working Californians require that the incompetent and possibly corrupt administration of Gray Davis be voted out of office. "The quality of our schools, roads, and cities has not kept pace with the economic boom that occurred in the mid...

Company overtakes long-time leader Oracle PALO ALTO, Calif., May 7 — International Business Machines Corp. took the No. 1 spot last year in terms of total new database software sales from long-time leader Oracle Corp., according to a new report from Dataquest, a unit of technology research firm Gartner Inc. ORACLE REMAINS KING of the relational database software segment that accounts for 80 percent of the overall $8.84 billion database market, but slipped because of competition from IBM and Microsoft, Dataquest said. Elsewhere, Oracle lost ground on Microsoft’s Windows server platform — where it was overtaken by the software behemoth...

Daniel Weintraub: Do voters care that Davis mixes politics, business? By Daniel Weintraub -- Bee Columnist Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, May 7, 2002 As long as Gov. Gray Davis has been in politics, he has been known for the joy he takes in separating campaign donors from their money. What most politicians do with reluctance, Davis, by all accounts, does with relish. His ability to ask for $1 million with a straight face has made him the most successful fund-raiser in the history of California politics. The voters haven't seemed to mind. Davis' money-grubbing, a constant topic of conversation...

Oracle deal a rush job, lawyer testifies Her warning not to sign was ignored, she says Robert Salladay, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau Tuesday, May 7, 2002 Sacramento -- A state lawyer testified Monday that she was given just hours to review a hastily drafted contract with Oracle Corp. but felt pressure from "a higher authority" to remain quiet about her misgivings. Cynthia Curry, senior counsel for the Department of General Services, said she first saw the final $95 million contract with Oracle at 5:30 p.m. on May 31, 2001 -- the day the deal was signed and approved by the Davis...

<p>California Gov. Gray Davis is negotiating with Oracle Corp. about rescinding a controversial $95 million software contract with the state. But it won't be easy to unwind the deal or assess the potential impact on the company's finances.</p> <p>The six-year software deal, signed without competitive bidding in May 2001, has turned into an imbroglio that has led to the resignation of two state officials, a probe of potential document shredding and fears for Gov. Davis's re-election bid later this year. Besides issues about the cost and need for Oracle's software, Republican opponents are raising questions about the timing of a $25,000 political contribution from the company to the Democratic governor. Gov. Davis, who is backing an investigation by California's attorney general, denied knowledge of the deal and said there was no connection with the donation.</p>

CAPITOL JOURNAL The Oracle Debacle Coulda, Shoulda Been Prevented Coulda, shoulda: If Gov. Gray Davis' Cabinet minions had heeded his incessant lecturing, they would have avoided the state's embarrassing software scandal. Davis' lecture goes like this: When somebody says you must act now, that's when you freeze. Beware. Be skeptical. Or, as Cabinet Secretary Susan Kennedy puts it: "If somebody comes to you and says, 'I need something and it has to be right now,' the answer is 'No.' "Where I failed was, I broke the cardinal rule." Kennedy added the final, crucial signature on a "governor's action request"...

Davis aides start talks with Oracle to drop contract By Ray Locker ASSOCIATED PRESS May 6, 2002 SACRAMENTO – The state's finance director began talks with Oracle Corp. Monday to discuss killing the state contract auditors called wasteful, an administration spokesman said. Finance Director Tim Gage will meet this week with Oracle executives to negotiate an end to the state's six-year, $95 million, no-bid contract to buy and administer database management software from Oracle, said Steve Maviglio, press secretary for Gov. Gray Davis. The talks could take up to two weeks, Maviglio said. Poll shows high disapproval numbers for...

Official Describes Rush to OK $95-Million Oracle Pact Probe: Testimony comes on first day of hearings on deal, approved with little study, no bidding. ... Cynthia Curry, a top attorney for the Department of General Services, one of the state agencies that approved the deal, told lawmakers that she was given the full Oracle contract to review the day it was signed, and was so concerned about it that she went over the head of her boss to complain. After the deal was signed, she recalled, General Services Director Barry Keene got a call from Gov. Gray Davis' Cabinet...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gray Davis called Friday for an investigation by Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer into an embarrassing and apparently overpriced $95-million software contract with Oracle Corp., and accepted the resignation of a department head who had a hand in negotiating the deal. The Democratic governor's moves, announced after 6 p.m. Friday, come amid a legislative investigation into the deal and a highly critical state auditor's report. With Davis facing reelection, the contract, coupled with campaign donations from Oracle, gave fodder to his challenger, Bill Simon Jr... ...[Additional text here]... ...Oracle donated $25,000 to Davis in June, shortly after the...

Please, please, please FReepers. Help us keep the OracleGate scandal coverage on TV. The CalChannel is set to end their coverage of the hearings at 3:30 PM We need to tell them to keep broadcasting so that the light of day can shine down on the truth. CLICK HERE TO EMAIL . Click Here to Watch the Hearings

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee Investigative Hearings into the Oracle scandal are being broadcast LIVE! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN!

Here it is - a picture is worth a thousand words. The first "images" to plant in people's minds of the Oracle scandal in California. I hope everyone here can help make sure this gets disseminated. The slightly plump guard directing the truck with the dumpster containing shredded documents paints the picture in the minds of the public as to what Gray Davis has been up to - GARBAGE! Private security guard Richard Avery directs a truck carrying a dumpster taken from the office building were the California Department of Information Technology is located Thursday, May 2, 2002, in Sacramento,...

FAIRFIELD, CA - - Mar. 19, 1999 - -Gensa Corporation has been awarded an information technology (IT) services contract by Logicon Inc., a Northrop Grumman company. Gensa will to support the General Services Administration’s (GSA) Federal Technology Service for the Pacific Rim Region. The initial contract is for two years with eight one-year options. The multiple award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contract is under the Federal Information Systems Support program known as Generation VII Applications n’ Support for Widely-diverse EndUser Requirements (ANSWER). The ANSWER mission is to provide flexible, responsive, easy-to-use and cost-effective IT services for Federal agencies. Gensa will...

Californian taxpayers paid millions of dollars too much for Oracle database software and support, thanks to a former Oracle employee, and his assistant, who now works for Oracle's law company. Normal competitive tendering rules were not followed, and the pair were pressured by staff from Governor Gray Davis office to sign an Enterprise Licensing Agreement covering far more users than the state actually employees in a deal worth $93 million. Governor Davis' office received $25,000 in campaign contributions gift five days after the deal was signed. Fishy? You bet. But the scandal has found its first scapegoats in the shape...

May 6, 2002 Hearing Set on Oracle Deal Government: State lawmakers begin probe of controversial $95-million software agreement, even as officials try to rescind it.      By MIGUEL BUSTILLO and JULIE TAMAKI, Times Staff Writers SACRAMENTO -- State lawmakers will delve into the details of California's controversial computer contract with Oracle Corp. today, hoping to learn more about a $95-million deal that gave the state more software than there are state employees and is turning into a major embarrassment for the Davis administration. State officials are already moving to undo the contract after a scathing audit last month that...

<p>Sacramento -- As Oracle Corp. seeks to boost government contracts, the software company has carefully channeled its major campaign contributions to a select few California politicians wielding the most power over its livelihood.</p> <p>Just about every elected official who has received a major contribution from Oracle has some measure of control over Oracle government business, or held influence over the $95 million software contract that has embarrassed the company and Gov. Gray Davis.</p>

<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>