Democrats are total unabashed hypocrites. Investigate Republicans, protect Democrats. Isn't it obvious, they are hurting the country witht their petty partisanship.
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Democrats try to block tough questions during Oracle hearing
By Jim Wasserman
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO - Legislative Democrats tried unsuccessfully Tuesday to block aggressive questioning of a high Davis administration official after she began contradicting her boss' testimony about origins of a contract with Oracle Corp.
Kim Heartley-Humphrey, deputy director for acquisition in the Department of Information Technology, said suspended Director Elias Cortez knew of a survey in which only eight of 127 state agencies expressed interest in Oracle software.
In earlier hearings into the Oracle contract, Cortez told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee he didn't know of a survey indicating little agency interest in Oracle's proposal. Heartley-Humphrey, when asked by Chairman and Assemblyman Dean Florez, D-Shafter, if she knew Cortez denied knowledge of the survey, said: ``I did share the information with him.''
Heartley-Humphrey also said Cortez knew of the survey during a 2001 meeting with an Oracle vendor, Logicon Inc. ``I don't recall if he knew before, but he definitely knew during the meeting.''
The pointed line of questioning spurred protests from committee members, including Sen. Steve Peace, D-El Cajon, who expressed fears the group was venturing beyond its legal authority.
The impasse stalled the committee's work for nearly an hour, as factions of Democrats and Republicans argued over their role and the political ramifications of extended hearings in an election year.
Peace suggested that continuing hearings into June -- as is now planned by Florez -- would play into Republican political agendas to embarrass Gov. Gray Davis. Other members also hinted at possible compromises of a criminal investigation being conducted by the state attorney general's office.
Though questioning of Heartley-Humphrey eventually resumed, Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-San Fernando, said, ``I want to publicly dissociate myself with any actions that may cause the undermining of an investigation and get to the real core of this issue.''
Likewise, Assemblywoman Hannah Beth-Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, a former district attorney, said, ``Having served on this committee for four years, this is the first time we have done anything so extraordinary.'' She proposed getting an opinion from the Legislature's legal office, ``to ensure what we are doing doesn't affect further investigation.''
A proposal by Peace to put time limits on questioning was overwhelmingly rejected by the committee.
At issue is a $95 million, no-bid contract initially touted as a way to save at least $16 million through volume purchases of database software. But the state auditor says the deal could end up costing up to $41 million more than if the state had kept its previous software supply arrangements.
Davis' campaign committee received a $25,000 contribution from Oracle a few days after the contract was signed last May 31. The governor and Oracle officials have denied any link between the donation and the contract, but Davis has returned the donation. State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, investigating the state's Oracle contract, has also returned a $50,000 Oracle donation.
In her testimony, Heartly-Humphrey said Cortez belittled her concerns about the value of the proposed deal with Oracle.
``As I expressed my concerns about moving forward on this initiative Director Cortez said I needed to start thinking outside the box and not like a bureaucrat,'' she said. ``I was offended.''
At another point, Heartly-Humphrey was asked about an e-mail exchange between employees at Oracle and a firm that was advising the state on software purchases while working as an Oracle vendor, Logicon Inc.
The e-mail writer said he planned on giving Heartly-Humphrey ``the least amount of information possible'' relating to the deal, apparently because of her opposition and tendency to question. ``At this point giving too much information can only be a bad thing.''
``Was Logicon hiding the ball on you?'' asked Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside.
``It appears that way,'' Heartley-Humphrey said.
The committee plans several more days of hearings, tentatively scheduled May 21 and 22 and June 4 and 5, to question Davis aides and representatives of Oracle, Oracle vendor Logicon Inc. and Koch Financial, a third-party lender that has paid $52.7 million to Oracle and Logicon on the state's behalf.
The committee has also asked the governor's office for e-mail, phone logs, transcripts of meetings and calendar entries relating to the contract, some of them involving Davis.
In addition, Florez wants to expand the probe to look at no-bid contracts in general and at a second state contracting method that allows agencies to pick from a previously approved list of technology suppliers. He plans to ask the committee to approve a study by the state auditor of those two contracting methods.
Meanwhile, Tuesday, Davis proposed a $2.8 million cut in the Department of Information Technology. ``We have reduced the budget by about 30 percent,'' Davis said as he announced revisions to his 2002-2003 budget.
Davis said he still believes an agency is necessary to oversee the state's technology purchases, but ``clearly, we need to rethink the one that's there now.'' His revisions also included a provision requiring the state Department of Finance to notify the Legislature before a department begins or changes a statewide software contract greater than $1.5 million.
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