By DON THOMPSON
Source: Yahoo News
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The
California Senate voted Friday to suspend three lawmakers caught up in
separate criminal cases after the latest one to be hauled into court
refused to step down, the most serious house-cleaning action the chamber
has taken in more than a century.
Friday's 28-1
vote in the 40-member chamber came amid one of the most severe ethical
crises in modern times for the Legislature in the nation's most populous
state. Later in the day, Gov. Jerry Brown also called on the three
lawmakers to resign.
The Senate leadership said that
before Friday, the chamber had never suspended a lawmaker in the
institution's 164-year history, but it has taken the more serious step
of expelling lawmakers, the last time in 1905. The Assembly speaker's
office said that chamber has never suspended or expelled a lawmaker.
The
resolution prevents Democratic Sens. Ron Calderon and Leland Yee, who
face federal corruption charges, and Democratic Sen. Rod Wright, who is
awaiting sentencing in a voter fraud case, from exercising any power of
their office until the criminal cases against them have been resolved.
Even so, they will continue receiving their $95,291 annual salaries.
Senate
President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento acknowledged the
public criticism of the chamber, but he defended his leadership and the
integrity of the 37 senators who have not run afoul of the law.
Nevertheless, he said he has been shocked by having 7 percent of the
chamber face felony charges this year, which will be his last as leader.
"One
is an anomaly, two is a coincidence. Three? That's not what this Senate
is about," Steinberg said to lawmakers before the vote.
Yee, who had championed
gun-control legislation and bills targeting violent video games sold to
minors, is the latest of the three senators to be charged. The San
Francisco Democrat was charged in a federal criminal complaint this week
with accepting bribes and coordinating an international gun-running
operation.
Yee's attorney,
Paul F. DeMeester, issued a statement immediately after the Senate vote
saying suspension was "the right step for now" because it acknowledges
the presumption of innocence. Representatives for Calderon and Wright
said they would have no comment on the suspension vote.
Later Friday, in a statement issued by the Democratic governor's office, Brown weighed in for the first time since Yee's arrest.
"Given
the extraordinary circumstances of these cases — and today's
unprecedented suspensions — the best way to restore public confidence is
for these Senators to resign," Brown said.
Steinberg noted that the Senate already has "intensive" ethics training for its lawmakers and staff.
"But there are some things,
members, that you just can't teach," he said. "I know of no ethics class
that teaches about the illegality or the danger of gun-running or other
such sordid activities."
Steinberg
also announced an unprecedented step of cancelling a Senate floor
session in April for a mandatory ethics review, saying it is time for
the Senate to "take a deeper look at our culture."
Senate
officials will go office-by-office to emphasize ethical conduct and to
ask staffers to come forward if they are aware of any unethical or
potentially criminal activity by lawmakers or Senate staffers.
The
lone lawmaker to vote against the resolution, SR38, was Republican Sen.
Joel Anderson of Alpine. One senator was present but did not vote, and
nine were absent, including all three senators who were suspended. One
seat is vacant.
Anderson
argued that all three should be expelled outright and said it was wrong
that they should continue receiving their salaries when facing such
serious charges.
"If you reward bad behavior, you will get more of it," Anderson said.
Calderon
and Wright previously took leaves of absence, which also let them keep
their pay. The California Constitution says lawmakers can lose their pay
only if they are expelled or resign.
The
suspensions drop Senate Democrats below the two-thirds majority they
won in the last election, a supermajority that allowed them to act in
all matters without needing support from Republicans.
The
vote comes just days after federal authorities arrested Yee as part of a
broader corruption probe centered on San Francisco's Chinatown
district.
Senate Minority
Leader Bob Huff, R-Diamond Bar, said he supports a proposed
constitutional amendment, introduced by Steinberg on Friday, which would
allow the Legislature to withhold members' pay if they are suspended.
Yee was arrested and released on
bond Wednesday following a series of raids in Sacramento and the San
Francisco Bay Area. He is accused of accepting more than $42,000 to
provide introductions, influence legislation and for introducing an
undercover FBI agent to an arms trafficker, according to an FBI
affidavit that says Yee was also known as "Uncle Leland."
Investigators
said Yee discussed helping the agent get weapons, including
shoulder-fired missiles, from a Muslim separatist group in the
Philippines to help pay off campaign debts.
Wright
was convicted of voter fraud and perjury and faces sentencing in May.
Calderon faces federal charges for allegedly accepting $100,000 in
bribes for friends and family in exchange for pushing certain bills.
Democratic
Sen. Kevin de Leon of Los Angeles, who is expected to succeed Steinberg
as Senate leader later this year, defended the chamber's reputation and
noted that none of the bills Calderon pushed as a favor to those who
were giving him cash passed the Senate.
That shows that the legislative system actually worked, he said.
"This is the best legislative institution in the country, hands down," de Leon said. "And we're going to get past it."
The
only similar situation faced by the Legislature in recent memory is the
so-called "Shrimpscam" investigation in 1985, in which federal agents
went undercover and posed as representatives of a phony
shrimp-processing company. Five lawmakers resigned and went to prison
for taking bribes in the FBI sting operation.
The
Senate last expelled lawmakers in 1905, when four senators were ousted
for malfeasance involving bribery. Only one other senator has been
expelled. In 1850 during the first legislative session after California
gained statehood, a senator violated Senate rules by failing to show up
for sessions for more than 10 days, according to Steinberg's office.
The
80-member Assembly has never expelled a member and considered doing so
only once, officials said. That was in 1899, when an expulsion vote
failed against Howard E. Wright, who represented Alameda County. Wright
had been indicted on bribery charges but was not convicted.
___
Associated Press writer Tom Verdin contributed to this report.
