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California to Cancel Oracle Deal
ShaunC writes "Back in mid-April, the state of California bought $95M worth of Oracle software, which turned out to include more licenses than the state has employees, at a taxpayer cost of $41M more than necessary. Now, CNet is reporting that the contract is being cancelled. Oracle apparently made a $25K donation to governor Gray Davis' campaign fund after the sale was made, several state officials have been suspended, and a criminal investigation into the deal is already underway."
what a surprise, big corporations patting big corporations.. ooops I'm sorry.. the government on the back. same thing. XburnX
Heads are rolling and arses being kicked, but I bet the tax payer has to dig yet deeper to pay for bailing out of the contract.
i wonder if the deal included solar panels to keep those oracle boxes crash-proof?
How does one, exactly, "undo" a contract for millions of dollars worth of software licenses? Seems like a very sticky legal situtation. Especially since "There are some parts that have already moved forward."
And how is CA doing this, when Oracle says "they must have been talking to themselves because we didn't know about it"?
The contract became a political hot potato when...
Mmmm, pass the butter please!
Attention all planets of the Solar Federation! We have assumed control! - Neil Peart
"Oracle apparently made a $25K donation to governor Gray Davis' campaign fund after the sale was made, several state officials have been suspended, and a criminal investigation into the deal is already underway."
If anyone really thinks that a $25k donation would have anything to do with a $95,000,000.00 deal for software, they need to get reacquainted with reality. $25k is nothing unusual. It's a Red Herring, and doesn't belong in an informed discussion on the Oracle/California mess.
I live in CA and I'm curious about where that money will now go. Back to the treasury? It's already been budgeted... maybe we could invest in some Savings and Loans project?
Well, this should all be quite humorous.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
a plan comes together. Politicians getting caught red handed by the media and the citizens. This is how it's supposed to work folks! :)
Error: Success
$25,000 is A LOT to give any politician from a single company, ESPECIALY at the state level.
I mean govonerships are won with less that 5 million dollors, and most of the time I bet it is less that 2 million.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Oh right, just in case CNET NEWS.COM is slashdotted. Gimme a break, mod down this whore!
Bitchslapped. Neat.
Our politicians are crooked because all of them are funded by corporations who do their bidding.
And our corporations are crooked because all of them are backed by politicians who do their bidding.
Sounds like we need some fundamental changes in our financial policy.
-Evan
Back in mid-April, the state of California bought $95M worth of Oracle software, which turned out to include more licenses than the state has employees, at a taxpayer cost of $41M more than necessary.
I'm just waiting for the inevitable SPA Audit.
Mod Karma -1: I sed bad wurds. If I cep my mouf shut, I wud be at riyses.
To quote Typing of the Dead:
"How could anyone do this?"
graspee
It would be interesting to know what exactly were they supposed to license and if there are competetitive OSS replacement available. $95 million is a lot of money. And if you could save this by taking a collection of opensource solution instead, maybe paying just $20 million for product support (which might have be included in the Oracle deal licenses)...
I mean, sincerely they must also have some real need for the licenses, some company should recognise this great change to make big money using OSS derivates and support. With all the fuss in the air, the climate could be perfect to hit using OSS artillery and reasoning.
$25k is chump change in a california governor race. Remember, the amount of money coming into a state race is proprtional to the wealth of the state (california wealthies) and the importance of the state to the political parties (california pretty desirable nationally). I'd be surprised if there weren't many companies giving $25k or more.
What does the number of employees have to do with the number of licenses? The last time I checked, Oracle was licensed on a per server basis, not on who uses it...
Also, I'm going to assume that there are far fewer servers in the CA gov't than there are employees, and if so, then someone made a made a REALLY big error in budgeting. Of course, we are the country that paid $43,000 for a screwdriver and that sort of thing, so who knows?
Rule #1 -- Politics always trumps technology.
I thought it was highly amusing that when I went to the news story, the article was carrying an Oracle advert. Refresh the page a few times if you don't see it first time.
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
ok, ok.. offtopic
Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
Yikes. Every time I get a call from my father suggesting Oracle stock, I procrastinate, and they take another hit. It's getting like Qwest with these people. It's a tempting buy, but...where's the bottom, already?
I agree with this post.
how many give it after they get a sweet deal from the state?
Most large enterprise license deals are financed... even if you can afford to pay it upfront. Time value of money, yada yada. But more to this issue, there hasn't been any money change hands yet, at least between the state and Oracle. The contract was partially paid for by a finance company to Oracle, and the first payment (from CA) was due sometime this year. Regardless, the taxpayer is going to get stuck with some bill to get out of this deal.
If the investigation leads to a finding that the contract was part of a bribe, the contract could be nullified due to being based on a criminal act. The taxpayers will most definitely pay for any multi-million dollar trials, but Oracle may not be able to sue for breach of contract if a court finds the contract was signed for a bribe.
Developers: We can use your help.
...this is why many people advocate public funding of political campaigns. There is the free speach argument...but I hear they are making weapons out of high-enegry sound waves...like anything...where do you draw the line.
I want to be alone with the sandwich
It's _OUR_ faults. We're the ones that keep reelecting these crooks. The general public is apathetic and doesn't care to spend any time researching candidates. Instead, they'll get all the information they need from commercials. Heck, we elected a president that in no way, shape, or form has hidden his ownership by corporate America at any time in the past or present. If we want to change our country for the better, _WE_ have to do something about it instead of sitting back and blaming someone else.
Gray Davis, or whomever is really behind this, will get off. The little guy who accepted the contribution might take a fall. Inevitably, there will be a smoke/mirrors show, until the media has determined its no longer viable as a story, then Davis will get re-elected, etc.
Hell, anyone remember Chandra Levy? You can get away with murder (no pun intended) in this country as long as you keep quiet when the Sh*t hits the fan, lay low, then quietly pretend it didn't happen.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
So:
Huge corporate donation after state gives same corporation business is a crime.
Huge corporate donation before state gives same corporation business is okay.
Makes sense to me.
Where are we going and why am I in this handbasket?
That is just Ellison arrogance that has trickled down to people under him.
Click here or here.
Yes, the blonde who was responsible for reviewing the contract did not read it. She admitted yesterday she was pressured and did not have time to read it.
Umm lets see, hey boss man I dont have time to turn the cooling on for reactor 9 the guys are pressuring me to go play poker!
Sick of stupidity? http://www.patentlystupid.com
Ellison gets bad press for being big brother, IBM pulling ahead of Oracle, and now this. It's good to see some other players get ahead in the market. I never much cared for Oracle software. Ok, Microsoft is evil blah blah, but I think SQL Server's management tools are pretty swell. Alas, SQL Server only comes on Windows.
;)
Then again, SQL*Plus is pretty cool
To be on topic: this deal was fishy on many fronts:
- More Oracle licenses than state workers
- Not just a third party (Logicon), but a fourth party (Koch Financial Services) was involved
- The contract was signed last May, but the software is still not in use. You spent $95 million to sit on software licenses?
- Finally, the sales tax issue already mentioned
We can only hope that $95 million dollars worth of state officials are ousted.Since the state bought them, they are theirs. I wonder if Oracles EULA would permit resale of the excess. I would be willing to pay Cali 10 cents on the dollar or less for a Oracle license. They could put them up on Ebay....
Sorry about the writing. Robot fingers, you know? Cliff Steele in DOOM PATROL #23
You mean, they can't just issue a ROLLBACK?
What the hell were they paying Oracle for, then?!
That was not a troll. He was making the point that CA debating database (or any other) technology is premature when they lack the infrastructure to provide utilities that most of the first world takes for granted.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
>>The state's negotiators were no match for the professionals at Oracle, according to a state auditor's report, which highlighted several aspects of the contract that it found objectionable. For example, the report noted that the six-year term was unusually long in an industry with rapidly changing technology, that the state wasn't protected in the event Oracle lowered its prices and that the purchase price didn't include software upgrades.
Wow, I know that government agencies can get stooped over on large contracts with technology vendors, but god, I'm honestly shocked that that deal got pushed through, normally theres multiple "sign offs".....nobody, NOBODY saw that this was a shaky deal?? LOL Especially for the price tag involved
Sehr geehrter Toilettenbenutzer!
I'm not much of a political activist but sometimes I feel that way more and more. Is it a sign of age?
Corporations in many respects are legally a 'person.' (Maybe that's the best argument against the splitting of Microsoft... but then again, maybe Bill Gates should be drawn and quartered...) But the similarities end when accountability is the issue. Everyone starts pointing fingers in a system where you're innocent until proven guilty (but only when you have an effective attorney) a lot of the time, the real guilty people go free.
(Corporations == identity shelters?)
But the problem is that these entities are giving money to politicians to support their interests. That just seems inherently wrong. What point of view (seriously, I ask) could spin this situation in a positive way? The leaders of our country should be focused on the good of the whole nation without particular parties attempting to muscle their influence at the cost of others in various ways. Okay, I speak in ideals here and I guess that's not very reasonable, but there was a time when our leaders weren't paid and acted for the priviledge of leading our people to success and freedom. Now they're paid...voting themselves raises, converting their campaign funds into cash when they retire.
It's out of control.
"Oracle apparently made a $25K donation to governor Gray Davis' campaign fund after the sale was made".
Just like that the Governor is screwd. Voters in that state KNOW he not only fucked up but was paid to do. That's when you cross the line from being a bumbling morun to being a crook.
In Jamaica by on the other hand (where I live) We had a series of contracts go sour at taxpayers expense to a very small grupe of contractors. There is rampant speculation that these contractors contribute a sizeble portion of these overpayments to the ruling party but there is no actual proff.
You see around here campaign financing is done in secret.
--= Isn't it surprising how badly I spell ?
Knowing how goverment entities work, most like they bail out of the $41M deal, pay $25M for what they need and then pay $30M penalty for backing out.
For the fine burgers of California to switch to a real database.
ich bin der musikant
mit taschenrechner in der hand
kraftwerk
Is CA now looking for an alternative to Oracle? Looks like this might be an opportunity for free software to come to the rescue.
Could Oracle Deal Put Simon Back On The Map? ... if their tax dollars are being wasted through gross incompetence -- or worse, being used to facilitate corruption."
... and takes Gray Davis off message. At a minimum, this is a godsend [to Simon]."
...
San Francisco Chronicle's Marinucci reports, Davis has run into "what Republicans hope will become the 'perfect storm' of campaign issues" for Simon. At issue is a $95M no-bid deal Oracle Corp. signed with the state that "could cost taxpayers $41 million" in "unnecessary charges." Making matters worse: a $25K campaign contribution from Oracle to Davis "handed over" to a Davis adviser "in a bar while the contract was being negotiated last spring." Making matters even worse: Reports of shredding of documents related to the contract by "state bureaucrats." The news found Simon "seizing the offensive for the first time," charging in a presser that "the scent of scandal surrounding this administration is growing." Although AG Bill Lockyer (D) is investigating, Simon said "more needed to be done." Simon: The dots are starting to be connected, and they paint a very troubling picture. Californians have a right and a need to know
Davis denied "allegations of impropriety, saying he did not know of the Oracle deal or the company's campaign contribution." And the "top three" Davis admin. officials "in charge of the contract have resigned, been fired or placed on suspension" (5/5).
About That Donation
The Davis camp "reported receiving a $25,000 donation from Oracle" 6/5/01, "Days after the contract was finalized. But Arun Baheti, the governor's director of e-government, told top Davis aides that he accepted the $25,000 check from an Oracle lobbyists before the negotiations were complete and mailed it to the campaign. The check had a March date." An Oracle spokesperson said the donation came from an April tech event "hosted by Davis that was attended by roughly 30 companies." Oracle said delivery of the check was "apparently delayed" and was "unrelated to the state contract" (Bustillo/Tamaki, Los Angeles Times, 5/6).
Just The Beginning? Or Going Nowhere?
Observers say the Oracle deal "could reinforce reservations that voters have expressed about Davis' fund-raising practices." GOP strategist Dan Schnur: "This Oracle mess is taking place in the middle of a budget crisis. It's easy to see how tens of millions in wasted money could have been spent on programs that Davis is cutting." And Simon -- to GOPers "glee -- made exactly that point when he lambasted the governor." Simon: "The money wasted on this Oracle contract could have paid for thousands of teachers, textbooks or lunches for needy children."
Berkeley prof. Bruce Cain said the Oracle story "shifts the media's attention from Simon's recent gaffes on such issues as whether he paid state taxes to the growing Oracle scandal." Cain: "[It] allowed him to go on the offense
Simon's aggressive stance "coincides with a decision to reach out to some seasoned political operatives with track records on aggressive campaigns." Simon has hired ex-Gov. Pete Wilson (R) spokesperson Sean Walsh; ex-spokesperson for Sec/State Bill Jones (R), Rob Lapsley; and researcher Mark Bogetich -- "a team that with little money, landed the toughest punches on Davis through the primary."
Walsh: "Every time that reporters and other people are turning over rocks, there are a lot of cockroaches running -- and they're all running for the center of the Capitol. And I see Bill Simon holding a big can of Raid" (Marinucci, San Francisco Chronicle, 5/5).
Said Schnur "after highway patrol officers descended on state offices" 5/2 to "prevent document destruction, no politician likes to see his name in the same headline as the word 'shredder'" (Chance, Sacramento Bee, 5/5).
NRCC Chair Rep. Tom Davis: "Gray Davis is in bad shape in terms of his personal popularity and voters wanting a change. But whether Simon's the guy to do it or not, we'll have to see" ("Capital Gang," CNN, 5/4).
Simon Dying To Get To This Guy
Simon said he "wants to see" Davis manager Garry South "on the witness stand regarding the timing of the $25,000 contribution," an idea Joint Legislative Audit Cmte chair Dean Florez (D) "quickly dismissed as ridiculous and politically motivated" (Bustillo/Tamaki, Los Angeles Times, 5/6).
Davis Offers His Take
Davis said his admin "has opened talks to scrap" the $95M deal with Oracle, "which he insisted was approved without his knowledge. He also took credit for removing three state officials who promoted or signed off on the much-criticized deal." Davis: "I had no idea this contract was being negotiated. I think most of you know I'm barely on the information on-ramp, much less proficient in technology. So this is not a matter that would normally come to my attention, nor did it." Davis "acknowledged his reputation for keeping a tight reign on his" admin., but "said he only micro-manages 'what's on my plate'" (Sweeney, Copley News Service, 5/4).
What Will The Leg. Do?
Capitol Dems were placed in a "precarious position" by the news of the Oracle deal, "requiring them to react forcefully or face" GOP "criticisms that they are protecting their governor." GOPers have "already asked the federal government to conduct its own Oracle investigation, arguing that" Lockyer, "whom Davis asked to investigate the matter, cannot be impartial because he accepted $50,000 from the software maker in recent months." State Sen. Ray Haynes (R): "If they pursue this with the same vigor they pursued [former Insurance Commissioner Chuck] Quackenbush [R], I think we could compliment them and say they did good work, If they don't, then we go through a partisan drill that is nothing more than window dressing. That's going to be the test" (Bustillo/Tamaki, Los Angeles Times, 5/6).
The cmte today will take testimony from "key administration witnesses" (Chance, Sacramento Bee, 5/5).
No Surprise, Oracle Very Influential
San Francisco Chronicle's Salladay reports, Oracle has worked had to channel "its major campaign contributions to a select few" CA pols "wielding the most power over its livelihood." Almost "every elected official" who has received money from Oracle "has some measure of control over Oracle government business, or held influence over the $95 million software contract that has embarrassed the company" and Davis. Davis and Oracle are now working together to "cancel the contract" (5/6).
State Cabinet Sec. Susan Kennedy: "If somebody comes to you and says, 'I need something and it has to be right now,' the answer is 'No.'" Kennedy said she broke that "cardinal rule" when she put her signature on a "governor's action request" (GAR) that "gave the green light for the apparently overpriced software contract with Oracle Corp." Kennedy was presented with the GAR 5/31, the "three-page memo concluded" with a sense of "urgency, emphasizing 'the short window of opportunity.'" The "state fell for it and immediately signed" the deal. Kennedy said she "assumed all the advertised benefits had been checked out -- or would be -- by the other GAR signatories. They weren't" (Skelton, Los Angeles Times, 5/6).
my sig is an honor student
I'll Trade you $25,000 for $95,000,000!! What a DEAL!!!
"The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS
if the gartner group is correct, and licensing is only 8% of the total cost of using software, then california would have had a slightly larger bill to pay in the end. not $95M but $1,187 M:)
perhaps they read the recent letter from Nunez to Microsoft, wherein this 8% rule is writ large..?
nalfy.
-- Despair is an operating system that ANY human being can run, sort of a psychological JAVA --
Ugarte: Rick, think of all the poor devils who can't meet Renault's price. I get it for them for half. Is that so.... parasitic?
Rick Blaine: I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.
All the reports mention that the licenses that they bought were *DATABASE* licenses.
Is it possible that they could be Oracle application licenses ?
I don't believe that not one person could have a clue.
See, Microsoft isn't the only greedy software company out there!
I wouldn't blame Oracle entirely. I work for a state government and we have to justify every penny.
There was someone asleep at the switch on this one. It's a deal similar to the 800 hours of AOL for only $10 more than the 700 hour deal.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
To make it that much worse for Oracle, IBM has just ousted them as the number one seller of database software. To put that in further perspective, they are losing market share to Micro$oft as well! The company is downplaying it, of course, and no word from Mr. Arroga^H^H^H^H^H^H Ellison yet.
libertarianswag.com
With California as EMI, and Oracle as the Sex Pisols (or Mariah Carey). Filthy Lucre!
$25,000 is A LOT to give any politician from a single company, ESPECIALY at the state level.
.001% in the Governor's race.
I mean govonerships are won with less that 5 million dollors, and most of the time I bet it is less that 2 million.
You're either from a small state or misinformed. Tony Sanchez raised over $18 million just for the primary election to win the Democratic spot on Texas' gubernatorial ballot this Fall. Large portions of it were self-financed or raised from his banker friends.
Marty Akins raised $2.975 million for his bid for the Democratic spot for State Comptroller in the primaries. If you live in a large state, you'll see large-scale campaign spending is the norm, and that $25,000 would be less than 1% in the Comptroller's race and around
There are scandals in Japan over the same problem. Is no logical that in a Democracy where a company can NOT vote, CAN donate money. That is the reason that a company donate money??. Obviously the secrets favors...
Aproximently 35M changed hands from Logicon to Oracle, so 7.25% of that is around 2.5M, alot closer to 3 Million.
Secondly have you ever negotiated 95Million dollar deals. You dont just write out a check, you finance the deal, hence you go to a large lender (ie Koch Financial services).
I mod down any one who says "I'm sure I will get modded down for this"
Gray Davis' total campaign warchest is over $35 million, and he's actively seeking out more at all times.
California has some of the nation's most expensive media markets, and a population that's not terribly enthused about politics.
As a result, heavy advertising is the name of the game - and it's expensive to the extreme.
D
That's UNPOSSIBLE!
The investigation will cost tax payers approximately 100 million dollars, which will be revealed by an opposition govt spokesman just before the next election.
Analytic & algebraic topology of locally Euclidean meterization of infinitely differentiable Riemmanian manifold
The first thing I get in google when I search for "governor Gray Davis" is a link that says "
Unpopular governor leads race, poll shows"
Last I heard Oracle was, probably for PR reasons if not goodwill, going to let the state off the hook, same for Logicon which negotiated the *cough* no bid *cough* contract.
There's other fun fish to fry for California, if you've not heard, Enron documents detailing the strategy to screw California by playing shell games with power, actually written in 2000 by Enron lawyers. What a mess.
BTW, trying to find the smoking-gun-memo on FERC I got this It's December 3869, do you know how to set a system clock?
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I don't usually respond to this increasingly prevalent little piece of misinformation, but I'm in a particularly cranky mood. Basically, you're flat out fuckin' wrong! The ideas you're spreading about the responsibilities of corporations has absolutley no basis in fact. A publically held company is free to commit whatever manner of goodwill and charity it's officers fancy. There is not a contractual obligation to maximize profits with a total disregard to all else. A company is not legally obligated to disregard the ethical considerations if those considerations might hamper profits. Your vision of a corporation is a convenient strawman setup for an easy attack by those incapable of honest and forthright debate.
Further, donations are protected speech in the U.S. Don't like it? Tough! Go whine to the Supreme Court.
Versus what? There are no other parties that are worth supporting.
is dealing with our horrible politicians...
Oracle apparently made a $25K donation to governor Gray Davis' campaign fund after the sale was made...
This is true, but misleading, because the money was received by the head of the Dep't of Information Technology, not Davis himself, nor his campaign fund directly. The contract appears to have been completely mishandled, and perhaps manipulated, by the governor's cabinet, the CA Dep't of Information Technology, and its head, Elias Cortez, who's already been suspended pending the current investigations. Cabinet secretaries involved have already resigned, embarassed at their lack of proper review of the contract. There appears to be some malfeasance on the part of software advisors to the state who made money on the deal, and $25K & $50K campaign checks that've been making the rounds to one & all. It's all available in the latest article on the deal. All in all a dirty deal, but I don't see where Davis, even though he was the Governor, could have had any precognition of the stupidity going on in the lower halls of the government before the deal was completed.
Despite GOP willingness to paint with as broad a brush as possible in an election year, Davis appears not to have known much about the deal until it hit the news, about when /. first reported it. Since then, it's been his own office working with the Assembly that've sought to find out what happened.
Think about it. The Governor does not personally handle or approve all software purchases, nor should he. There appears to be quite a bit of crooked behavior on the part of Oracle and the leaders of the CA Dep't of IT, as well as a lack of proper review by those overseeing the department, and Davis is looking into it with the Assembly. If anyone finds evidence that Davis was a part of the deal then sure, nail his ass to the wall, but don't make insinuations there's no evidence for. That just cheapens the discussion, and ignores the fact that it is Davis who began the investigations, Davis who sent in the CA Highway Patrol to stop document shredding at the Dep't of IT, and Davis who's asked for and received the resignations of 3 top cabinet officials for failing to do a proper review of the deal. I don't mind disagreeing on political issues, but corruption in the governor's chair is a serious charge that requires more than non-evidence.
Oh, and his opponent, Bill Simon, saying that the oracle deal takes food out of the mouths of children is rich. This guy wants to gut children's services, make abortion illegal, and stop state tracking of all racial data regarding education, health care, etc. I guess if you don't want to solve a problem, you start by ignoring it.
The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.
I'm not entirely sure why the general populace of this good republic of California and the rest of the country sees $25K and starts screaming "SCANDAL! SCANDAL!"
$25,000 in this modern age of politics won't go very far. As far as kickbacks go, most politicos (and their "contributors") are smarter than to make a direct payment like this.
Its the government. Its supposed to make stupid purchases. C'mon -- thats $96M (+ related hardware/installation expenses) right into CA's dotbom economy...lighten up.
This isn't the first time Gray Davis has stolen money from taxpayers. Last summer he spent $12 BILLION DOLLARS paying $9.00 per killowatt because of some lame energy crisis. Now this year that $12 BILLION has to come from somewhere, and education gets cut. And he's running for re-election???
I second that. This was not a dig against oracle's db, but against the same state government which signed the oracle contract. Seeing a pattern between lousy/corrupt power buying and lousy/corrupt software contracts is certainly valid for this discussion.
its about time!
those theiving bastards at oracle and their power units! may karma quash them like the over grown parasites they are!
HAIL MySQL!
Here's how you do it. Don't reform campaign finance. That's a red herring, and as you said, it's a free speech issue. Reform the electoral process. Motivate officials to be honest by making the possibility of being voted out a real threat. In the US House, incumbents are reelected like 98% of the time. That's insane.
The system needs to be opened up to challengers, to new ideas, new faces. Right now the Duopoly makes the election laws, so it's not surprising they favor incumbents. Nobody but a Democrat or Republican has a chance, and this is by design.
Freedom of conscience must be restored. If you can't safely vote how you truly feel, then the system is fundamentally flawed. The "wasted vote" problem must be eliminated.
To do this, we must realize that plurality voting is broken, and Condorcet voting must be implemented. It is the only system that is proven to be strategy free and truly express the preferences of the electorate.
Additionally, in presidential elections, the EC votes should not be allocated on a winner-take-all basis, but by district as intended. (You thought the correlation between EC votes and members of Congress was coincidence?)
Work locally. Get active in a minor political party, it doesn't matter which one. In this area (election reform), most have the same goal — fairness. Get these reforms in county and state government. Run for office, and ask why your RepuDem opponents haven't implemented fair voting yet. Educate the electorate about the deficiencies of the system, and how Condorcet is fair to everyone.
Constitutionally Correct
...for anyone other than an individual taxpayer citizen who has no criminal record to make campaign contributions. Violators on both the giving and receiving sides must be punished by prison time.
Great!
Now, if only the same could happen to those (now) state senators who have sold their constituency to the power pirates of Enron, Reliant and Southern, I'd be a happy dude.
Because the state received bribes from Oracle, accepted them, but then said, "Neener neener neener, you megolmaniacal piece of crap. Your national paranoia will not avail you here. Go back to the shadows, servant of Redmond!" and gave them the finger?
Sure, there's the matter of the deal and all. But c'mon, we should be cheering CA on for taking Oracle's money and running. If corporations can buy officials (See Senator Disney), then, why can't officials take advantage of corporations?
Let these massive companies play by the same rules that every other consumer does - Caveat Emptor.
When you're talking about a 95 million dollar deal, Davis had better know what's going on. It is utterly rediculous to claim Davis is innocent of anything after he obviously paid no attention to what was going on in HIS administration. HE is ultimately responsible for what happens. If we're talking a minor software deal, I agree, he really has nothing to do with it. But if he wasn't invloved in a 95 million dollar deal, at least at the oversight level, then he is to blame. He did do the right thing when he found out what had happened, but it never should have happened in the first place.
This, combined with the way he mis-managed the energy crisis does not make me feel comfortable with him as governor of my state. After the year we had in San Diego before the rest of the state was de-regulated, Sacromento should have known what was coming. What happened to California, where have all the "good" politicians gone?
My problem with Simon is that he's never held office before, and I'm afraid that he just wouldn't be able to handle the politics of Sacromento, even without his policies. Simon isn't naturally incompetent, like Davis is, but he does have some unusual ideas that most people can't understand. He doesn't know politics very well and he shouldn't be running for governor before he starts somewhere else. That and he's far too conservative to be elected in California (I think that goes without saying).
However, Oracle has more than 10k employees in CA, so the 25k donation amounts 2.5 per employee. By that calculation, a 10 employee company donating 30 would have done bigger donation than oracle. Contract or no contract, Oracle and other large companies do make donations of comparable size all the time (specially, when you account for things like, size of company, their main state where HQ is located, etc...)
Microsoft has been overcharging for years... it's not just Oracle.
I'm surprised Gray-Out Davis could be bought for so little green. A month or so ago, he got over $251K from the California Prison Guard Association after he shut down five privately-run prisons that were saving the State money, and approved a 33% increase in their salaries. This while the State is running in deficit thanks to his stoopid energy dealings.
1) CA bought more licences than it has employees, thus they overpaid.
Is there any counter-argument for this? Like they had to exceed a certain user limit to qualify for a better total price, or there were expecting to make non-employees users (letting CA citizens look things up at the library, or the DMV, or ...)?
Did the large licence mean the state saved money by not having to keep track of who was using what?
2) The state didn't put the contract out for bidding, therefore they overpaid.
The state must have listed the reasons for single-sourcing. What are they specifically?
Finally,
3) The state paid millions of dollars for the licence(s), and the auditor says they overpaid.
Did the state pay more than a large corporation would for a similar setup?
--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
They press the world's largest CTRL-Z.
--Pat / zippy@cs.brandeis.edu
Former (thankfully) Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell recieved donations from Oracle as well, then had Spectronics purchase spend millions of dollars of Oracle software to be used at the Atlanta airport. The deal was put together by an associate of Campbell's who took money from Spectronics. Spectronics also gave Campbell money for his campaign, laundering it through a drug treatment center. Spectronics was rewarded when the city forced MediaOne to resolve a legal dispute with the company. Spectronics also received money from the city for setting up the Oracle deal - but an audit team was never able to find the Oracle software Spectronics was paid to buy. Most of the Spectronics executives were convicted of fraud, as were a lot of the mayor's employees, but the mayor himself charged the world with being racist and escaped without a scratch. Oracle was not charged with any crimes either, but I'm not personally sure the company is entirely innocent.
Also see Online Athens and Creative Loafing.
== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign ====
Here is a link to the California Attorney General Campaign Finance info on Oracle. Isn't the internet great! If you really want to question reality, look here and wonder why a) the teacher's union is out-contributing Gov. Davis's own party and b) Why do they have an opinion on Indian Gaming?!
VARY interesting indeed!
Perhaps this could be a good thing.