California’s Top Democrat Blames Bush (or Somebody) for His Likely Indictment

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If California state Senate boss Don Perata gets indicted on federal corruption charges, it’s the president’s fault. Never mind that the feds have been investigating Perata for nearly five years, and muckraking reporters have dug up a treasure trove of dubious deeds on the part of the state’s second most powerful pol (after The Governator). But Perata isn’t ready to go quietly. He and his pals at the state Democratic Party, which just a week ago added $250,000 to the embattled senator’s legal defense fund (the fund has spent more than $1.9 million to date), now are suggesting the White House is persecuting Perata.

On July 9, the East Bay Express, a weekly in Perata’s Oakland district (disclosure: I used to be its managing editor), revealed that the lengthy probe of Perata and his associates was coming to a close, and that the senator would likely be indicted soon. Responding to the report today, Perata told a local TV reporter, “My own belief is nobody goes after a ranking Democrat in California unless permission has been given from on high.”

“That would be the president?” asked NBC11’s Mike Leury.

“Somebody,” Perata replied.

Also today, a state party spokesman defended the donation to Perata’s defense fund, telling the San Francisco Chronicle, “This is a Bush-appointed U.S. attorney going after one of our elected leaders.”

This is one conspiracy theory that simply isn’t going to fly. Most local reporters I know, in fact, have periodically wondered why the feds have been so slow to indict.

Once a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Alameda, Perata has spent nearly a decade in the state Senate (he’ll term out at year’s end), where he’s widely known as a kingmaker with the clout to put loyal minions in office and crush those pols who thwart his will. (Some history here.)

Key to his power is his deft manipulation of campaign funding. Running as a powerful Democrat in a safe district, Perata rarely had a serious challenger, and yet raked in millions for his re-election coffers and other campaign committees, spending vast sums to wine and dine his friends and top donors, not to mention elevate the wealth and status of one political consultant named Sandra Polka.

His past financial dealings, particularly those involving a local lobbyist named Lily Hu, Perata’s buddy Tim Staples, and his son Nick Perata, have simply reeked of possible kickbacks (there’s a good synapsis here), although that will be for the federal grand jury to decide. Big W is culpable for many things, but this sure ain’t one of them.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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