Witness’ Memory Is Fuzzy on Oracle

Gov. Gray Davis’ former e-government director testified Wednesday that he couldn’t recall details surrounding the state’s ill-fated $95-million computer software contract with Oracle Corp., including the name of the bar where an Oracle lobbyist gave him a $25,000 check for the governor’s reelection just days after the state struck the deal.

Arun Baheti resigned earlier this month, after Davis learned that he accepted the money last June and sent it by overnight mail to Davis’ reelection campaign committee, in violation of the governor’s stated policy prohibiting aides from getting involved in political affairs.

Baheti, a lawyer and longtime aide to Davis, told the legislative committee investigating the Oracle deal that he had never taken any other donations on the governor’s behalf. But Baheti said he couldn’t remember whether he “was surprised or not” that Oracle lobbyist Ravi Mehta handed him the check.

Baheti testified that he and Mehta didn’t discuss campaign donations. Rather, they discussed policy related to software licensing and contracts, including at the dinner where Mehta presented him with the donation.

Davis press secretary Steve Maviglio said the governor learned about Baheti’s role this month when Baheti acknowledged that he had taken the check.

Baheti testified that he couldn’t recall where he first met Mehta or the number of times they had met, and he was vague on whether he knew Mehta planned to give him a donation after the licensing deal had been signed.

Under questioning by Assemblyman Rod Pacheco (R-Riverside), Baheti said the juxtaposition was “clearly wrong enough that I’m unemployed and sitting before your committee.”

“It can give the inappropriate appearance,” Baheti said, noting that a Davis campaign aide chastised him last year for getting involved in fund-raising.

Circumstances surrounding the Davis administration’s rushed decision to sign the Oracle contract have plagued the governor since the state auditor issued a highly critical report in April saying taxpayers could be saddled with as much as $41 million in extra costs. Oracle contends that the deal could save the state more than $100 million on its software purchases.

The audit noted that Logicon, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary, brokered the deal and stood to make $28 million even though it also had worked for the state Department of Information Technology, which took the lead in negotiating the contract.

Davis earlier this month suspended the department’s director, Elias Cortez, although Cortez continues to be paid his $120,000 salary. The governor also forced Barry Keene to resign as director of the Department of General Services, which was responsible for signing the contract.

As Davis’ director of e-government, Baheti said he met often with representatives of high-tech companies who were trying to sell software and equipment to the state. He testified that he was not among the boosters of the contract, although a previous witness and e-mails sent between aides to Davis described him as “hot to trot” on the deal.

Baheti said he was particularly concerned about Logicon’s involvement, but never raised those concerns with Davis or with the governor’s top two aides, Chief of Staff Lynn Schenk and Cabinet Secretary Susan Kennedy, in the days leading up to May 31 when the contract was signed.

Meanwhile, in earlier testimony, Republicans elicited during their questioning of Keene that the Gartner Group Inc., a consulting firm hired by the state to analyze the Oracle contract, also has done business with Oracle and Logicon, as well as with Koch Financial, which helped provide financing for the $95-million deal.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee began after 4 p.m. Wednesday, and was expected to continue receiving testimony into the night. The committee is scheduled to continue hearing testimony today.