More on Teddyboy Lieu:
The ABC’s of ethics in the Golden State
Californians are not a judgmental lot.
Unless we’re judging lunatic legislators in Florida, Texas, and those other Red States. Then judge away.
Too bad we were so busy celebrating our moral and intellectual superiority we managed to miss our own state government’s ethical collapse.
The arrest of state Sen. Leland Yee on money laundering and gunrunning charges was the cherry on top of a sundae made of sordid Sacramento scandals starting with Sen. Roderick Wright, convicted of election fraud and perjury. Sandwiched in between Yee and Wright is state Sen. Ron Calderon who is awaiting trial on bribery and a host of other charges. All three continue to cash paychecks as state senators.
The Senate yawned at the Wright caper and assumed if they waited long enough the Calderon kerfuffle would blow over as well.
That plan crashed when Leland Yee’s arrest made national headlines with alleged crimes so outrageous even apathetic Californians couldn’t ignore them.
Something had to be done. And “something” in Sacramento always means as little as possible.
Yee’s alleged involvement with notorious gang leader Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow forced Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg and his Senate co-conspirators to suspend all three and cook up some phony baloney “reforms” for public consumption while quietly circling the wagons.
On April 5, the Senate scrubbed Wright, Calderon and Yee from the Senate website making it much more difficult for investigators, journalists and citizens to track their voting records and connect dots.
Instead of sunlight the Senate drew the curtains.
The next step was a full court PR press to reassure the public that all’s well, nothing to see up here in Sacramento. In fact, things have never been better!
“There is no greater political body in this land than the California State Legislature,” state Sen. Kevin de Leon said. “This is an amazing legislative body … You are all fine individuals,” he continued with a straight face.
Sen. de Leon’s absurd claim was his clumsy attempt to rally his nervous troops unaccustomed as they are to having their behavior examined in public.
Last Wednesday, Darrell Steinberg continued the PR offensive by gathering his colleagues for a classic dog and pony show; a refresher course in ethics, complete with bipartisan blather about the toxic influence of money in politics.
Of course if the Senate was serious about cleaning house they’d vote to expel Wright, Calderon and Yee. Wright’s conviction for lying about living in his district is considered small potatoes by his fellow senators, and Yee’s gunrunning charges are so over-the-top he’ll walk the plank alone. But the Calderon case however hits close to home for too many California legislators. This one has to be handled with care.
The arrest of Ron Calderon threatens the institutional corruption in Sacramento along with garden variety graft.
While trying to shake the FBI off his tail, Calderon agreed to wear a wire as he pressured three current members, identified as Senators “A”,”B” and ”C”, on behalf of Michael Drobot, the Pacific Hospital CEO accused of paying him bribes.
Drobot’s cash cow was threatened by SB 959, state Sen. Ted Lieu’s bill designed to change the way hospitals were compensated for spinal surgery, a bill that would save patients millions in surplus charges.
Drobot reportedly netted $161 million in inflated reimbursement fees which makes Calderon one heck of a bargain for only $28,000 in kickbacks.
According to The Sacramento Bee, Calderon and Drobot met with “Senator C” on June 12, 2012 to discuss “the negative impact Senator C’s proposed legislation would have on Pacific Hospital and other hospitals.” The Bee identifies Senator “C” as state Senator (and congressman wannabe) Ted Lieu.
On October 31st, 2013, Sen. Lieu was also ID’d as Senator ”C” by Al Jazeera America in the story that exposed the Calderon case.
Shortly after meeting with Calderon and Drobot, SB 959 became “inactive.”
Lieu told Al Jazeera America SB 959 was eventually folded into a larger workers’ compensation bill and was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown.
No charges have been filed against Lieu and none are expected. Still, the public deserves to know what was said in thesenator’s meeting with Calderon and Drobot and the public has a right to know if Sen. Lieu walked away from his own bill as a favor to Calderon and if so, why?
The public is still missing too many pieces of the Calderon puzzle including the identities of Senators “A” and “B.”
Ethics classes are all well and good but the continued secrecy surrounding the Calderon affair is the surest sign that nothing has changed in Sacramento despite the arrest of three of their own.
https://www.dailynews.com/2014/04/26/the-abcs-of-ethics-in-the-golden-state/