Thursday, June 17, 2010
Perata Pockets Nearly $50,000 More from Prison Guards
Politics / People / Law Enforcement & Crime Robert Gammon — Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 10:04 AM
Oakland mayoral candidate Don Perata continues to collect lucrative fees as a “campaign consultant” from the state’s powerful prison guard’s union, even though the union has mounted no political campaigns. The ex-state senator pocketed $48,893 in the past few months, according to the latest campaign finance filings, raising the total he has banked from the California Correctional Peace Officers’ Association’s Issues Committee to nearly $90,000 in the first five months of this year.
Perata went on the prison guard’s union payroll immediately after being termed out from the state senate in late 2008. In 2009, the union paid him $260,000 as a “campaign consultant.” But it’s unclear exactly what Perata’s company, Perata Consulting, which includes his son, Nick Perata, has done to earn nearly $350,000 in the past seventeen months because the union has launched no political campaigns since it hired him.
During his tenure as state senate president pro tem, Perata helped insulate the prison guard’s union from budget cuts. The prison guard's union also has been Peralta Consulting's only political campaign client since its inception in early 2009.
The prison guard’s union’s other main “campaign consultant” is the Battin Group, Republican strategists formerly known as Voter Strategies. The group’s clients over the years have included Steve Poizner, who just lost the GOP nomination for governor to Meg Whitman. The prison guard’s union has paid the Battin Group $493,117 since the beginning of 2009.
The prison guard’s union also donated $50,000 last year to Avalon Village, an Alameda nonprofit run by Perata’s ex-girlfriend Jill Cabeceiras.
Comments (12)
Showing 1-12 of 12
Perata is just buying protection for when the day comes that he'll be behind bars. Vote for a Green MAyor in November; dump the Democrat machine and its dirty politics.
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What a bunch of morons. He "works for a living". Get real. Just goes to show how dumbed down Americans are. The reporter shows them clearly that this guy creates a company as a shell game to receive funds from the union (his company's ONLY client), yet everyone now bashes the messenger because they dislike the message.
Stupid Californians. No wonder your state is going down the tubes. Ignorant voters are too stupid to wake up and smell the coffee, even though the grounds are right in front of their faces.
Perata is the worst kind of corrupt politician because he just rubs the people's nose in it. He's obviously greedy too.
That equals disaster for Oakland if he ever became Mayor.
Oh, and anyone wondering why California spends so much money on prisons can thank the prison guard union and the corrupt politicians they've bought in Sacramento.
Like Perata.
Yeah only if your a parole and become friends with Mike Jiminez CCPOA Executive President. Don Perata has done nothing but have free reign of our union dues. This a great pay off for Mike because some one is helping with a get out trouble free card for the hiring of a state parole. According to C.D.C.R. policy this is a your fired offense. Looks Like Mike Jiminez gets a free pass compliments of Don Perata. And even our spoke person Lance Corcoran admits he is in favor of the open pot law. Look at his actions at a U.C. Berkeley forum on the amount of state funds spent on prison funding. You would have been able to find it on you tube but at the request of CCPOA, U.C. Berkerly pulled all links to the video.
Why vote for someone who does have to make a living? Knock yourself out voting for people who fund campaigns with their personal wealth. Meg Whitman comes to mind. I'm looking forward to billionaire leaders. You know, they can look out for us "small people". Much better than those who have real life experience: delivering milk with dad and teaching for sixteen years...
I'll make a comment since it is my money paying for this turd. He hasn't done anything other than collect my hard earned dues money! CCPOA has no political plan and can't even approach the table. CCPOA went against Steinberg's political pic, did Don "Pot" Perata give that consultation? I think this is a great article, shich tells all CCPOA members we are being ripped-off, so go whine somewhere else unless you are paying Perata's tab!
Is Bob Gammon now a panty-sniffer too? Will he be reporting on other political girlfriends? There are lots. Even ones that work in politics. Or is that only reserved for Senator Perata?
Bob Gammon is part of the same food chain, tho at the maggot end: his hard-on for writing just-about-anything-Perata puts food on his own table (word is, Bob still lives with his momma).
A lot of companies hire political consultants for a variety of things other than simply "political campaigns" and I imagine a public union that has faced so much under the current governor's administration might need someone to advise them in such a capacity. Makes sense. There are a lot of benefits to putting a consultant on retainer - none of which as suspicious as this article would have you believe. There's a lot of dirt in California - no need to try to create something out of nothing.
I'm sure they are, but unless you're the former president of the California state Senate, who can collect on favors you doled out over the course of a 20-year career in politics, you probably don't qualify.
I don't understand the point of this article? Is it wrong for the ex-Senator to earn a living? I'm sure he has bills to pay just like the rest of us- if someone is willing to keep him on their payroll as a consultant and he doesn't have a heavy workload, does that make it wrong? Heck, I'M looking for a job like that - are they still hiring?
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