Comment wasn’t cleared by party

A political consultant for the state Democratic Party did not have approval to release a statement attributed to party Chairman Art Torres in support of another client, a spokesman said Wednesday. The consultant, Sandi Polka, will remain on retainer with the party, the spokesman said.

Polka’s office released the statement after state Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) reported in a Jan. 31 public filing that the Democratic State Central Committee had contributed $200,000 to his legal defense fund. He set up the fund while facing a federal corruption probe that is continuing.

The statement, attributed to Torres and published in The Times, said: “The California Democratic Party isn’t about to let a politically motivated inquiry undermine the good work of one of our long-time leaders.”

Roger Salazar, the spokesman for Torres, said Wednesday that Torres had not seen or approved the statement before it was sent out, although Torres supports Perata because of his hard work helping other Democrats.

Polka’s company was paid $278,000 last year to work for the party, and she has separately been a paid consultant for Perata.

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-- Patrick McGreevy