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"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>

<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