One of the worst kept secrets in Sacramento is that many political insiders believe that the real reason Senate President Pro Tem Don (“The Golden Pig”) Perata launched the recall campaign against Senator Jeff Denham was to create an excuse to funnel money to Sandi Polka and members of his own family. Polka is the Senator’s longtime political consultant and very close friend – close to the point of actually being his girlfriend.
Now the East Bay Express newspaper, which has doggedly pursued Perata and done an outstanding job of aggressively exposing the powerful politician’s numerous ethical transgressions, has pointed to Polka’s financial well-being as the true motivation for the recall. (Their article is linked at the bottom of this post.) Perata spent more than $2 million to qualify the recall, launch misleading paid media attacks on Denham that failed miserably, and fund puppet replacement candidate and proven lightweight Simon Salinas. While Perata is a huge political loser because of the recall, not all of that campaign money appears to have been wasted from the perspective of “The Don.” After all, Sandi Polka was a big financial winner despite her mismanagement of the recall effort (we presume, which perhaps we shouldn’t, that for all of that money, she actually was responsible for something).
We wondered aloud, as did others, when one of Perata’s many political committees spent $110,000 on the recall a week after the Pro Tem conceded defeat and declared he was pulling the financial plug. Now we know why. The biggest chuck of that check, referred to as covering “closing costs” by the Perata operation, actually went to Sandi Polka. She took in another $50,000 in fees. Once again we have to wonder what justified the additional payments given that the campaign was declared over by its sponsor and certainly that money wasn’t for campaign victory bonuses? It’s fair to estimate that Polka generated in total $250K to $300K or more from the recall.
Polka is also central to the on-going corruption investigation of Perata by the F.B.I. It is widely speculated that Polka, who has been paid huge sums by Perata over the years, has been directing money to the Senator’s son, Nick Perata and his best friend, Timothy Staples. Both men have been previous significant beneficiaries of the powerful politician’s largesse.
Perata’s misuse of the massive campaign funds he generates because of his powerful position is nothing new. The Senator has essentially used his own campaign fund as a personal slush fund. The East Bay Express has itemized over $1 million in highly questionable personal expenditures by Perata. He is currently also under active investigation by the Fair Political Practices Commission for personal use of campaign funds.
Perata has also created an unprecedented network of campaign committees, advocacy groups and non-profit organizations focused on both local Oakland and statewide politics. Who has been benefited financially from all of this activity? Sandi Polka, of course, and to the tune of more than $2.5 million in just the past four years according to the East Bay Express.
The Denham recall is an unjustified abuse of the recall process. It is a credit to the Senator Denham’s hard work and the work of Republican Leaders Dick Ackerman and Dave Cogdill that it failed to gain any traction. But it is a shameful chapter in our state’s history that the President Pro Tem could misuse the political system in such a way simply to satisfy his own outsized ego while funneling money to his girlfriend and family members.
Four months after voters soundly defeated Proposition 93 to weaken term limits, Fabian Nunez and Don Perata keep giving us reasons to remind us why that measure’s failure was so important and necessary. Fortunately, Perata will soon be gone from the Capitol and for all of his efforts, Senator Jeff Denham will be stronger politically because of Pro Tem Perata’s self-serving and arrogant power grab. And legislative Republicans will be even more steeled against Perata’s calls for billions in higher taxes on working Californians.
LINK TO EAST BAY EXPRESS ARTICLE:
New Reason for Why Perata Took On Denham: Money for His Gal?
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