Nice to see this in the Chronicle. Methinks there will be more to come with next week's hearings. My hope of hopes is that Grayout knew about the contract surfaces...
JUST DON'T ASK ME TO RETURN MY HARD EARNED BRIBES FROM WHOREACLE/LOGICON!
Even the San Francisco Chronically Wronicle is forced to write about this! Wow!See also an earlier article (with fewere details) about this:Will the Left Angeles Times be next??? Nah...
HUGH HEWITT SHOW -- Calif. Attorney Gen'l Returns Oracle Contribution (Reuters)
Reuters | 5-8-02 | Reuters
Posted on 5/8/02 6:58 PM Pacific by doug from upland
This policy of removing even the "slightest appearance" of a conflict of interest must have been implemented AFTER the "Spike" incident..."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..."
From http://www.pacificresearch.org/pub/cap/2001/01-06-13.html:Vol. 6, No. 21: June 13, 2001
The Energy Crisis, Spike the Tattooed Dude,
and the Case for the Resignation of Bill Lockyer
SACRAMENTO Bill Lockyer, Californias Attorney General, is an authoritarian thug who should resign. Thats the view of Tom Palmer, a senior fellow of the Cato Institute, based on a statement Lockyer made in a press conference about Kenneth Lay, chairman of Enron Corporation.I would love to personally escort Lay to an 8-by-10 cell that he could share with a tattooed dude who says Hi, my name is Spike, honey, Lockyer said.
Palmer is one of the few to consider the serious implications of that statement. The Attorney General of California is the chief law enforcement official of the most populous state. But as holder of that office, Mr. Lockyer, not only has admitted that rape is a regular feature of the states prison system, but also that he considers rape a part of the punishment he can inflict on others. What if, Palmer speculates, the head of Enron were female?
Further, Palmer says, he has publicly stated that he would like to personally arrange the rape of a Texas businessman who has not even been charged with any illegal behavior. This leads Palmer to conclude that Lockyer is an authoritarian thug, someone wholly unsuited to holding an office of public trust.
Lockyer, who sponsored Californias hate-crimes law, singled out Mr. Lay because he is the chairman of a Texas-based company that is the worlds largest energy trader. Apparently, this justifies the appalling threats Lockyer made.
The Attorney Generals statements, says Palmer, reveal what imprisonment really entails in California. But they also symbolize the response of the Davis Administration to the energy crisis.
Lockyer and Gov. Gray Davis, says Palmer, seem to think that the best way to keep the lights on is to threaten electricity producers with brute force, rather than offer to pay competitive rates in competitive markets. Are energy producers to blame for Californias energy problems? No. Bad policies, including rigid controls on retail prices of electricity, are the cause of the problem, not the people who generate energy.True to form, other leading Democrats, such as Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante, want to prosecute energy producers under Californias three-strikes laws, intended for violent criminals. The Davis Administration views the crisis as entirely due to price gouging by Texas energy companies. The approach Attorney General Lockyer is taking, however, is not new, notes Palmer.
Scapegoating producers and threatening them with violence is an old ploy of authoritarians. Californians should not stand for it. Palmer, therefore, concludes: Lockyers remarks merit public disgrace and removal from office. After all, rape is not a form of legal justice in America, is it?
It is of some significance that criminal lobbies such as the ACLU and prisoner-rights groups let the Attorney Generals statement pass without comment. So did editorial writers at major papers around the state, including the Sacramento Bee, a kind of Democratic Party newsletter. At this writing, Mr. Lockyer is still in office and has yet to publish a response. When he does, we will cite it extensively in this column.
Lloyd Billingsley