Computer software giant, Oracle Corporation, convinced California Governor Gray Davis that if California awarded Oracle a $95 million no-bid contract, the state would save $16 million on database software through volume purchases.
Oracle, according to its website is, "The world's largest enterprise software company, providing enterprise software to the world's largest and most successful businesses."
Volume purchases and outsourcing are the bread-and-butter of most major information technology companies.
Here's the problem: According to an AP story by Steve Lawrence, an auditor for the state studied the situation and announced that rather than saving $16 million, the no-bid contract would actually cost the state $41 million more than if it went through a separate bidding procedure for each software purchase.
Gray Davis, as you know, is running for re-election for Governor.
Oracle donated $25,000 to Davis' re-election campaign. All right. I know what you're saying, "So what? Oracle is a California company and they decided to throw some money at Davis. Big deal."
A couple of points which make that particular donation more interesting is the fact that the check was delivered to the Davis campaign just days after the contract was signed. Still no big deal. Huge corporations have lots of left hands and lots of right hands and they almost never know what all those hands are doing.
But according to a National Public Radio report earlier this week, although the check was delivered in June, it was actually written (and dated) in March. Ok? See a pattern here? Write the check. Wave it around. Ask for the contract. Get the contract. Deliver the check.
Davis wants this whole thing to go away, so he has announced he would be returning the Oracle check.
But - as that guy who sells the citrus goop that takes the stains out of everything says on television - Wait! There's more!
The Attorney General of the Great State of California is a guy named Bill Lockyer. Lockyer is the legal genius who, even though Governor Davis is now claiming he KNEW Enron was cheating on electricity prices last summer and that he ALWAYS knew they were cheating, never thought to issue a subpoena to launch an investigation into that practice.
Ok, you say, State Attorneys General are busy people. There are cigarette manufacturers to sue. There are gun manufacturers to sue. There is always a Microsoft suit pending. So he didn't think of it. What does that have to do with Oracle?
That same AP story, notes that, unlike Governor Davis, Bill Lockyer is not returning a $25,000 contribution from Oracle. Nosireebob. He is returning a $50,000 donation from Oracle.
Knowing that Gray Davis is, at a minimum, an aggressive fund raiser, wouldn't you like to hear a tape of the conversation between Davis and his campaign finance staff when he found out they had given Lockyer twice as much?
The Attorney General said he was returning HIS check because "he didn't want the money to undermine the credibility of his investigation."
[Pause, as coffee spit onto computer keyboards across America is wiped up]
Davis, being the stand-up guy that he is, suspended a guy named Elias Cortez who is the Director of Information Technology for the state. In an LA Times article, reporter Nancy Vogel quotes Cortez, in testimony before a state legislative committee "as he leafed through documents at the hearing, 'This is the first time I've ever seen this contract.'"
[All right. I'll pause again. But from now on I'm going to include a warning label: Swallow Coffee Before Reading.]
Here's the Mullings suggestion for a new slogan: Vote For Davis. He Promises to do Better.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: Links to the AP Gray Davis story and the piece about the Director of Technology's testimony; and a pretty good "Catchy Caption of the Day."
If you are working at a lobbying firm, a government affairs office, a coalition, or a PAC you should take a
look at this page to see how advertising in Mullings might serve your organization very well:
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