CaliforniaALL Part 14: Ms. Sarah Attia -- In Her Own Words

CaliforniaALL, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable entity, came about as a result of a San Francisco restaurant meeting between Ruthe Ashley (a Diversity Officer at CalPERS and Vice President of the State Bar of California) and Peter Arth, Jr., Chief of Staff to CPUC President Michael Peevey. Also present at that meeting was Professor Sarah E. Redfield.

In its brief existence from January 2008 to July 2010, CaliforniaALL collected close to $2 million from various utility companies (AT&T, PG&E, Verizon, Sempra). In addition, in 2008 CaliforniaALL obtained a sub rosa contribution of $769,247 from the State Bar of California Foundation (dba California Bar Foundation).

Other than in Foundation tax records and a 2 by 2 inch blurb in its 2008 annual report, the sub rosa contribution was never mentioned again – not by the State Bar of California, not in the Cal Bar Journal, not in the Foundation's "newsroom," and not by any publication published by CaliforniaALL.

CaliforniaALL was abruptly dissolved in July 2010.

According to confidential sources, the multi-prong investigation regarding these matters continues to expand, and encompasses broader inquiries than had been acknowledged until now to The Leslie Brodie Report.

A source maintains that one aspect of the inquiry, which had been acknowledged to The Leslie Brodie Report, involves 3 subparts:

1) Circumstances surrounding events relating to the CPUC and its enmeshment with the State Bar of California vis-à-vis Geoffrey Brown, Peter Arth, California Consumer Protection Foundation's Judy Johnson, Verizon Wireless, UCI, and Munger Tolles & Olson's Jeffrey Bleich.

2) Circumstances surrounding actions taken by CaliforniaALL and Ruthe Ashley – specifically, an accounting as to the whereabouts of $1.8 million.

3) Circumstances surrounding the sub rosa transfer of $769,247 from the State Bar of California Foundation to CaliforniaALL.

Moreover, and according to a source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation, at this time of year with the deadline looming for Section 501(c)(3) entities to file IRS returns, events and transactions are monitored very closely. According to the source, transactions surrounding the UCI Foundation are being monitored.

DLA Piper's Gilles Attia

CaliforniaALL was based in the Sacramento office of DLA Piper, 400 Capitol Mall, Suite 2400, Sacramento, California 95814. The managing partner of DLA Piper’s Sacramento Office is Mr. Gilles Attia.

On January 27, 2009 DLA Piper's Gilles Attia and the Office of Assembly-member Mike Davis co-hosted a reception honoring California ALL at the Tsakopoulos Galleria in Sacramento. Bottom (left to right): Ruthe Ashley; Judge Morrison England and Mrs. Torie Flournoy-England; Ruthe Ashley, Gilles Attia, News 10 Presenter Sharon Ito, and Assembly-member Mike Davis. Top right is Karina Hamilton. Mike Davis, an ally of former assembly-member Gwen Moore and Karen Bass, is the vice-chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, member of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce, and the Chair of the California Assembly "Select Committee on Rail Transportation." DLA Piper's Gilles Attia is the corporate counsel of Wireless Rail Network (Wi-Fi Rail)-- a high-speed broadband wireless provider with specific focus on commuter rail lines and WiFi on trains. Around 2008, Wi-Fi Rail was in negotiation with BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to provide lightning-fast Internet connections for thousands of daily commuters.

In its publication, CaliforniaALL thanked DLA Piper for providing pro bono space in its Sacramento office. Yet, CaliforniaALL's tax return , signed by Ruthe Ashley, lists an expense of $16,457 for "occupancy" during the period
CaliforniaALL was housed at DLA Piper’s offices. (See two images, below.)

http://lesliebrodie.blog.co.uk/2011/07/03/californiaall-part-14-ms-sarah...

Sarah Attia -- In Her Own Words
Recently, Ms. Sarah Attia, a consultant for CaliforniaALL and the daughter of DLA Piper managing partner Gilles Attia, wrote to us. We shall publish the letter in its entirety, below:

Leslie, Hello,

I am an attorney who now lives in NYC, but was recently living in Sacramento, CA.

I graduated law school in 2009 and was hired by the organization, CaliforniaALL, that you have written about to develop a symposium for a grant they received. I only worked as an indepedent contractor with CalALL ,and for 3 months. My salary was limited to this assignment, and I got the job because Ruthe Ashley had been the career director at McGeorge, where I went to law school.

My dad, Gilles, is an attorney at DLA, who housed CalALL as part of their probono program for non-profits. CalALL did not pay his firm any rent, nor did my dad or anyone from DLA ever see or contribute any money to CalALL.

I am writing to you not because I have any information or defense of Ruthe Ashley. Truthfully, the allegations you make are a total surprise to me, and I have no knowledge of the organization of CalALL. I am however deeply concerned and troubled by your mention of my father and I in your blog. I say this mainly because he and I are people of integrity, who care deeply for doing the "right" thing.

I have traveled to 35 countries and worked as an international journalist in order to help issues surrounding unethical adoptions, poverty, and other ethical dilemmas. Before going to law school, I studied philosophy and taught high school in south central Los Angeles,and taught yoga. I am in the process of interviewing for my dream job in NY, where I just moved and am trying to take the bar in July, and really begin my career.

To have a blog online that taints my reputation, when I know that such an allegation of being a "person of interest," is not accurate, is a deep injustice, and highly unethical. We live in a culture where, at the click of a mouse, people can attempt to uncover all sorts of information about others. Some of it is true, a lot of it is not.

You have written a lengthy blog disparaging many people. It is no interest of mine if you choose to post information that you know to be true, however, to post comments about people that are not true, and to which you have no information to list me or my father as such, is simply a deeply profound ethical breach, and terrible misuse of the internet.

As someone who touts being ethical and writes such information for the world to see, attempting to uncover truth, I implore you to take one of two actions: - either engage me in a dialogue to reveal why you would list my father and I as "people of interest," when I know this is not true, so that we at least have the opportunity to dispute your tarnishing of our reputations, and our genuine character. - please take this email as a gesture of mine to remove our names from your blog so that our professional careers are not further corrupted by these unjust, and unwarranted comments.

I appreciate what you are attempting to do for society, but please realize that your words have hurt my dad and I. Whatever Ruthe Ashley did, or did not do, is of no relation to the hard work and ethical behavior of me or my dad. I got the short-term contract for very little pay, and I planned a symposium at UCI with a large agenda, and I worked very hard for the job I was hired for. I got this contract with CalALL through McGeorge's affiliation with Ruthe Ashley because she was a career counselor there, and my father a professor of law at McGeorge.

Again, I am open to dialogue, but I am pleading withyou in the immediate future, to please remove my name from your blog, or at least to discuss with me why you have chosen to blindly diparage me when I am only at the beginning of my career - and work so hard to be a good person, and do the right things in life.

Thank you so much for your response, and integrity in this matter,

Sarah Attia