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Keyword: perata

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  • Jean Quan wins Oakland mayor's race

    11/11/2010 9:02:44 AM PST · by SmithL · 13 replies · 1+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/11/10 | Matthai Kuruvila, Chronicle Staff Writer
    OAKLAND -- City Councilwoman Jean Quan won the final tally Wednesday in Oakland's ranked-choice mayoral election, capping a dramatic eight days in which she came from behind and surged to victory because she had more second- and third-place votes than rival Don Perata. When first-place votes were initially counted after the Nov. 2 election, Quan had just 24 percent, and Perata had 35 percent. But Quan proved to be a more popular second and third choice among supporters of the other eight candidates, and in the end, she had 51 percent to Perata's 49 percent. Alameda County Registrar of Voters...
  • Oakland ranked ballot: Least-hated tops most-liked

    11/09/2010 12:44:22 PM PST · by SmithL · 3 replies
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/9/10 | Chip Johnson
    Throughout the campaign, candidate Don Perata said that he didn't understand the ranked-choice voting system being used for the first time in the Oakland mayor's race. Unfortunately for the former state senator, his two closest rivals in the race understood Alameda County's new voting system well enough to turn a near-certain victory for Perata into a possible defeat. Because if voter trends hold until the final count, it is likely that City Councilwoman Jean Quan will become Oakland's 46th mayor in January. On Tuesday, Quan held a news conference and said she remained cautiously optimistic but acknowledged the race was...
  • Some DMV workers extend their furlough

    08/25/2010 7:48:42 AM PDT · by SmithL · 15 replies
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 8/25/10 | Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
    We've all heard of Furlough Fridays - well, at the San Francisco office of the Department of Motor Vehicles, they had a "Missing Monday" when nearly two-thirds of the staffers didn't show up. In all, 20 of the 34 staffers at the Fell Street DMV office who had been forced to take Friday off without pay took Monday off as well. DMV spokesman Armando Botello said the department had to bring in workers from other jurisdictions to help out with the "higher than usual absences." Naj Alikhan of the Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, said he hadn't...
  • Perata money machine in full operation

    01/13/2010 7:56:43 AM PST · by SmithL · 2 replies · 180+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/13/10 | Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
    The well-oiled Don Perata political money machine is revving up again in Oakland. First up: a $25,000 check to City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente to help organize labor behind a Perata-backed state ballot initiative for cancer research. Next: Perata's decision to lift a self-imposed $100 individual limit for donations to his campaign this year for Oakland mayor. The former state Senate leader has long been known for his prowess in raising and spending money, be it for local school initiatives or statewide bond programs. He's also known for spreading much of that money around to consultants close to him...
  • CA: Analyst: Perata cigarette tax would burn First 5

    12/04/2009 6:09:35 PM PST · by NormsRevenge · 9 replies · 578+ views
    Oakland Tribune ^ | 12/4/09 | Josh Richman
    A new Legislative Analyst's Office report predicts California's early-childhood education program will lose $45 million per year under a cigarette-tax-for-cancer-research ballot measure proposed by former state Senate president and 2010 Oakland mayoral candidate Don Perata. The education program, First 5, would lose about $8.66 million in the Bay Area, including about $2.2 million from Santa Clara County, $1.7 million from Alameda $1.1 million from Contra Costa and $785,000 from San Mateo, according to a breakdown provided by Alameda County First 5 CEO Mark Friedman — and that's why early-childhood education advocates could end up joining tobacco companies and anti-tax groups...
  • Perata, health groups launch tobacco tax initiative

    11/16/2009 8:18:19 PM PST · by SmithL · 9 replies · 533+ views
    Oakland Tribune ^ | 11/16/9 | Josh Richman
    OAKLAND — Former state Senate President Pro Tem and 2010 Oakland mayoral candidate Don Perata joined cancer research and health advocates Monday to launch a ballot measure that would hike cigarette taxes by a dollar a pack. "This is the right measure for the right time," Corey Goodman, a UC San Francisco professor and former biotech entrepreneur, said at a news conference in the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, adding the half-billion dollars per year this measure could raise would help move scientific breakthroughs "from the bench to the bedside" to save lives. Perata said he conceived of the measure...
  • With probe over, Perata primed to lead Oakland

    05/29/2009 7:41:57 AM PDT · by SmithL · 8 replies · 266+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/29/9 | Chip Johnson
    With the dark cloud of a lingering federal probe behind him, there is nothing standing between former state Sen. Don Perata and the Oakland mayor's office but time, opportunity and blue skies. On Wednesday, the FBI closed the books on a five-year investigation into whether Perata's business dealings drove his legislative decisions. Perata announced his plans in March to run for mayor of Oakland in 2010. So far, his toughest competition, former City Manager Robert Bobb, is currently the state-appointed director of the Detroit public schools and lives in the Washington, D.C., area. The federal investigation was the darkest hour...
  • CA: Ex-Calif. Senate leader cleared in kickback probe (PeRATaGate & FBI probe poops out)

    05/27/2009 12:46:45 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 12 replies · 435+ views
    ap on Sac bee ^ | 5/27/09 | Don Thompson - ap
    Federal prosecutors on Wednesday declined to file corruption charges against a former California lawmaker, clearing the way for his campaign for Oakland mayor next year. ... The announcement ends an investigation into former state Senate leader Don Perata that stretches back to 2004 and extended to his family and circle of political associates. ... Federal prosecutors released a statement saying only that they were declining to file criminal charges but did not say why. They said they could not "disclose our deliberative process."
  • Feds drop 5-year probe of Perata - no charges

    05/27/2009 10:49:33 AM PDT · by SmithL · 8 replies · 521+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 5/27/9 | Susan Sward, Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writers
    SACRAMENTO -- Former state Senate leader Don Perata, who has been the target of a five year-long FBI corruption investigation, will not be charged with any crimes, sources told The Chronicle today. In declining to indict the 64-year-old Oakland Democrat, federal prosecutors in Sacramento put an end to a wide-ranging FBI probe into whether Perata had taken hundreds of thousands of dollars of kickbacks in return for actions he took as a legislator and as president pro tem of the Senate. Perata announced in March that he would run for mayor of Oakland in 2010. The government's decision not to...
  • Will Garamendi run for Tauscher's seat? {Will PeRATa become Mayor of Oakland?}

    04/05/2009 9:14:23 AM PDT · by SmithL · 10 replies · 371+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/5/9 | Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross
    The race to replace outgoing East Bay Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher could get a lot more interesting. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi - who lives in Walnut Grove, which sits on the northeast edge of the district - tells us, "Several people have asked me to run. Of course we'll check it out." . . . Perata play: Don Perata's decision to go public with his plans to run for mayor of Oakland didn't exactly come as a surprise - it did, however, instantly reshuffle the deck in that city.For starters, City Attorney John Russo, City Council President Jane Brunner and...
  • Perata Running for Oakland Mayor

    03/31/2009 9:12:24 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 14 replies · 635+ views
    SFGate.com ^ | 3/31/09 | Carla Marinucci
    It's official: former State Senate Pro Tem Don Perata is making the move to run for Oakland mayor. Chronicle comrade Chip Johnson has the scoop today, talking to Perata after last week's services for the four slain Oakland cops. And Perata said that was a catalyst for his decision to take on the tough job which has also been occupied for two terms by state Attorney General Jerry Brown.
  • CA: Perata asks for federal probe of U.S. Attorney in Sacramento

    03/11/2009 6:23:16 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 2 replies · 337+ views
    Capitol Weekly ^ | 3/11/09 | John Howard
    Former Senate Leader Don Perata filed a formal request with the U.S. Justice Department Wednesday for an investigation into the conduct of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Sacramento, who he contends abused their authority by resurrecting a lengthy ethics investigation of Perata. The request was submitted by George O’Connell, Perata’s lawyer and a former U.S. Attorney in Sacramento, with the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General. The office, among other things, conducts investigations into complaints against Justice Department personnel, including FBI personnel. The request was filed with Inspector General Glen Fine. O’Connell’s action stems from the...
  • CA: Perata investigation moves to Sacramento; his attorneys cry foul (PeRataGate Lives!)

    03/04/2009 7:00:26 PM PST · by NormsRevenge · 15 replies · 472+ views
    Sac Bee ^ | 3/4/09 | Denny Walsh
    Former state Senate leader Don Perata and his attorney have mounted a furious campaign against a decision by Sacramento federal prosecutors to review corruption allegations that San Francisco federal prosecutors declined to pursue. The Sacramento review violates a deal, called a tolling agreement, between defense attorneys and the U. S. attorney's office in San Francisco that stopped the clock on the statute of limitations while the parties discussed the matter, the defense attorneys insist. That agreement does not extend to the Sacramento U. S. attorney's office and the statute of limitations now precludes prosecution, the attorneys claim.
  • Roll through a red, fork over the green

    03/02/2009 7:39:08 AM PST · by SmithL · 16 replies · 962+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/2/9 | Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross
    Like a lot of California drivers, Dave Soss just got a $490 lesson on how the state budget really works. It all began when Soss, who lives in the East Bay, was ticketed Feb. 1 for rolling through a red light while making a right turn in Emeryville - and was hit with what he called a "mind-blowing" penalty.For starters, there was the $100 base fine. Most of that goes to Emeryville, and the leftovers go to Alameda County. Then comes the real hit:-- A $100 state penalty - $70 of which is divvied up among a dozen programs, including...
  • Fair practices panel cracks down on political 'slush funds"

    01/15/2009 4:48:02 PM PST · by SmithL · 1 replies · 190+ views
    Oakland Tribune ^ | 1/15/9 | Josh Richman
    The California Fair Political Practices Commission enacted a new regulation today banning the kind of political committee fund transfers that former state Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata engaged in recently. Perata, D-Oakland, just after Election Day moved $1.5 million from his Leadership California committee — which had raised funds ostensibly to recall a state senator and to oppose a legislative redistricting reform ballot measure, among other things — into his legal defense fund, with which he's battling a years-long FBI corruption probe; he moved another $400,000 in early December. Long before these transfers, the FPPC had been considering cracking...
  • CA: Perata moves another $400,000 into his legal defense fund (PeRataGate .. Year 4 and counting)

    12/24/2008 8:56:27 AM PST · by NormsRevenge · 4 replies · 380+ views
    SFGate.com ^ | 12/24/08 | John Wildermuth
    Mickey, Donald, Pluto and Goofy are helping to keep Don Perata out of jail and they may not even know it. The Walt Disney Co. is one of a number of well-known groups and companies that has pumped money into the former Oakland state senator's "Leadership California" fund, which was put together in 2005 to raise money "to support or oppose state and local ballot measures and other lawful purposes." In the past year, that "other lawful purpose" has been stoking the cooling boiler of Perata's legal defense fund, which has paid out about $2 million to attorneys charged with...
  • Perata shifted $1.5 million from PAC to his legal defense

    12/10/2008 7:44:23 PM PST · by SmithL · 7 replies · 415+ views
    Oakland Tribune ^ | 12/10/8 | Josh Richman
    Contributors to Don Perata's political action committee this year might have thought their money would bankroll the attempted recall of state Sen. Jeff Denham or opposition to a legislative redistricting reform measure. But a day after the Nov. 4 election, and with only a few weeks left as state Senate President Pro Tem, the Oakland Democrat moved $1.5 million from Leadership California into his own legal defense fund, formed to counter a years-long FBI corruption probe. This sum dwarfs the California Democratic Party's $450,000 contribution to Perata's legal fund over the past year, which had caused an outcry from some...
  • Only job Perata ever wanted - Oakland mayor

    11/14/2008 8:06:13 AM PST · by SmithL · 16 replies · 377+ views
    San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/14/8 | Chip Johnson
    State Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata hasn't thrown his hat into the ring for the 2010 Oakland mayor's race, but he certainly performed a very nice jig around it in a radio interview this week. In a half-hour segment on KQED-FM's "Forum" show, the lame-duck East Bay senator was asked about his future - and said Oakland's top post had been a goal for much of his political career. "Ironically, the only job I've ever wanted was to be the mayor of Oakland," Perata, 63, who lives in the city, told host Michael Krasny. "And it may be the...
  • CA: Perata backs tax on cars, oil to bridge growing budget gap (at least it isn't diapers&bullets)

    11/05/2008 3:58:10 PM PST · by NormsRevenge · 20 replies · 705+ views
    Sac Bee ^ | 11/5/08 | Jim Sanders
    California faces a massive deficit even higher than projected in recent weeks - $11.2 billion this fiscal year -- Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata said Wednesday. Without immediate intervention, the nightmare could total an additional $13 billion next fiscal year, according to Perata, citing numbers he said came from the governor's office. The Oakland Democrat said the budget gap cannot be bridged by cuts alone, and that he supports raising revenues by restoring vehicle license fees and taxing offshore oil production. Together, the two tax proposals would generate about $7 billion per year - though considerably less in the...
  • CA: Perata says state may face 'another $15 billion to $18 billion deficit' (Big 5 to convene)

    10/07/2008 8:19:42 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 21 replies · 517+ views
    Capitol Weekly ^ | 10/7/08 | Anthony York
    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will meet with legislative leaders Wednesday to try to find ways to fill an immediate hole in this year’s budget that could be as large as $5 billion, according to estimates from Senate Leader Don Perata, D-Oakland. Perata said the deficit could swell to $15 billion or more by the middle of next year. The bleak outlook comes amid a weakening state economy and an unprecedented meltdown on Wall Street, which has pinched corporate and municipal credit. “The options are all bad,” Perata said Wednesday. “I am not very optimistic we will get a tax increase,” which...