It is about time.  Link Fixed

www.eastbayexpress.com/news/perata_may_be_indicted_soon/Content?oid=785462

YOUR LINK doesnt work but thats good welcoming news for Perata.

www.eastbayexpress.com/news/perata_may_be_indicted_soon/Content?oid=785462

I think that I found it. F that A-hole!

Maybe try to copy and paste this:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/news/perata_may_be_indicted_soon/Content?oid=785462

I hope that turd gets what he deserves.

F him and those 22inch rims he rolls on in Oakland.

Music to my ears. I bit of poetic justice for the most anti-gun legislator in the history of Calif Senate.

Great news!

Hopefully Fabs (Fabian) is next.

The time to take out the trash is long overdue.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

Quoted: Hopefully the fed's will hammer the guy. There's no chance that the California legislature would hold him accountable for his crimes. One down and a whole bunch to go. As long as the socialist wander around thinking that this is actually a socialist state and no longer subject to the laws these turds will continue to get knocked off. Personally I'd like to throw about 75% of them to the curb along with the voters than continue to re-elect them based solely on name recognition.

Seems like these f'cks run the state like a little fiefdom.

Yeah, I think the feds are going to come down on the good senator like the Wikipedia - Sword of Damocles

I hope jury in trial give Perata nice long prison sentence...............Give him new job making furnture for a federal govenment

Quoted: Give him new job making furnture for a federal govenment

How about making license plates?

  Even with indicment he's still arogant.  I don't know if you guys saw the news video clip but talk about an attitude.  That would make one less scumbag for the gun owners to deal with and for the decent folks in this state.

Quoted: Hopefully the fed's will hammer the guy. There's no chance that the California legislature would hold him accountable for his crimes. One down and a whole bunch to go. As long as the socialist wander around thinking that this is actually a socialist state and no longer subject to the laws these turds will continue to get knocked off. Personally I'd like to throw about 75% of them to the curb along with the voters than continue to re-elect them based solely on name recognition.

A man after my own heart.  If I had my way, they'd get tarred and feathered on the broadcast news as well.

Here are the latest allegations against the embattled politician. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
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www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/20/MNFA11RNMU.DTL


Perata donor's pet road at center of probe

Susan Sward,Lance Williams, Chronicle Staff Writers

Monday, July 21, 2008

State Sen. Don Perata

(07-20) 20:00 PDT -- The FBI is investigating state Sen. Don Perata's role in the hiring of a Washington lobbyist to push for a road project sought by a major Perata contributor, documents show.

At the urging of the powerful Oakland Democrat, local agencies in 2000 hired former Georgia Rep. Dawson Mathis to lobby the Federal Aviation Administration regarding a multimillion-dollar expressway that today links Oakland International Airport with the Harbor Bay Business Park in Alameda.

The park's developer, Ron Cowan, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Perata and other politicians, and for years he had sought this access road.

Mathis' hiring to the $135,000 lobbying job has emerged as a significant area of inquiry in the FBI's long-running probe of Perata, the state Senate's president pro tem.

As The Chronicle has reported, for more than four years agents have investigated Perata, his business associates, his favored political consultants and lobbyists, and even his son, attempting to learn whether the lawmaker improperly obtained money in exchange for official actions.

Perata got the lobbyist's name in 2000 from then-state Senate leader John Burton, D-San Francisco. Burton told The Chronicle he became close friends with Mathis when they served together in Congress in the 1970s.
Agency documents

Grand jury subpoenas show that the FBI has obtained documents from the Port of Oakland and two other local agencies about Perata and Mathis or the road project, which when completed in 2004 was named the Ron Cowan Parkway.

Cowan said he and two of his executives were subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. Another witness was former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who for years was Cowan's lawyer.

The statute of limitations in the Perata investigation is expected to expire later this year, and sources familiar with the probe said prosecutors are close to deciding whether to ask the grand jury to issue indictments. The sources declined to be quoted by name, saying investigators don't want probe details discussed.

In the Mathis case, one source who was interviewed by federal agents said his attorney "speculated that they were trying to determine whether Mathis gave Burton a finder's fee and, if he did, whether Burton shared any of it with Perata."

Spokesman Jason Kinney said Perata, who succeeded Burton as the state Senate's leader in 2004, is innocent of wrongdoing.

Perata "has always acted properly, and any suggestion otherwise is simply false," he said. "More than four years and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars later, this investigation continues to meander fruitlessly along with no clear focus."

Mathis, who lives in Nashville, Ga., declined to be interviewed, but he earlier told the Los Angeles Times: "I certainly did not send any money to Sen. Perata." Burton said he received no fee for recommending Mathis, and he declined to say whether the FBI had questioned him.

A problem with the FAA

The four-lane, 1.8 mile Cowan parkway was part of a $120 million project intended to improve traffic access to Oakland airport. Starting in the 1980s, when Cowan built his business park at the east end of Alameda island in the airport's flight path, he had lobbied state and local officials for a roadway to link the park with Interstate 880 via the airport. Over the years, records show Cowan donated more than $750,000 to politicians and political committees, about $220,000 of it to committees controlled by Perata.

Construction of the airport road project - funded largely through a county transportation tax - got under way in the late 1990s. But a potential snag developed in 2000.

Christine Monsen, executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Authority, said that for the project to proceed, an environmental clearance was needed from the FAA. Delay would put a $7 million construction grant at risk, she said.

At about that time, Burton said Perata asked for a referral.

"Perata came to me and said did I know anyone in Washington because the city of Oakland was having a problem" with the FAA, Burton said.

"I recommended Mathis for the job because he was good at what he did for a living and he didn't have a lot on his plate," said Burton.

Mathis retired from Congress in 1980 and became a lobbyist, while Burton left Congress in 1982 and practiced law. Burton said that from then until 1988, when he was elected to the state Legislature, he and Mathis sometimes worked together. "If I had clients with problems, I'd contact him, and he'd work on it, and I'd work on it," he said.

After getting Mathis' name from Burton, Perata met with officials from the port, the transportation authority and the city of Alameda, records show. An official representing Alameda wrote in a memo that "based on our meeting with Sen. Perata," they agreed to hire a lobbyist. Mathis was paid $45,000 by each agency.

Monsen, the transportation authority's director, said Mathis got two congressmen to write letters to the FAA on behalf of the project. The approval was granted, and parkway construction proceeded.

Cowan said that while he strongly backed the parkway, he was not its lone advocate. "Initially it was the brainchild of the Oakland airport and the Alameda County Transportation Authority," he said.

By the time the road was complete, Cowan said, he had lost ownership of most of the business park to foreclosure. Cowan said he testified before the grand jury about two years ago. He declined to discuss his testimony.

On the topic of Perata, he said, "I understand political contributions and how the game is played, and I don't see Don doing it in a way that is inappropriate."

The probe's beginnings

The FBI's scrutiny of Perata dates to 2003, when Oakland lobbyist Lily Hu sought a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, Frank Wishom. Wishom countered by filing a declaration with the court saying that the FBI was investigating Hu for her "activities with politicians." Wishom died later that year after surgery.

By then, sources have said, a federal grand jury was looking into whether Hu had funneled money to Perata. Doron Weinberg, Hu's attorney, declined to comment other than to say: "I believe my client committed no crimes, and I trust the government will come to the same conclusion."

Perata retires from the Legislature this year because of term limits. Some have said he may run for mayor of Oakland or the State Board of Equalization in 2010. Meanwhile, a legal defense fund he set up when he learned of the FBI probe has spent more than $1.5 million on his case, state records show. The Democratic State Central Committee has donated $450,000 to the defense fund.
Other characters in Perata probe

Along with its focus on Oakland lobbyist Lily Hu and former Georgia Rep. Dawson Mathis, the grand jury has subpoenaed documents about a string of other associates of Don Perata, president pro tem of the state Senate. As The Chronicle has reported, they include:

Nick Perata: From 1999 to 2003, a direct-mail business set up by Perata's son was paid more than $700,000 by political campaigns with ties to Perata, records show. In that same period, Nick Perata paid his father almost $138,000, for what a Perata spokesman described as rent for his business and a home.

Tim Staples: From 2000 through 2004, Perata was paid about $100,000 per year in consulting fees by Staples, who is a political fundraiser and the lawmaker's former college roommate, Perata has acknowledged. During that period, political campaigns affiliated with Perata paid Staples $313,000, according to financial records. When these payments became public in 2004, Perata said he was ending his business relationship with Staples because it brought unfair scrutiny on his friend.

Sandi Polka: A former legislative staffer who worked for both John Burton and Perata, she later started her own Sacramento consulting business, often managing campaigns in which Perata was interested. Her consulting firm was named Polka, Perata, Rosati & Staples. In a 2004 interview, Polka said she subcontracted work to Nick Perata, Mike Rosati - Don Perata's son-in-law - and Sean Staples, Tim Staples' son.

Lawyers for Staples, Polka and Nick Perata didn't respond to requests for comment.

- Susan Sward and Lance Williams

E-mail the writers at [email protected] and [email protected].

This article appeared on page A - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Perata was already "almost charged".  

He/his lawyers signed an agreement w/US attorney to allowing the Federal "under investigation" time period to be extended.   It was a worthwhile risk, as the likely outcome of this not being agreed to would have been immediate indictment by grand jury: at least this way there's still "a chance" of not being indicted.

Since Perata's terming out this year they may let him finish out his term before making him do a perp walk.  This way US Attorney (Republican appointee) can say, "look, this is criminal not political - we didn't do anything to disturb the local politics".


Bill Wiese
San Jose CA

will he get his CCW revoked?

Quoted: will he get his CCW revoked?

Don't be silly you peasant.  

perata is a high ranking party member.  he will walk.  Even if tried a jury of his peers would clear their master every time.  

Quoted: Quoted: will he get his CCW revoked? Don't be silly you peasant.   perata is a high ranking party member.  he will walk.  Even if tried a jury of his peers would clear their master every time.

I disagree, I was following this little incident, and it seems that like the govt has an air tight case against him. If he gets convicted of a felony, it will be automatic revocation because felons can't hold CCWs. Since felons can't own a gun what good will a CCW do him.

I'd like to see this scumbag have much of his life and freedom revoked.

height=8

Quoted: I'd like to see this scumbag have much of his life and freedom revoked.

Indeed.. I'll be doing a "happy dance" if he winds up in "general population" - but worst he'll get is "club fed"...him

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: will he get his CCW revoked? Don't be silly you peasant.   perata is a high ranking party member.  he will walk.  Even if tried a jury of his peers would clear their master every time. I disagree, I was following this little incident, and it seems that like the govt has an air tight case against him. If he gets convicted of a felony, it will be automatic revocation because felons can't hold CCWs. Since felons can't own a gun what good will a CCW do him.

 I hope you are right but I won't ever bet any $$ on a dim getting convicted in the PRK.  His constituents would probably re-elect him like marion berry in d.c..