Count me as one of the few in Sacramento who still wonders whether disgraced former Assemblyman Mike Duvall is a philanderer and a lout or a liar and a lout.
Duvall resigned Wednesday, less than 24 hours after KCAL news aired a video that showed him recklessly blabbering into an open microphone about his sexual dalliances with two mistresses in Sacramento, at least one believed to be a lobbyist.
I found it noteworthy yesterday that in the remarks of Speaker Karen Bass and Republican leader Sam Blakeslee about Duvall's resignation, both spoke only about his comments into the microphone and not the behavior they suggested. Duvall's apology was about his "storytelling" and Sempra Energy, the employer of the lobbyist believed to be the subject of Duvall's sexual storytelling, said its employee denied the sordid activities (spanking, for one).
I may be in a minority, but I find it plausible that Duvall's remarks reveal him to be one troubled fellow who liked to tell locker-room stories about his fantasies. People who know more about Sacramento's insider culture than me believe otherwise (see an interesting perspective from one of Speaker Willie Brown's former deputies here).
Bass promised an Ethics Committee investigation into the matter. Unless one of the parties comes forward and says Duvall was speaking about actual behavior, that could be one sordid investigation -- first having to determine who was in fact sleeping with whom before being able to move on to the significant ethical issues about the bounds of legislators' relationships with lobbyists.
The guy he was talking to was on the Republican Ethics committee. He thought selling votes for sex was funny! He sure didn't blow the whistle on clearly unethical activity. Where's his resignation??
So she offered kinky sex for his vote on Sempra-related energy matters. He gets laid, she gets paid, and Sempra gets the vote. Republicans are in bed with lobbyists and after they're done, she walks out and we get trickle-down sexenomics.
100% rating by the the Christian Conservatives and Family Values crowd. Anyone else with a 100% rating we should keep our eyes on??
Hey thebob,after reading your comment i give you a 100% rating.All eyes on you.
Sempra donates locally too.
I think you will find all lawmakers to be very quiet on the Duvall/Miller issue because they live in glass houses and are loathe to cast a stone.
By the way, the "pro-family" moniker is a joke and is invoked only to get votes. There have been 3 versions of the Parental notification law for abortions introduced and no legislator that I know of (and I asked one of the authors of the last initiate directly) has stepped up to the plate. Nor has any other legislation been introduced.
I was once told by a former staff person for a D.C. legislator that he always advised newly-electeds to find a way to take their spouse along to D.C. (this would apply to Sacto. too) because it is so easy to lose touch with family priorities when you are being tempted and gifted by lobbiests and political groupies. Some get drunk with the power.
Then again, some are jerks to begin with.