Don Perata

Don Perata
Member of the California Senate from the 9th district
In office December 7, 1998 – November 30, 2008
Preceded by	Barbara Lee
Succeeded by	Loni Hancock
President pro tempore of the California State Senate
In office December 6, 2004 – November 30, 2008
Preceded by	John L. Burton
Succeeded by	Darrell Steinberg
Born	April 30, 1945 (age 64)
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Saint Mary's College of California
Profession	Politician, Teacher

Don Richard Perata (born April 30, 1945) is a California Democratic politician, who was President pro tempore of the California State Senate from 2004 to 2008. Perata worked with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to gain passage of five infrastructure related bond measures in 2006. Prior to serving in the State Senate, Perata served in the California State Assembly and as a member of the Board of Supervisors of Alameda County.

Background

Born in Alameda, California, Perata is the son of Italian immigrants. During his childhood, he helped his father deliver milk door-to-door. Perata graduated from Saint Joseph High School and earned his degree from Saint Mary's College of California. He taught English, History, and Civics from 1966 to 1981 in Alameda County schools. Perata has a daughter and a son.

Alameda County politics

Perata began his political career when he ran for Mayor of Alameda in 1975 but was narrowly defeated. In 1986 he was elected to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and was re-elected to a second term. As Supervisor, Perata worked to shut down problematic liquor stores, worked to make his community safer, and lobbied the state legislature for an assault weapons ban and funding for the mentally ill.

Elections

Perata's first attempt at state politics came in the 1994 democratic primary for controller. Perata was unsuccessful and captured only 27.27% of the vote. Afterwards, Perata served as a staff assistant for then Senate Pro Tem Bill Lockyer.

In 1996, Perata was elected as a California State Assemblyman for the Oakland, Alameda, and Piedmont district. In 1998, Perata ran for the State Senate for the 9th District which currently includes Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Dublin, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Livermore, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, and San Pablo. He became the California State Senate President Pro Tem in 2004.

Perata's run (and election) to the State Senate in 1998 was part of a series of five special elections that were held in the East Bay within less than 12 months, as Perata and other East Bay politicians vied for different political offices. For a detailed account of events, see Special election musical chairs.

California State Senate

Perata is a staunch advocate of gun control. In 1999, Perata successfully drove legislation that updated the California "assault weapons ban" by adding a ban of generically-described semi-automatic firearms. Despite his efforts at gun control, for years, Perata legally carried a handgun with a concealed weapons permit he believed was necessary due to a high number of death threats he has allegedly received from certain opponents of his firearms related legislative activity.[4].

Perata has been an advocate for the rights of the elderly, the mentally ill, and the disabled. He supported legislation to create a discount drug program and legislation to require HMOs to pay for mental health treatment. Perata supported legislation that secured $27 million annually for ovarian and prostate cancer and legislation that increase access to breast cancer screening for low-income women. He has authored legislation requiring California utilities companies to contract for cleaner energy sources and supported tougher penalties on oil refinery emissions.^[1]

In early 2005, Perata introduced a bill to repair California's flagging infrastructure including highway improvements, housing reform and levee repairs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger began to speak out in favor of improving state infrastructure after Schawarzenegger's November 2005 special election ballot initiatives were defeated. While Schwarzenegger's plan included fixing transportation problems, his infrastructure plan was drastically more costly and advocated more prisons and didn't address the housing problem. In a rare occurrence for Sacramento politicians, in early 2006 Perata and Schwarzenegger began to work together to piece together an infrastructure plan that both sides of the legislature could embrace. They were successful and five bond measures were approved by California voters on the November 2006 ballot. These measures are aimed at improving roads, mass transit, affordable housing, levee repair, and upgrading educational facilities.

In July 2007, during state budget negotiations, Perata order the Senate to remain in session for 19 hours in an attempt to reach an agreement on the budget. California requires two-thirds of both legislative houses and the governor's signature to pass a budget. Perata needed two Republican votes in the State Senate to pass the budget and the lock down aimed to get those two Republican votes. The California State Senate Republicans presented a revised budget that aimed to reduce state spending and included tax credits to some Fortune 500 corporations, cuts to transportation and welfare, and eliminating cost-of-living pay raises to the blind, elderly, and disabled.^[2][3] The state budget had already gained the 2/3 majority in the California Assembly and the support of Governor Schwarzenegger. Perata and the Senate Democrats rejected the Senate Republican budget proposal and the Republicans held out for weeks into August, preventing many state legislators from returning home for their summer recess, before the budget was passed. Perata retaliated against Republican Jeff Denham for not voting for the budget by stripping Denham of committee assignments and contributing to the recall effort against Denham.^[4]

Just after he left the State Senate at the close of 2008 - as the next great budget crisis began - Perata made some retrospective comments on his years in the Legislature. He said the state's term limits law, which forced him from office, had created a group of lawmakers who are well-intentioned but lack the institutional knowledge to deal effectively with the state's overwhelming problems. He had recently witnessed, he said, lawmakers who had failed to recognize the severity of the financial crisis and were therefore unable to respond to it; they lacked the grounding that comes with years of learning how to govern the state.

Perata's conclusion about the Capitol: "There is no center. I'm not talking about political center. There is no action center, or moral center, or anything else left in Sacramento." ^[5]

Controversy

In early 2004 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Perata's friend and associate, Timothy G. Staples, had received $313,000 in business from political campaigns initiated or supported by Perata. At the same time, Staples had paid Perata $100,000 per year in consulting fees that supplement Perata's Senate salary, according to financial records and interviews with the senator. After this disclosure The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights sent a letter to the Senate stating that Perata's payments for consulting work looked "like a complex and illegal money-laundering mechanism."^[6]

That same week the Senate Ethics Committee began an investigation into the matter, but dropped it the following month concluding that the dealings did not violate the Senate's standards of conduct or conflict-of-interest rules. Later that same month the Chronicle reported on another seemingly shady dealing by the Senator. Since 1999, Perata's campaign fund and other political committees he helped launch had paid Exit Strategies more than $743,000, according to campaign finance documents. Exit Strategies, a political direct mail firm, was launched in 1999 by Perata's son, Nick, and based at his father's Alameda home. By their own accounting, Nick Perata and Exit Strategies paid the senator nearly $138,000 during the same period for rent and consulting fees. While the Senate Ethics Committee again ruled that this was not actionable, it raised questions into the propriety of the relationship.^[7]

Additional stories by The Chronicle during this time disclosed that Perata had carried a bill on behalf of Mercury Insurance that would have allowed the company to circumvent Prop. 103 and charge higher rates to people who lacked previous auto insurance or allowed their coverage to lapse. Mercury, in turn, donated $50,000 to a political committee run by Oakland developer Phil Tagami, who then hired Staples — who then paid Perata as a consultant.^[8]

In early November 2004 Perata became the official target of a public corruption probe. The FBI, the US Attorney's Office, and a federal grand jury investigated whether Perata took bribes or kickbacks from friends and campaign donors in exchange for his help, according to sources and public records.^[9][10][11] The FBI investigation lasted five years. No arrests or indictments occurred, and in early 2009, after Democrats gained control of the Exective Branch, Justice Department officials closed the case and announced they would not be filing any charges. ^[12]

In 2006, Perata accepted money from Indian tribes while sponsoring a bill to expand Indian gaming [5].

That same year, Perata also drew criticism when he described as "crackers" - a disparaging slang term for poor Southern whites - some San Diego-area residents who stridenly opposed a bill to give illegal immigrants the ability to obtain driver's licenses. ^[13]

In May 2007, the East Bay Express, an alternative weekly in the Bay Area, published a two-part investigation of Perata. The articles revealed that between 1998 and 2007, Perata spent more than $1 million of campaign cash on parties and high-end lifestyle expenditures, amounting to more than one-quarter of the total he raised for his reelection campaigns in that time. It was also alleged that Perata had manipulated liberal causes, such as antiwar sentiment, for his own political ends.^[14] and had used campaign donations to support his lavish lifestyle.^[15][16]

Future

Proposition 93, a term limit alteration ballot measure sponsored by Perata and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, did not pass in February 2008, Perata termed out of the State Senate (and Núñez termed out of the State Assembly) in 2008. The proposition would have allowed Perata to serve one more term in the State Senate (and Núñez three more terms in the State Assembly). Perata was a major target for criticism by the opposition to Proposition 93.^[17] One television ad included the following line: "Don Perata, whose home was raided by the FBI in the ongoing corruption probe."^[18]

Perata has filed a "statement of intention" to run for the California Board of Equalization in 2010.^[19] However, Perata has openly considered a run for Mayor of Oakland against incumbent Ron Dellums.^{[20][21][22][23]} On March 31, Perata stated he would run for mayor of Oakland as Dellums declared he would not seek reelection.

References

External links

• Public Record of Don Perata's Concealed Handgun Permit
• Don Perata Political History
• Yes on infrastructure propositions
• Metro Investment Report Perata interview

Offices held