Sen. Ron Calderon, targeted by an FBI undercover sting in a Capitol corruption probe, says authorities hassled him because he refused to wear a wire in an investigation of Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg and Sen. Kevin de Leon, seen by many as Steinberg's successor.
From the LAT's Chris Megerian: "In a motion filed in federal court in Sacramento, Calderon (D-Montebello) says authorities from the FBI and the U.S attorney's office repeatedly asked him to participate in an investigation of Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles)."
"He was asked to wear a wire to secretly record conversations with them, the filing says."
"Calderon declined and "refused to continue participating in the FBI's sting operation," the motion says. It is not clear what, if any, assistance Calderon had provided. Federal agents raided the senator's office in June. Last month, a 124-page, sealed FBI affidavit detailing bribery allegations against Calderon was posted on a media website. Calderon's court filing accuses the authorities of leaking the document."
De Leon, meanwhile, disputes the account in a leaked FBI affidavit that he helped shift $25,000 to a nonprofit controlled by Calderon.
From the LA Daily News' Dakota Smith: "While the FBI probe centers on Calderon, the Los Angeles senator is referenced 17 times in the 124-page FBI document. At one point, the documents state de Leon helped transfer $25,000 from a Latino political group in the state Legislature to a nonprofit."
"Appearing at a Hollywood industry event Tuesday, de Leon emphatically said he wasn’t responsible for the $25,000 contribution."
“Quote me verbatim,” he told a reporter. “I don’t know where that figure comes from. I don’t know why it is attached to me because I don’t have authorization. In no form, way or shape did I intervene with that 25K. It has nothing to do with me.”
Calderon said in his court filing that federal prosecutors have a history of leaking information to the press in order to build public support.
From Jim Miller and Chris Cadelago in the Sacramento Bee: "The pattern of illegal leaks in cases handled by the AUSA-CDC has grown more brazen over the years culminating in the most flagrant and prejudicial violations yet with respect to Senator Calderon," the filing says. "There is a systematic and systemic pattern of contempt for secrecy rules in (Miller's) cases resulting in the complete corruption of the legal process and character assassination of his targets. This conduct is deeply disturbing given that (he) purports to represent the public corruption division within the AUSA's office."
"Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, said "We're not commenting tonight."
"Calderon alleges the release of the sealed records has prejudiced any future grand jury and that he's faced irreparable harm. It cites Steinberg's comments at a hearing Tuesday where his rules committee stripped Calderon of his committee assignments as well as multiple instances of Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, calling on him to resign his seat."
From the Bee's Laurel Rosenhall: "Garcia is the only state legislator to call for Calderon's resignation since an FBI affidavit made public last month alleged he's accepted $88,000 in bribes. Today Garcia gathered with the mayors of Norwalk, Montebello, Downey and Pico Rivera, as well as city council members from Bell and Commerce, to again ask Calderon to step down."
"Garcia has a long-standing feud with the Calderon family; she beat the senator's brother Tom Calderon in her race for Assembly last year."
"During her campaign for State Assembly she said time and again that she was not a politician. She told the voters that she was going to be different. Soon after her election she confessed to the voters that she lied about having a PhD. She said that she made a mistake and was sorry for misleading the public about her qualifications. She asked the voters to give her the benefit of the doubt and to judge her on her actions as their new Assemblywoman," Calderon's statement today said.
And finally, in some brighter news, the new president of the University of California has called for a tuition freeze.
From the Mercury-News' Katy Murphy: "New UC President Janet Napolitano marked her first regents meeting Wednesday with a vow to make the university more affordable and calling for an undergraduate tuition freeze in 2014-15."
"And that was only the first bullet point of an ambitious policy agenda after six weeks on the job."
"Napolitano also said the university must find a way to move researchers' inventions from the lab to the market more quickly; make it simpler for community college students to transfer to UC; expand enrollment; cut administrative costs; and become a better steward of the environment, using no more energy than it produces by 2025."
