Alta California: Governor Gray Davis Implicated in Bribery Case
by
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de AztlanLos Angeles, Alta California - October 29, 2002 - (ACN) New unsealed documents by a federal judge implicating Governor Gray Davis in a bribery case are no surprise considering that Davis has already received the reputation of being the most corrupt governor in the history of the state. Davis, in collusion with Enron and other energy industry thieves, has already turned an over 9 Billion state treasury surplus into a more than 12 Billion dollar deficit. This unprecedented robbery of the state's treasury will go down in history as the most brazen theft of taxpayers monies ever concocted by a dirty politician.
The despotic and greedy Davis has now been implicated in two unsealed letters by former Coastal Commissioner Mark Nathanson in a scheme to take bribes in return for government favors. The vote-buying scheme in the State Legislature was investigated by FBI undercover agents and resulted in convictions or guilty pleas from five sitting or former lawmakers. The letters were unsealed yesterday by U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton in Sacramento.
Gray Davis who attended swearing-in ceremonies in Los Angeles for new Police Chief William Bratton yesterday, hurried away without taking any questions from reporters. He said he had to attend a rally featuring President "Pardongate" Clinton.
Mark Nathanson wrote in his letters about a number of instances where Gray Davis approached him when he was a member of the California Coastal Commission to assist various friends and supporters of Davis who had matters pending before the coastal commission. Apparently there were a series of meetings between Nathanson and Davis at a Beverly Hills delicatessen. Nathanson said the two agreed upon a scheme in which Davis would take credit for the coastal commission's favorable treatment of their projects when asking developers and landowners for campaign contributions.
Gray Davis' fund-raising questionable practices have been the subject of many news articles throughout his campaign for a second term as governor . Davis has received $70 million dollars from many individuals who have done business with the state and, and most damning, from several whom Davis has appointed to state boards and commissions. Recently, Davis appointed the husband of U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein and the Israeli Haim Saban to the UC Board of Regents after both contributed millions to his campaign and to the Democratic National Committee.
The Davis Administration's policy of "pay-to-play" is extremely unfair to the state's 37% Mexican-American population who do not have the money and are unwilling to pay for government influence. Gray Davis, who the Jewish community calls "our Jewish governor", says he wants some day to run for president of the U.S.
Voters in Alta California are now in a real quandary. The two-party dictatorship does not provide a real choice of candidates. The Republican candidate has proven to be an incompetent. The best choice for Mexican-Americans in the long run would be to vote for Peter Camejo, candidate for governor of the Green Party.
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