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<p>An executive of the company lashes out against a delay in the testimony of employees.</p> <p>An Oracle Corp. executive, outraged that a state legislative committee has postponed its plans to take testimony from company officials, lashed out Friday at what he called unfair and politically motivated treatment from the lawmaker leading the effort.</p>

California woes cloud Oracle's quarter By John Borland Staff Writer, CNET News.com May 31, 2002, 4:00 AM PT Timing is everything--and for Oracle, the controversy over its $95 million contract with the state of California couldn't have come at a worse time. Already combating sluggish sales in a weak economy, the database giant may now find that fallout from the California contract is causing some potential customers to delay signing any last-minute deals. As a result, according to potential buyers and analysts, Oracle is offering unusually steep discounts. "I've talked to organizations who are much more hesitant--who would have gone...

Calif. to change tech contract process By Reuters May 31, 2002, 6:00 PM PT Facing political scandal over a mismanaged state technology contract, California Gov. Gray Davis outlined an initiative on Friday aimed at overhauling the way officials make such high-tech purchases. Davis, a Democrat running for re-election in November, tapped a top administration official to develop a proposal to improve oversight, procurement, management and operation of the state's information technology systems. The initiative comes amid political controversy over a state deal with Oracle that an independent audit said was hustled through with little oversight, no competitive bidding and that...

Oracle is planning a big lay off tomorrow (5-31). Does anyone know anything else?

<p>SACRAMENTO - Despite its claims of full compliance, the governor's office apparently didn't completely respond to a request for information from a committee investigating a potentially costly state contract, the panel's chairman said Tuesday.</p> <p>"His response did not meet the threshold test of providing the committee what it needed," said Assemblyman Dean Florez, D-Shafter.</p>

<p>The timing of the state's Oracle software contract debacle couldn't have been better for Dean Florez.</p> <p>The assemblyman from Shafter had been chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee for only a month when the state auditor's office issued its scathing report on a $95 million no-bid contract for software that state officials had signed with the Oracle Corp. -- a deal the auditor says could cost taxpayers up to $41 million more than it otherwise would have paid.</p>

<p>Gov. Gray Davis' office on Friday gave a legislative committee 46 pages of documents requested in connection with the state's $95 million no-bid software contract with the Oracle Corp.</p> <p>The Joint Legislative Audit Committee two weeks ago sought e-mails, phone logs, transcripts of meetings and calendar entries, some of them involving the Democratic governor himself. At the time, the Governor's Office suggested that some of the requested items might be privileged and not subject to release to the committee.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO -- The timing of the state's Oracle contract debacle couldn't have been better for Dean Florez. The Assembly member from Shafter had been chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee for only a month when the state auditor issued its scathing report on a $95 million no-bid contract for software that state officials had signed with Oracle Corp. -- a deal the auditor says could cost taxpayers up to $41 million.</p>

<p>In a tearful outburst to a legislative committee Thursday, a suspended state technology director charged that Gov. Gray Davis' top computer aide "leveraged the governor's name in a bad light" and may have intimidated a potential political donor in the computer industry.</p>

California official denies Oracle warnings By Dawn Kawamoto Staff Writer, CNET News.com May 23, 2002, 6:45 PM PT update A top technology official for the state of California broke down in tears during his testimony Thursday that he was not warned of any problems with a controversial $95 million software contract with Oracle. Elias Cortez, the state's chief information officer, testified before a committee investigating the ever-widening scandal on why the state moved so quickly last year to approve such a large no-bid contract. "I'm being held accountable for other people's mistakes," Cortez said when asked if he was being...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis has been forced to admit that his administration is either corrupt or incompetent. He has chosen incompetence. And he and his people are doing a pretty good job proving their case.</p> <p>The question is why the administration signed a $95 million contract with the Oracle Corp. last year for computer software the state didn't need and still hasn't used.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - A former top state official who worked on the Oracle deal admitted Wednesday that he was told while the state negotiated the controversial contract that the software company planned to give Gov. Gray Davis a campaign contribution.</p> <p>Arun Baheti, the former director of e-government, said that after the contract was signed, an Oracle lobbyist passed him a $25,000 check during drinks at a capital restaurant where the two men also discussed state contracts.</p>

<p>There is, in any political scandal, a tipping point -- an indefinable moment when it becomes evident that it will be someone's political ruination or fade away.</p> <p>The Watergate scandal is the most famous example of the former. When former Sen. Howard Baker asked his famous question -- "What did the president know and when did he know it?" -- it became clear that Richard Nixon had lost Republican support and was doomed.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - As lawmakers threatened to subpoena Oracle officials to testify, the governor's deputy chief of staff conceded Tuesday that California had signed a bad deal with the software company but blamed other state officials for their lack of scrutiny.</p>

<p>When the Oracle Corp. wanted someone to help drum up business at the state Capitol, there were good reasons for the software giant to hire Ravi Mehta.</p> <p>He's personable, a smooth talker, politically connected. For two years in the mid-1990s, he was Gov. Pete Wilson's chief ethics enforcer.</p>

Go to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee! It has been explosive today - they tried to shut down the investigation. It has gotten ugly! Watch it On TVListen to the Hearings if you Can't Watch

Just got this release... Spread the word - www.DirtyDonations.com Be sure to contact talk radio hosts and ask webmasters to include this on their websites. My friend at the Republican Liberty Caucus here in California has done an awesome job with the people in his organization in rolling this thing out. I am so excited and I want to help him to make sure this gets reported on TV, the radio and in the newspapers! ===== ===== FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MAY 14, 2002 Contact: Douglas Lorenz Phone: (916) 213-0543 Email: Doug@Lorenz.netDirtyDonations.com Logs 6,500+ HitsCA-RLC Begins Advertising Campaign to Promote Whistleblower...

Does anyone know of a shareware/freeware/ or commercial product that can automate the process of retrieving a set of data from a relational database or a comma delimited file or spreadsheet (ie. Excel) then populating all relevant data fields into a an Oracle Application form?I would also appreciate any comments on experiences others may have had with such products, and any good informational websites that may discuss these types of programs. Thanks!

Dan Walters: Oracle debacle is emblematic of an administration in disarray By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Sunday, May 12, 2002 It was a pretty sorry spectacle: the heads of three state agencies appearing before a legislative committee, each telling lawmakers that he thought someone else had verified claims that a costly new computer software program would save oodles of tax money. As it turns out, the orphan project -- since no one claims parentage, it must be an orphan -- not only could cost the state tens of millions of dollars to buy (from the...

Energized by Enron Governor helped by memos, hurt by Oracle By Will Shuck Capitol Bureau Chief SACRAMENTO -- On Thursday, when Gov. Gray Davis said memos detailing Enron's techniques for manipulating the state's energy markets were a "vindication" for Californians, he clearly had one particular Californian in mind -- himself. And that vindication -- that he had been right all along about California being robbed blind by big energy companies -- couldn't come at a better time. Because at the same moment Davis was in Sacramento talking with reporters and congressional members about Enron, Republican challenger Bill Simon was in...