State Sen. Ron Calderon's fellow Democrats -- including the Senate leader -- are distancing themselves but fast from Calderon, who discussed various corruption schemes, according to an affidavit reported by Al Jazeera that describes the FBI's undercover sting.
From the LAT"s Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason: "Meanwhile, Democrats whose names surfaced in the affidavit wasted no time defending themselves. Senate leader Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento and Sens. Ted Lieu of Torrance and Kevin de León of Los Angeles issued statements denying that they did anything wrong."
"The allegations could have an impact on next year's elections — even the Democrats' two-thirds legislative majority, said Larry Gerston, a political science professor at San Jose State."
"Depending upon the extent that the investigation leads to charges against Calderon and others, the Democrats in the Legislature could find themselves with a serious PR issue," Gerston said. The closer the investigation gets to the 2014 elections, "the more Democrats may need to worry and the more Republicans may have an election issue" to run on, he said."
Speaking of Calderon, he was booted off the California Film Commission and he may lose other committee assignments, too.
From the Bee's Christopher Cadelago and Jon Ortiz: "Sen. Ron Calderon, accused of accepting more than $60,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner, was removed today from the California Film Commission."
"If for no other reason the appearance of impropriety dictates that the senator no longer sit on that commission," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg."
"Calderon, D- Montebello, may also lose his posts on the remainder of his committees, including his chairmanship of the Senate Insurance Committee, Steinberg said."
The crux of the FBI's sting was an undercover agent posing as a film executive who wanted to pay Calderon for help in getting tax breaks, according to the federal government. Ironically, on the same day Al Jazeera broke the story, a commitee of the Senate leader got Hollywood campaign donations.
From the Bee's Jim Miller: "Timing is everything in politics, although not always in a good way."
"On the same day Al Jazeera America broke the story of a Hollywood-themed FBI sting ensnaringstate Sen. Ron Calderon, a campaign committee of Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinbergreported several contributions from Tinsel Town movie interests."
"Steinberg's 2018 campaign for lieutenant governor collected more than $27,000 in donations from director Steven Spielberg, his wife Kate Capshaw, Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn Katzenberg, according to a filing with the secretary of state's office."
From News10's John Myers: "If the anonymously leaked, and politically explosive, allegations by federal agents are accurate, it was a meeting on July 17, 2012 where Ron Calderon made it clear: he knew was treading on thin ice."
"This is an uncomfortable thing to do," the state senator is alleged to have said to an undercover FBI agent who was secretly recording their Los Angeles meeting."
"We cannot have a conversation we just had," said Calderon. "We cannot have a quid pro quo conversation." Calderon, D-Montebello, seemed to be wrestling with what the one-time sealed FBI affidavit alleges was a tangled and ultimately illegal series of payments to influence legislation."
The FBI raid on Calderon's Capitol office in June revealed that an investigation was under way, but federal agents have been looking at the Calderons -- including brothers Tom and Charles -- over several years.
From the LAT's Chris Megerian: "An agent wrote in the document that an investigation into the Montebello Democrat and his brothers, Tom and Charles, began in 2007."
"The genesis of the corruption investigation, the agent wrote, was a $1-million check written to Tom Calderon by Michael Drobot, who runs Pacific Hospital of Long Beach."
"Because of "this exceptionally large and unusual payment," authorities suspected that Tom Calderon was "using his brothers' political influence to favor Drobot in return for monetary compensation, that is, a bribe," the agent wrote. At that point, Tom had left the Legislature, Charles was a state assemblyman, and Ron was a state senator."
