State Senate Leader Darrell Steinberg wants to know why Assembly Leader Karen Bass got more gifts than he did
Ruh roh! The FPPC is cracking down on both Democratic and Republican California State Legislators who misreported the gifts they receive, according to the Sacramento Bee. It is bad enough that they didn’t report the gifts correctly, but check out the goodies they didn’t report:
Gifts reported by interest groups but not by lawmakers included:
- Villines: A package from AT&T, worth about $250, for Sacramento Kings tickets, a parking pass and refreshments for the then-Assembly GOP leader and his wife. Also, a $120 dinner from the Boeing Co.
- Runner: Tickets to a Keith Urban concert, $60, and a George Strait concert, $56, by the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Mission Indians.
- Bass: A $112 dinner at One Market Restaurant, from AT&T; a $95 dinner at Spataro, by the Pechanga Band of Indians; and a $59 dinner at Broiler Steakhouse, by Chevron.
- Calderon, current chairman of the Senate’s Banking, Finance and Insurance Committee, reported that the Association of California Life and Health Insurance Companies paid $390 – the maximum allowable in 2008 – for his room, lodging and drinks at the plush Pebble Beach resort.
- The insurance group also reported spending $1,076 on Calderon’s wife, Ana, for “meals, drink, spa” during that Pebble Beach weekend.
Here are the legislators who got the most gifts:
- Nunez, Fabian (D-Los Angeles) CA Assembly $14,626
- Bass, Karen (D-Los Angeles) CA Assembly $13,671
- Calderon, Ron (D-Los Angeles) CA Senate $13,017
- Garrick, Martin (R-San Diego) CA Assembly $9,404
- Benoit, John (R-Riverside) CA Senate $8,181
- Adams, Anthony (R-San Bernardino) CA Assembly $8,178
- Portantino, Anthony (D-Los Angeles) CA Assembly $7,279
- Wiggins, Pat (D-Sonoma) CA Senate $7,123
- Duvall, Michael (R-Orange) CA Assembly $6,854
- Villines, Mike (R-Fresno) CA Assembly $6,774
- Torrico, Alberto (D-Alameda) CA Assembly $6,732
- Steinberg, Darrell (D-Sacramento) CA Senate $6,632
- Krekorian, Paul (D-Los Angeles) CA Assembly $6,486
- Wyland, Mark (R-San Diego) CA Senate $6,111
Note that the rascal Mike Duvall is on the list. As are a couple of Republicans who voted to increase our taxes – Mike Villines and Anthony Adams. And of course the Democratic leaders are on the list, Karen Bass and Darrell Steinberg. Nice.
And whose relatives got the most loot? Here they are:
- CA Senate Calderon, Ron (D-Los Angeles) $2,293
- CA Senate Denham, Jeff (R-Merced) $1,471
- CA Assembly Calderon, Charles (D-Los Angeles) $1,252
- CA Assembly Torrico, Alberto (D-Alameda) $890
- CA Assembly Ackerman, Dick (R-San Luis Obispo) $857
- CA Assembly Nunez, Fabian (D-Los Angeles) $727
- CA Senate Correa, Lou (D-Orange) $637
- CA Assembly DeVore, Chuck (R-Orange) $633
Interesting that Ackerman and DeVore are on the list. Surprising that Correa is on the list.
From January 2008 through June 2009 lobbyists gave legislators, their staffs and relatives about $610,000 in gifts, according to a Bee analysis of thousands of lobbyist disclosure reports. State constitutional officers, regulators and state agency workers collected an additional $233,000 in gifts.
(Go here to search the Bee’s database of all the gifts.)
