Embarrassed by not being able to more harshly punish state legislators facing criminal charges, California lawmakers were due on Tuesday to examine a proposal allowing them to suspend one of their own without pay in the future.
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg introduced the measure in response to criticism leveled at the suspensions in March of three Democrats in the state Senate who continue to collect their salaries while they remain off the job.
All three – Ron Calderon, Roderick Wright and Leland Yee – have faced criminal charges in a spate of ethics scandals that have damaged the public approval ratings of California lawmakers in general and cost Democrats a cherished two-thirds legislative majority in the Senate during an election year.
Roderick was convicted in January of lying about living in the district he sought to represent, Calderon was indicted in February on corruption charges and Yee was arrested in March on bribery and gun-trafficking conspiracy charges.
The Senate voted on March 28 to place Roderick, Calderon and Yee under suspension with pay in a rebuke that, while unprecedented in state history, was widely criticized as tantamount to a paid holiday for bad behavior.
Under the state constitution, lawmakers cannot be stripped of their salaries unless they are expelled. Democratic Governor Jerry Brown and others have called for all three men to resign, though none has.
Steinberg’s proposed constitutional amendment would authorize, but not require, each body of the legislature to punish its members in the future by suspending them without pay by a simple majority vote.
But Mark Hedlund, a spokesman for Steinberg, said the measure is not retroactive and thus would not affect the suspensions already in place against Roderick, Calderon and Yee.
The proposal, the subject of a hearing on Tuesday before the state Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, must be adopted by a two-thirds vote in both houses of the Legislature and approved by voters to be enacted.
( Source: reuters.com )