There are already whistleblower protections in law that shield the state’s executive and judicial employees who report unethical activity, yet legislative staff does not have the same protections from retaliation.

In 2014, Democratic state Sens. Roderick Wright of Inglewood, Leland Yee of San Francisco and Ron Calderon of Montebello, were all suspended without pay after Wright was convicted of felony perjury and election fraud and the other two were brought up on federal corruption charges. 

The bill has passed the Assembly three times, only to die in the Senate Appropriations Committee, which, like the rest of the Legislature, is strongly controlled by Democrats.

“It is clear the Democrats do not want to stand up to corruption,” Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, the bill’s sponsor, said in a statement. “It’s also clear they want to continue to protect one another as their former caucus members prepare to serve prison sentences,” Melendez said.

In a statement to CalWatchdog, Rendon, a Paramount Democrat, condemned domestic violence, but said he will not seek action at this time against Hernández, a Democrat from West Covina. 

It was just last month when Rendon announced his leadership team, which included Hernández atop the Labor and Employment Committee, the same leadership role he was in under Rendon’s predecessor, Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. 

“Since the temporary restraining order was filed against Assemblymember Hernández last week, there have been several conversations about what the next steps should be,” Rendon said. “If the allegations are more fully validated, I will be prepared to take further action.”

Calls to step aside

On Thursday, the Democratic chair and vice chair of the women’s caucus, Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson of Santa Barbara and Asm. Cristina Garcia of Bell Gardens, issued a statement calling for Hernández to step down until the matter with his estranged wife, Baldwin Park City Councilwoman Susan Rubio, is resolved.

“In the wake of the serious allegations against Assemblymember Roger Hernández, we believe he should step down from his committee assignments and his position as chair of the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee while his case is pending in court and take a leave of absence,” Jackson and Garcia wrote.

“While a determination is still pending on these most recent allegations and we respect his right to due process, it’s important that the Legislature send a strong and consistent message to victims about our commitment to confronting domestic violence and demonstrate that we take allegations seriously when they occur among one of our own,” Jackson and Garcia added. 

Rendon did not expand on what would constitute “more fully validated,” but no charges have been filed against Hernández. The situation places the new speaker in an awkward position between being cautious and appearing to set a soft behavioral standard for members.

“(Rendon) should have anticipated that such a problem would come up,” said John J. Pitney, Jr., a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College. “It is not exactly unprecedented for California legislators to face accusations of bad behavior.”

What’s been alleged

Rubio is alleging that Hernández — who is seeking a seat in Congress — pushed, shoved, hit and choked her during their marriage, according to the Los Angeles Times. The couple is 16 months into divorce proceedings.

After an April 5 divorce hearing, Rubio alleges that Hernández “came ‘aggressively’ toward her and began shouting in her face,” prompting her to seek a restraining order. In the filing, Rubio included pictures of a bruised and scratched arm, the Times reported.  

Hernández denied the allegations to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday and other outlets and said he will not take a leave of absence or step aside from committee responsibilities.

Hernández was re-elected to a third and final term in 2014, beating his opponent by 9 points. 

Mostly quiet 

Besides Jackson, Garcia and one Republican assemblyman who has been calling for Hernández to be stripped of his chairmanship since he had security forcibly remove the Republican’s microphone at a committee hearing, other lawmakers have been quiet, as have outside groups.

In a long statement condemning domestic violence, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence issued a statement of “concern” about the situation, but refused to take a position “(b)ecause the case at hand is open and ongoing, we do not have all the facts and cannot presume the nature of the evidence, nor the legal implications thereof.”

Troubles in the other chamber

Not that long ago, several Democratic senators ran afoul of the law. All were eventually convicted, unlike Hernández, who has not been charged. Although some were removed from leadership roles at the first sign of trouble. 

Sen. Roderick Wright of Inglewood was convicted of multiple voter fraud felonies, according to the Los Angeles Times. During the appeals process, he was removed from his committee chairmanship. 

Sen. Ron Calderon of Bell Gardens was removed from the executive board of the California Latino Legislative Caucus and from his legislative committee assignments after allegations of bribery surfaced. He had not been charged with any crimes at the time, but eventually took a leave of absence after federal corruption charges were filed. 

The apex of trouble was when Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco was indicted on charges of gun trafficking and public corruption (while in cahoots with a gangster named Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow). Yee was immediately stripped of all of his committee assignments. 

At the time, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, had had enough. “Every indictment, every arrest, every arraignment and even every suspicion or allegation reflects very poorly on each of us and all of us,” Leno said at the time.

Leno did not respond to requests for comment on Friday about whether those feelings remained and if they applied to Hernández.

History

It’s not the first time Hernández has been accused of wrongdoing. In 2012, an ex-girlfriend accused him of domestic violence, although charges were never filed due to insufficient evidence. 

That same year, Hernández was arrested for drunk driving in a state vehicle, but was acquitted by a jury on one charge, while the jury was hung on another. 

In 2015, allegations of political money laundering against Hernández were dropped by the Fair Political Practices Commission after two key witnesses were unable to testify — one had serious medical issues while the other had passed away. 

Yee was not the initial target of what has been described as a “massive sting operation” launched by the Justice Department centering on Bay Area politics. Instead, he was only ensnared in a bribery probe involving a fake, FBI-created software firm seeking government contracts, which led to the discovery of his other crimes.

Meanwhile, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon is building off the FBI’s probe with his own prosecutions. In late January, he announced that two former employees with the city’s Human Rights Commission had been arrested for allegedly trying to sell access to Mayor Ed Lee. Nazly Mohajer, a former agency commissioner, and Zula Jones, a former staffer, allegedly took $20,000 from an undercover agent.

Although he met with the undercover agent, Mayor Lee has strenuously denied any role in the alleged bribery and money-laundering. But the fact that Mohajer and Jones were taped discussing how to break the money into smaller amounts to surreptitiously pay off Lee’s 2011 campaign debts has added to the loud whispering campaign that suggests the San Francisco mayor may be the FBI’s — and/or Gascon’s — ultimate target.

The FBI’s initial target was Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, a leader of a San Francisco-based gang that had ties to Chinese business groups and politicians, including Lee. Chow was convicted in January on federal racketeering charges after his defense — claiming to be a reformed ex-criminal turned humanitarian and businessman — fell short.

It is not clear what sort of arrangement that the FBI and Gascon have — whether certain crimes will be prosecuted by the Justice Department and others by the San Francisco DA. But the most intense focus of the past month has been on Gascon’s attempts to keep a file of evidence related to the charges announced in January from being disclosed. He has so far persuaded a federal judge to keep it under wraps, arguing that its disclosure would reveal undercover agents and ruin promising corruption investigations.

“The evidence is a time bomb waiting to explode,” declared city Public Defender Jeff Adachi, who speculated that Lee or a member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors might be implicated.

Lee appears to think he’s the target, or a target, of the investigations. According to campaign records, he spent $19,000 of his political funds last year on criminal defense attorneys. This year, he’s used allies to depict Gascon as launching a politically motivated smear effort.

Democratic strategist Nathan Ballard described Gascon as a craven publicity hound in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times.

“If the DA has the goods on Mayor Lee, he already would have come out with it. There has never been one credibly sourced allegation of pay-to-play being brought forward,” Ballard told the Times.

But Gascon is winning plaudits from San Francisco’s alternative media, which has long seen the city as a hotbed of corruption and phony progressives.

The SF Weekly recently praised the Cuban-American DA for blasting Police Chief Greg Suhr — and Mayor Lee — for allegedly blocking attempts to reduce misconduct within San Francisco police ranks. The department has drawn sharp criticism since the Dec. 2 shooting death of stabbing suspect Mario Woods.

Though police had credible reason to believe Woods was armed and dangerous, cellphone video of him being shot as he walked away from officers has generated raucous protests.

While dozens of measures are vying to make it on the November general election ballot, one proposal is ready for the June primary — even though no one is campaigning for or against it.

Proposition 50 is a constitutional amendment empowering legislators to suspend other legislators without pay with a two-thirds vote of the respective chamber.

The measure is in response to three suspensions with pay in 2014: Democratic state Sens. Roderick Wright of Inglewood, Leland Yee of San Francisco and Ron Calderon of Montebello. Wright was suspended after being convicted of felony perjury and election fraud and the other two were suspended after federal corruption charges were filed.

The measure has a good chance of passing, as public perception of the Legislature took a hit following the rash of incidents in 2014 (in February of 2015, it rebounded a bit but was still in the low 40 percent range).

“From a voter’s perspective, it’s pretty straight forward,” said Kathay Feng, the executive director of the good government group California Common Cause. “There’s not much love for misbehaving legislators.”

Feng said some may question whether this measure violates the spirit of innocent until proven guilty, but others are sure this won’t be an issue.

“Guilty until proven innocent when it comes to legislators,” said Steven Maviglio, a Democratic campaign strategist, noting that the measure is “totally non-controversial.”

Politics and Process

The measure doesn’t have any opponents actively fighting it. But no one is pushing for it either. When contacted by CalWatchdog, former Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who introduced the measure, deferred through an aide to sitting senators or the Senate Rules Committee for more info.

But sitting senators would refer it to an outside group to handle the campaign, yet no such committee has been formed. No one is campaigning for it.

“All of the people who were originally involved seemed to have left this as an orphan for somebody else,” said Feng.

If the measure’s passage is truly inevitable — a slam dunk — then there may be little need to push for it, especially in the absence of opposition. But some observers say it could be that the pressure is off now that no one is in trouble.

“Out of sight, out of mind,” said John J. Pitney, Jr., a Roy P. Crocker professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College. “The idea may regain currency if another legislator gets into major trouble, but until then it is in the political memory hole.”

The measure will appear on the June ballot because it is a constitutional amendment added by the Legislature. Measures that go through the signature gathering process can only appear on the November general election ballot — of which it appears there will be plenty.

How Else Can They Be Punished?

Besides suspension, legislators have other punitive actions they can take against lawmakers, although they are rarely used.

According to Alex Vassar, who runs the California political website One Voter Project, censure (it’s basically a public shaming by peers) was last used in 1982 to strongly condemn comments made about abortion rights protesters by O.C. Republican John G. Schmitz.

Expulsion, according to Vassar, was last used in 1905 against legislators colluding to solicit bribes (Wright was threatened with an expulsion vote). And members can also be stripped of committee assignments, which was used last with Yee, Wright and Calderon.

The Times reported:

If no candidate wins 50% of the vote plus one, a runoff election will be held Feb. 10.

Three candidates have already emerged for the contest: Assemblyman Isadore Hall III (D-Compton), Assemblyman Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) and perennial runner-up candidate Merv Evans, a Democrat who received 27% of the vote in his last challenge to Bradford.

Currently, the website for SD35 holds just placeholder information:

Constituent Services

Staff are available to assist you with information and services.

When you have an issue with a state agency or need information on state legislation, the office can be of service. Getting your questions answered and problems solved are only two of the ways the office can help. The District Offices can help you find and work though government forms, provide information on legislation, or assist you in dealing with state agencies.

Wright is the only one to resign of the three Democratic state senators indicted this year on corruption charges. According to the Chronicle:

Sen. Leland Yee, a San Francisco Democrat, and Sen. Ron Calderon, a Los Angeles-area Democrat, are facing unrelated federal corruption charges. Like Wright, they were suspended but continue to hold office with full pay, making them of no use to constituents.

The three cases have been casting a shadow across the state Capitol.

The cases also have prevented Democrats from keeping the supermajority they won in the 2012 State senate elections. Although Wright’s replacement also will be a Democrat, if the replacement election will be drawn out to Feb. 10, the return to supermajority status might be delayed until then — or even later if the other two corruption cases remain unresolved.

It’s also possible Republicans might pick up a couple state Senate seats on Nov. 4, preventing the Democratic supermajority no matter the disposition of the three corruption controversies. Indeed, the election might show that the tainting of Democrats by these three scandals cost them some legislative seats.

In the L.A. Times, Mark Z. Barack came up with the most plausible answer: Voters just weren’t paying attention in ballot cluttered with statewide offices. Yee might even have been confused with Betty Yee, who barely lost in the race for controller, but receive major endorsements.

Here’s a solution: Reduce the number of statewide offices, currently numbering eight, to two.

The governor’s office would remain, but the lieutenant governor’s office is so superfluous even the incumbent, Democrat Gavin Newsom, suggested it should be eliminated. Let’s do it.

The insurance commissioner’s job and office were instituted by Proposition 103 in 1998, which was written by Harvey Rosenfield to give his group, Consumer Watchdog, something to do. He left the group in 2004 but continued consulting with it. Democratic operative Steve Maviglio revealed in 2011 that Rosenfield was pulling down $450,000 a year. Insurance regulation could be put back in the governor’s office, making the governor ultimately responsible.

Attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, controller, secretary of state and treasurer also could be put in the governor’s cabinet, again making the governor responsible. That’s how we do it at the federal level. We elect a president, who then appoints the other cabinet positions.

Such a reform also would reduce the independent power bases the leaders of these departments form, multiplying bureaucracies across the state and increasing their expense.

Then no one would mistake “Uncle Leland” for a viable candidate.

But I just got in the mail Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s “California Statewide Direct Primary Election Tuesday, June 3, 2014 Official Voter Information Guide.”

Although he has dropped out of the race, the Guide still includes Lee’s Candidate Statement in his bid to be the next secretary of state, which also is online.

Here’s the amusing sentence, “Under the Constitution, the Secretary of State’s job is to empower Californians to govern California, to guarantee fair elections, expose special interests, and prevent corruption.”

Oh, well.

The rest of his statement is standard Democratic boilerplate, interspersed with him writing several times, “It’s your California.” Which also is the name of his website, still online for now, to make it easier to register to vote.

The P.C. Democratic boilerplate brings up, “a place of exclusion to one of inclusion….end tuition discrimination against immigrant college students…. struggle for marriage equality….finally raising the disgracefully low minimum wage….”

In a Wednesday afternoon email (reprinted at the end of this article), Kathy Dresslar, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg‘s chief of staff, requested that Senators, committee staff and Capitol office employees “clear their calendars for this one day to devote to the ethics training and discussion which is being planned.”

“All Committees that were scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 will be postponed until the following day, with the exception of Senate Budget Sub 1, which is being postponed until the following week,” Dresslar wrote in her email to Senate chiefs of staff. “Senate Rules Committee is being rescheduled earlier to Monday, 4/21.”

Steinberg: No ethics class on gun-running

The Senate Ethics Discussion and Training day comes as three suspended members of the State Senate face ongoing criminal charges ranging from weapons trafficking to public corruption. The most serious of the three cases surfaced in late March, when the FBI arrested Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, on weapons trafficking and pubic corruption charges.

Allegedly referred to as “Uncle Leland” by his co-conspirators, the San Francisco Democrat allegedly offered to smuggle millions of dollars worth of automatic weapons into the United States from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, according to the FBI affidavit.

In February, state Senator Ron Calderon was charged with a 24-count indictment in connection with bribery and corruption. In January, state Senator Rod Wright, D-Inglewood was found guilty of eight counts of felony voter fraud, perjury and filing a false declaration of candidacy. Wright’s case did not involve any allegations of bribery or corruption.

Following Yee’s arrest, Steinberg called upon “our entire body to take a deeper look at our culture.” But he has also recognized the limits of an ethics review.

“I know of no ethics class that teaches about the illegality and the danger of gun-running,” Steinberg said during the Senate’s debate over whether to suspend the members with pay.

Canceled Pro Tem Cup, kept money, and deleted websites

The Senate has been mixed in its response to the scandals. Earlier this month, Senate Democrats canceled a luxurious annual fundraising event, known as the Pro Tem Cup, citing the “recent and extraordinary breaches of the public’s trust” by three Democratic state senators as the reason.

However, the Senate Democrats also kept the campaign cash, and in place of the golf tournament, personally called each of the event sponsors.

Over the weekend, the California State Senate scrubbed the websites and online archives of the three Senators that face criminal charges.

In addition to pictures and video clips, the websites contained detailed information about the senators’ legislative achievements and ties, which could shed light on past deals or questionable votes. Although some of the information, such as bill language and votes, remains available on other websites, the individual pages acted as a repository or central clearinghouse for information about the Senators.

Email: State Senate Ethics Discussion and Training on April 23

The following is the complete text of Kathryn Dresslar’s memo on Senate ethics training:

From: Kathryn Dresslar

Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014

Subject: Ethics Discussion/Training – Wednesday, April 23

Hello everyone:

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Senate Ethics Discussion and Training for all Senators, their Capitol offices and Committee offices will take place on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Dana Callison will be sending out a more detailed memo soon, but I wanted you to know that the pro Tem is requesting that Members and staff clear their calendars for this one day to devote to the ethics training and discussion which is being planned.

All Committees that were scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 will be postponed until the following day, with the exception of Senate Budget Sub 1, which is being postponed until the following week. Senate Rules Committee is being rescheduled earlier to Monday, 4/21.

Following is a list of hearing room assignments for the Committee hearings that will convene on
Thursday, April 24:

COMMITTEE ROOM
Education 4203 – upon adj. of session
Health 4203 – upon adj. of Education

Labor 2040 – upon adj. of session
Agriculture 2040 – upon adj of Labor

Governance and Finance 112 – upon adj of session
Insurance 112 – upon adj of G and F

Budget Subcommittee #5
(Corrections, Public Safety, & Judiciary) 113 – upon adj of session

Budget Subcommittee #2
(Resources, et al) 3191 – upon adj of session

Budget Subcommittee #3 4202 (ASSEMBLY HEARING ROOM) – 1:30 p.m.

As I mentioned, we will send more details as they are available, but wanted you to clear the calendars for Wednesday, April 23 for Members staff.

As of April 5 at 7:00 PM, the websites of Democratic Sens. Leland Yee of San Francisco, Ron Calderon of Montebello, and Rod Wright of Inglewood, all of whom have been placed on paid leave, no longer include any mention of the disgraced lawmakers. The website removal is a devastating blow to journalists and members of the public who will no longer be able to investigate past votes, bills and legislative connections of the disgraced lawmakers.

Attempt to cover up for other State Senators?

Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, has admitted that he was served with a subpoena in the Ron Calderon corruption case. De Leon, who is mentioned 49 times in the FBI’s 124-page complaint against Calderon, is believed to have arranged a $25,000 payment from the Latino Caucus to a nonprofit controlled by Ron Calderon’s brother, Tom. It remains unclear why the State Senate deleted the web archives of the disgraced Senators. However, several other California lawmakers have been cited in the ongoing public corruption cases involving Yee and Calderon. “As set forth below, Senator de Leon caused $25,000 to be contributed to Californians for Diversity, the California corporation controlled by Thomas Calderon in exchange for Ronald Calderon not to challenge Senator Lara to become the Chairman of the Latino Caucus,” the FBI affidavit states.

Kevin de Leon: CA Senate “Best Legislative Institution in the Country”

The maneuver comes within days of de Leon declaring that the California State Senate is the best institution in the country. “There is no greater political legislative body in this land than the California State Legislature … and that includes the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate,” de Leon said during the Senate’s recent debate to suspend the senators with pay. “This is an amazing legislative body, a body I love. You are all fine individuals.” “This is the best legislative institution in the country, hands down,” he said. “We’re going through very difficult times, and we’re going to get past this.” De Leon isn’t alone in having a motivation to wipe the online records of the State Senate. Last month, Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff disclosed that he potentially met with an undercover FBI agent as a part of the Yee investigation.

Thwart public, press from investigating

In addition to pictures and video clips, the websites also contained substantial information detailing the Senators’ votes and known legislative ties, which could implicate other members of the Senate. In contrast to his public image as a gun control advocate, Yee had never successfully passed a gun control bill during his 11 year career in the state legislature, as reported by CalWatchdog.com. Other outlets, including the San Francisco Chronicle, have published Yee’s most hypocritical press releases. Paradoxically, Yee, who has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists for his work in open government, had assembled one of the Legislature’s most comprehensive and detailed web archives.

Misinformation, revisionist history by CA State Senate

In addition to deleting information, the State Senate has provided a misleading explanation for the absence of a direct reference to Yee. “SD8 is considered an accelerated area currently represented by Senator Mark Leno and Senator Jerry Hill,” the website for the 8th State Senate district now reads. “These unique circumstances create some areas of overlap between the old and new districts (‘accelerated areas’) and some areas without coverage (‘deferred areas’).” It is unclear whether the web archives for the Senators have been permanently deleted or the public’s access to specific files has been revoked. Attempts to access Wright’s biography at the web address, “http://sd35.senate.ca.gov/biography” produced a response that read, “Access denied. You are not authorized to access this page.” However, other web pages, such as the press release section of Ron Calderon’s website, delivered a webpage that read, “PAGE NOT FOUND. The requested page could not be found.”

State Senate did not respond to request for comment

A spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg did not respond to an email request for comment Saturday night. Referred to as “Uncle Leland” by his co-conspirators, Yee allegedly offered to smuggle millions of dollars’ worth of automatic weapons into the United States from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines in exchange for campaign contributions, according to the FBI affidavit. In February, Calderon was charged with a 24-count indictment in connection with bribery and corruption. In January, Wright was found guilty of eight felonies in connection with living outside of his district. Wright’s case did not involve any allegations or bribery or corruption.

Senator Leland Yee Deleted from State Senate 8 Website

Senator Ron Calderon Deleted from State Senate 30 Website

Senator Rod Wright Deleted from State Senate 35 Website

Before you answer, here’s a surprising fact: The San Francisco Democrat, who has been called one of California’s leading gun-control advocates, has never successfully authored a gun-control bill. Not a single gun bill authored by Yee has been signed into law.

During his 11 years in the state Legislature, currently as a state senator, Yee authored 181 bills, of which 138 bills were eventually signed into law. Not a single one of these signed bills was related to gun control, according to an analysis of his legislative accomplishments.

It’s true that Yee has repeatedly proposed gun-control bills, including a ban on assault weapons, 3-D printing of weapons and “bullet buttons.” None of these proposals has been implemented.

2013: Yee failed to pass gun control “study bill”

Yee, who was arrested on March 26 on weapons trafficking and public corruption charges, has been surprisingly ineffective at turning his headline-making-gun-grabbing into law. He has even struggled to convince his colleagues to pass minor gun-control proposals.

In 2013, he authored a bill to require safe storage of firearms. When Senate Bill 108 failed to gain traction, it was turned into a study bill. Even that minor “study” bill died in the State Assembly.

And his legislative ineffectiveness with respect to gun control isn’t the result of overall legislative ineffectiveness. Yee has a high overall success rate, having gotten 138 bills signed into law during his 11-year career in the Legislature.

Moreover, his legislative successes have included controversial proposals, such as an unconstitutional ban on the sale of violent video games in 2005; and a 2012 law that grants juveniles sentenced to life without parole an opportunity for a rehearing.

Gun-control group: Leland Yee California’s “2nd most outspoken gun-control advocate”

Yee’s surprising ineffectiveness with respect to gun-control legislation hasn’t stopped gun-control groups from heralding him as a leader of the movement.

“Ironically, while he’s being charged with gun trafficking, next to [U.S. Sen.] Dianne Feinstein he was probably the second most outspoken gun-control advocate,” Paul Song, the executive chairman of Courage Campaign, told the Associated Press. “This really leaves us scrambling for someone to pick up that mantle.”

Throughout his career, Yee has been quick to grab the spotlight on gun control and use national tragedies for political gain. Shortly after the Newtown, Conn. shooting, he said, “The NRA’s response is pathetic and completely unacceptable.”

He also used the incident to push for two gun-control bills the following year.

“The horrors of Newtown, and countless other mass shootings are still with us,” Yee said in a 2013 press release on two of his gun-control bills. “With this in mind, it is our responsibility to make sure our laws protect the innocent from the threat of gun violence.”

Does Yee’s ineffectiveness spoil the irony?

Following Yee’s arrest and indictment, media outlets have been quick to point out the irony of a gun-control politician secretly running guns. The Huffington Post described Yee as the “California Senate’s Top Gun-Control Advocate.”

“Trying to stop gun trafficking while trafficking guns,” joked The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart. “That’s what’s known in the business as a win-win!”

About the only people who have noticed Yee’s ineffectiveness have been California’s leading Second Amendment advocacy group.

“It’s quite possible that Senator Yee’s civilian disarmament bills were really just a way to ensure the health and welfare of gangsters like Raymond ‘Shrimp Boy’ Chow,” said Brandon Combs, president of the California Association of Federal Firearms Licensees, which closely monitors California gun-control legislation.

He added, referring to the indictment of Yee and two other state senators — each on different charges, “At this rate, so many Democrats in the Legislature will be prohibited from having firearms that the caucus will soon have to use toy guns and Photoshop to pitch their anti-gun bills.” Convicted felons are banned from owning guns.

Referred to as “Uncle Leland” by those indicted as his co-conspirators, Yee allegedly offered to smuggle millions of dollars’ worth of automatic weapons into the United States from a Muslim separatist group in the Philippines, according to the FBI affidavit.