Text of 2nd Denham complaint against Perata

Friends of Jeff Denham Against the Recall says it has filed two complaints today with the California Attorney General against state Sen. Don Perata. This is the text the group released of the second complaint.

April 24, 2007

George Anderson, Director

Attorney General's Office, Division of Law Enforcement

1102 Q Street, 6th Floor

Sacramento, CA 95814

RE: Complaint - Misuse of Public Funds by a State Government Official (Penal Code § 424)

Director Anderson:

On June 3, 2008, a recall election will be held to determine whether to remove State Senator Jeff Denham from office as the elected representative of the 12th Senate District in the California State Legislature. A recent email discovered by the undersigned offers irrefutable evidence that one or more persons have attempted to encourage state government employees to use public moneys in support of the recall campaign against State Senator Jeff Denham in violation of Penal Code §§ 31 and 424.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Attached to this complaint is a copy of an email string which begins with an email sent from Renee Sankus to Fortuna Clark on Friday, April 18, 2008, at 2:23 PM. The sender, Ms. Sankus, is an account executive of Polka Consulting - a political analysis and communications firm hired by the California Democratic Party to conduct telephone advocacy in support of the recall. The recipient, Ms. Clark, is a Spanish-language translator employed by the California State Senate. Based upon knowledge and information, the email was sent to Ms. Clark's official State Senate email account - not a personal, private email account. Enclosed with the email sent by Ms. Sankus to Ms. Clark was a telephone transcript advocating the recall of State Senator Denham. This telephone transcript is also attached to this complaint letter. The email string obtained by the undersigned indicates that this first email did not include any subject heading nor text other than Ms. Sankus's full name (apparently employed as an electronic signature).

The second email included within the email string was an email sent by Ms. Fortuna to Emily Towner on Friday, April 18, 2008, at 4:50 PM. Ms. Towner is a Scheduler in the Capitol office of State Senator Denham. Also "CC'd" to the email was Enedina Hidalgo. Ms. Hidalgo is the Director of Personnel for the California State Senate. Enclosed with the email sent by Ms. Fortuna to Ms. Towner and Ms. Hidalgo was the same telephone transcript advocating the recall of State Senator Denham. This second email also did not include any subject heading (other than FW:), but did include the following text:

Emily, here is the script to be translated. Requested by Renee Sankus from Polka consulting. She mentioned that someone in your office gave her my email. You know, I can't make any translations dealing with campaign since it may constitute a conflict of interest. Thank you for your understanding.

Ms. Towner is willing to testify under oath that she did not provide Ms. Sankus, or anyone else, the contact information of Ms. Fortuna as a resource for the Spanish-language translation of any material to be used in support of the recall against State Senator Denham - or for any other non-official government matter. Such an allegation on Ms. Sankus' part lacks all semblance of credibility and logic as it suggests Ms. Towner aided and abetted the removal from office of her own employer.

Finally, the third email included within the email string was an email sent by Ms. Towner to Jim Kjol. Mr. Kjol is State Senator Jeff Denham's Chief of Staff. Again, enclosed with the email sent by Ms. Towner to Mr. Kjol was the same telephone transcript advocating the recall of State Senator Denham. This third email included the subject heading "IMPORTANT" and the following text: