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Over the last decade, 576 California officials have been convicted on federal corruption charges.
The number could increase to 577 as the FBI reportedly investigates State Sen. Susan Rubio, the chair of the Senate Insurance Committee, a former illegal alien, for bribery. Former Sen. Ron Calderon, who previously held Rubio’s position, had been charged with bribery, money laundering and other crimes, struck a deal in which he pled guilty to mail fraud, and was sentenced to 42 months in prison. But California Democrats are still stonewalling the public.
Sen. Rubio refuses to deny that she is ‘Person 20’ in a federal investigation accusing number 20 of soliciting $240,000 in bribes from a drug business. And the senate is backing her up.
The Rules Committees for the Senate refused to release records of federal law enforcement subpoenas and search warrants, claiming that “the public interest served by not making the record public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record.”
What public interest is served by hiding federal search warrants served on government officials?
The Senate rules committee is chaired by Sen. Mike McGuire, who also serves as the President pro tempore of the Senate, and who tried to protect Sen. Rubio by holding open the seat for her even after Los Angeles had suffered its worst fires in history. McGuire then reappointed Rubio back to chairing the Senate Insurance Committee on the basis that “no case has been filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office”. Yet. But McGuire is also the chair of the rules committee that is shielding Sen. Rubio and corrupt politicians from having their investigations disclosed.
Both the California Senate and the Assembly claim that disclosing how much the California Democrat majority legislatures spent on legal bills would “violate attorney client privilege” and that the legislatures won’t be releasing any records that the law doesn’t require them to release.
Why are California legislators blocking the release of information about FBI search warrants? Because they have a long history of being raided by the FBI including ‘Shrimpscam’ in the 80s which took down a dozen officials and grazed Gov. Newsom and Kamala’s political sugar daddy, Willie Brown, the 2013 raid that took down Sen. Calderon, and the 2014 arrest of vocal gun control advocate Sen. Leland Yee for taking bribes and offering to help secure rocket launchers.
With a track record like that, California legislators don’t want to advertise new raids. And they especially don’t want to advertise raids that might affect current legislators like Sen. Rubio who occupy significant positions in the Democrat majority’s legislative political hierarchy.
Every legislative body has some rotten apples. The real sign of rot is when the body itself acts to protect and conceal the rot. And that is the situation in the California legislature.
When Sen. Yee was brought down, he had chaired three committees, Sen. Calderon had chaired two committees, and Sen. Rubio’s role in the insurance committee was so crucial that it had to be kept open for her even in the midst of one of California’s biggest disasters.
Rather than a few bad apples, California’s legislatures are suffering from systemic corruption based on the distribution of major committee roles by the legislative leadership. That leadership is then conspiring to cover up the federal investigations of its political allies from the public.
In the “public interest”.
A functioning state should be able to conduct corruption and criminal investigations of its own top officials, but without FBI investigations, California’s state of corruption would be far worse.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who hopes to replace Newsom as the next governor, has taken the lead in vigorously fighting immigration enforcement and other policies by the Trump administration, but has been notably useless at investigating political corruption cases in his actual jurisdiction.
Last year, former Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Ray Chan was sentenced to 12 years in prison on racketeering charges. Bonta had nothing to do with it. When current LA Deputy Mayor Brian Williams, a Mayor Bass ally, was arrested for allegedly making a bomb threat against City Hall, the LAPD wisely referred the case to the FBI. Had it stayed local, it would have disappeared.
When Oakland’s radical Mayor Sheng Thao was raided, it was once again the FBI that did it. AG Bonta’s role was limited to asking the Duong family, which was also raided in the investigation, to sponsor his biggest “fundraising” effort, describing him as “uncle” and “one of the best ally to ever support and will deliver whatever we ask for when help needs in the future.”
The Duong family provided the Bonta family with over $172,000.
“Uncle” Bonta is not the man to man to investigate California’s political corruption, but he excels at covering it up. That’s why he took over the investigation of Supervisor Sheila Kuehl by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. California Democrats responded to the Sheriff’s Department investigation of Kuehl (the historic first openly lesbian state senator), not by condemning her, but by condemning and promptly ousting Sheriff Alex Villanueva, for daring to investigate one of their own. AG Bonta took over the case, warned the Sheriff’s Department to, “cease any investigative activities” and “transmit all evidence, investigative reports, and information” to his office. Two years later, Bonta announced that no charges would be filed.
And they never will be unless federal authorities get involved.
California’s Democratic political machine is systemically corrupt and if it wasn’t for the occasional FBI raid, 576 corrupt politicians would still be robbing the public blind.
And before too long there may well be a 577th.
Just don’t expect the California Senate and Assembly leadership to inform the public until the day that politician is arrested and has to show up in court. And even then, don’t expect California’s political leaders to disclose how much taxpayer money they’re paying the lawyers.
The cover-up is in the “public interest”. Just don’t ask whom they define as the “public”.
The Corrupt California series chronicles the misconduct, mismanagement and radical politics of the most broken state in the country. Stay tuned for more articles in the series. Previous articles below:
[1] California Dems Fight Trump While State Burns: CLICK HERE.
[2] Ex-Illegal Alien Senator Suspected of Bribery Leads California’s Insurance: CLICK HERE.
[3] Company That May Have Started L.A. Fires Donated Millions to Dems: CLICK HERE.
California was one the State where everybody wanted to go now everyone is leaving and our Governor Stumbles and Bumbles the whole thing
The leftist politicians just blatantly ignore the laws.
The FBI Reports need and should be OPEN to the Public, if these carrier politician are corrupt they need to be held ACCOUNTABLE for what ever they have done in all party`s. NONE of them from the top down are above the law but they sure get away with what evet they wish.
WOW – those CA DEMOcrats really SUCK at being corrupt! It’s a wonder any of them ever make it to the “Show” where being corrupt is evidently not frowned upon!
Imagine 576 in ten years! That’s an AVERAGE of 57 PER YEAR! Dang, what % does that represent?? And those are just the ones who are CAUGHT, TRIED, and Convicted! Like those ILLEGALS, the “got aways” probably make 57 a year look like child’s play!
Maybe the FEDERAL GOV’T needs take control of CA until they can show their ability to operate on a somewhat HONEST basis! How many years did several States in the South have to suffer under Federal Oversight of their Elections and Election Laws?
Cailfornia is run like a Banana Republic. This is what you get when the Democratic party wins everything in one election. They change all the election rules so you can never kick them out. Remember these are the same people that came up with the “Ranked Choice Voting” scheme, the only way they could ever win an election in some states.”
Actually, California IS a banana republic, run by a corrupt one-party political system where all the participants take their cut of the political cake. Need evidence? Take a ride on the “bullett train” between LA and SF, 17 years in the making and not an inch of track laid, but LOTSA folks sucking on the 30-or-so billion dollars it’s cost. Weeee….
Wasn’t it practically policy for the FBI to invite CNN along when raiding Trump and associates?
Excellent article. By the way, Bontas wife is a legislator eho us equally nefarious
Governor Nuisance is even more bigger idiot then Moonbeam Brown was
Moonbeam vetoed a wildfire prevention bill also, before the big wildfires started. That was an all-time no-brainer.
Thieves Guild 🙂
The State of Utah is just as corrupt from the Governor’s office on down. Republicans or not. I’m a Republican and I call BS on Spencer Cox, his cabinet, the UT legislature, the state agencies, and the local governments in Utah. All corrupt.