Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

4 hours ago

‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Actor Michael Madsen Dies at 67

5 hours ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

5 hours ago

Trump’s Sweeping Tax-Cut and Spending Bill Wins Congressional Approval

6 hours ago

Americans Celebrate Their Independence With Record-Breaking Travel Numbers

9 hours ago

US Supreme Court to Decide Legality of Transgender School Sports Bans

10 hours ago

Nvidia Set to Become the World’s Most Valuable Company in History

10 hours ago

Poll: 41% in US ‘Extremely Proud’ to Be American, Near Historic Low

10 hours ago
Walters: A Blast From the Past
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 6 years ago on
December 16, 2019

Share

A brief procedure in a San Francisco courtroom this month was a blast from California’s political past.
Terry Goggin, a former Democratic state assemblyman, pleaded guilty to federal charges that he had misused money that investors gave him to expand Goggin’s coffee shop chain.


Dan Walters
Opinion
Prosecutors said Goggin, 78, admitted deceiving investors in a company he founded, Metropolitan Coffee & Concessions, which operated four Peet’s Coffee & Tea shops in BART stations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Between 2007 and 2014, the court was told, Goggin solicited investments to expand the coffee shop chain but lied to investors about his plans and misled them about the finances of his company, which later went bankrupt.
Goggin raised $685,000 from investors, prosecutors said, but shifted virtually all of the money into other ventures. He will repay at least $685,000 in restitution as part of his sentence, which will be imposed on April 1.

Pollard Concentrated Mostly on Those Connected to Legislation

None of this surprises those who were in and around the Capitol during Goggin’s decade-long legislative career, which ended in 1984 with his defeat by a fellow Democrat. He was an enigmatic figure, known both for creative lawmaking and intertwining his personal financial interests with official duties.
Vic Pollard, a reporter for Goggin’s hometown newspaper, the San Bernardino Sun, relentlessly uncovered and wrote about Goggin’s seemingly countless financial schemes, including hunting for treasure on sunken ships in the Caribbean Sea, attempts to buy a casino in Nevada and a machine to turn coal into gold.
However, Pollard concentrated mostly on those connected to legislation, such as his measure — enacted and still operative — that adds a few pennies to Californian’s monthly telephone bills to pay for teletype devices allowing the deaf to communicate on telephone lines.
That seemingly benign proposal, Pollard discovered, had a personal angle for Goggin. It benefited his long-time friend and sometime business partner, Dennis Krieger, who was underwriting a stock sale for a company that made the only devices Goggin’s legislation would finance. After Pollard reported on that connection, the state Fair Political Practices Commission fined Goggin.
Yours truly delved into another Goggin bill, introduced as the state was experiencing one of its periodic gasoline shortages, that would have prohibited oil companies from owning service stations. After I reported that the bill contained an exemption for one oil company that had employed both Goggin’s father and Krieger’s father as top executives, the bill was quickly dropped.

Goggin Had Been Very Close to Willie Brown

So why did Goggin play so fast and loose? Pollard, in an email, offers an explanation, to wit: “In one of my confrontations with Goggin, he said, ‘Somebody is going to make money off of everything we do up here, and it might as well be our friends.’ He also tried once to hire me to get me off his back.”
Pollard stayed on Goggin’s back and his reportage had an effect. In 1984, Goggin lost his seat to Jerry Eaves, who later became a San Bernardino County supervisor, only to be forced out of office himself after indictment on federal corruption charges.
During his legislative career, Goggin had been very close to Willie Brown, who was speaker of the Assembly during the 1980s and 1990s before becoming mayor of San Francisco in 1996.
After Brown became mayor, Goggin moved to San Francisco to practice law and lobby city government. In 2004, Goggin and ex-Mayor Brown teamed up to propose a multi-million-dollar lobbying campaign for the state’s bullet train project.
They didn’t get the money they sought from potential project builders, and Goggin went into the coffee shop business instead.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Fresno Crash Involving Unlicensed Teen Driver Sends Woman to Hospital

DON'T MISS

Madre Fire Burns More Than 52,000 Acres in San Luis Obispo County

DON'T MISS

RIP John Harris: Fresno County Rancher, Racehorse Breeder Was a Visionary Leader Who Leaves a ‘Profound Legacy’

DON'T MISS

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

DON'T MISS

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

DON'T MISS

Boeing Secures $2.8 Billion US Satellite Contract

DON'T MISS

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

DON'T MISS

Over 100 Former Senior Officials Warn Against Planned Staff Cuts at US State Department

DON'T MISS

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

UP NEXT

From Victims to Perpetrators: Israeli Soldiers’ Nazi Comparisons and the Unfolding War Crimes in Gaza

UP NEXT

Dear Mayor and City Council, Fresno’s Housing Bottlenecks Are a Modern Form of Redlining

UP NEXT

A Path Forward on Immigration Reform That Strengthens America

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

I Detest Netanyahu, but on Some Things He’s Actually Right

UP NEXT

Much of LA’s Community of Immigrants Is Hiding, Leaving a Hole in the Fabric of the City

UP NEXT

Things Netanyahu Might Say if Injected With Truth Serum

UP NEXT

California Politicians Ignore Ag’s Troubles, but Boost Movie Business

UP NEXT

Trump’s Courageous and Correct Decision to Bomb Iran

UP NEXT

How the Attacks on Iran Are Part of a Much Bigger Global Struggle

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

3 hours ago

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

3 hours ago

Boeing Secures $2.8 Billion US Satellite Contract

3 hours ago

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

3 hours ago

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

3 hours ago

Over 100 Former Senior Officials Warn Against Planned Staff Cuts at US State Department

4 hours ago

US Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks Will Expire on Sept. 30

4 hours ago

‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Kill Bill’ Actor Michael Madsen Dies at 67

5 hours ago

Fresno Police Recover Some of the $40,000 in Fireworks Stolen From Bullard High Team

5 hours ago

Eyeing Arctic Dominance, Trump Bill Earmarks $8.6 Billion for US Coast Guard Icebreakers

5 hours ago

Fresno Crash Involving Unlicensed Teen Driver Sends Woman to Hospital

A two-vehicle collision sent a woman driving one of the vehicles to the hospital with a head injury Thursday afternoon in Fresno. Fresno pol...

51 minutes ago

A crash causes a traffic jam in northwest Fresno on Thursday, July 3, 2025. (GV Wire/Paul Marshall)
51 minutes ago

Fresno Crash Involving Unlicensed Teen Driver Sends Woman to Hospital

The Madre Fire near New Cuyama has burned 52,593 acres with 5% containment, prompting evacuation orders in several San Luis Obispo County zones as of Thursday, July 3, 2025, afternoon. (CalFire)
2 hours ago

Madre Fire Burns More Than 52,000 Acres in San Luis Obispo County

2 hours ago

RIP John Harris: Fresno County Rancher, Racehorse Breeder Was a Visionary Leader Who Leaves a ‘Profound Legacy’

3 hours ago

Valadao, Costa Spar on What Passage of Trump’s Bill Means for Medicaid Recipients

An ICE agent talks with migrants about their scheduled appointments with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Father’s Day, to learn about their immigration status, in Chicago, Illinois., U.S., June 15, 2025. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

US Military Says 200 Marines Being Sent to Support ICE in Florida

Boeing logo and miniature satellite model are seen in this illustration taken, March 10, 2025. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

Boeing Secures $2.8 Billion US Satellite Contract

3 hours ago

Kaweah Health Names Its New Chief Nurse. She’s From Texas

Clovis Police are searching for Pathmani Goonawardena, 82, who went missing nearly three weeks ago and was last seen driving a white Volvo near Copper and Auberry, possibly en route to Coarsegold. (CHP)
3 hours ago

Clovis Police Say At-Risk Missing Woman Found Dead in Mariposa County

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend