California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is reportedly considering nominating Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg for a key state judicial post, even though Steinberg presided over the State Senate during a deeply corrupt era.
As Breitbart News noted in 2016, Steinberg was the President pro tem as one Democrat after another was hit with scandals and criminal indictments — and he tried to stop his fellow Democrats from being held to account:
State Senator Leland Yee became the third Democrat in the legislature’s upper chamber to become embroiled in criminal wrong-doing, with the federal government charging Yee with gun-running, illegal sale of firearms, of taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash bribes, and more.
The previous month, State Senator Ron Calderon had been indicted by the federal government on bribery and corruption charges. A month before that, State Senator Rod Wright was convicted by a jury of multiple felony counts of voter fraud and perjury.
Then-State Senate President Darrell Steinberg was part of a bi-partisan Capitol establishment which largely looked the other way, permitting Wright to serve after being charged, and–incredibly–after being found guilty. Calderon was also allowed to continue to serve despite his high-profile charges. Public calls by several Republican Senators to take action, including a formal resolution to expel Wright, were buried by Steinberg and not permitted to come to a vote. It wasn’t until Yee was indicted that finally the pressure on the State Senate leadership was such that they were forced to act.
On Tuesday, Politico reported that Newsom is thinking of appointing Steinberg to the Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento, and had sent out legal questionnaires to members of the California State Bar. Steinberg confirmed his interest in the job, Politico reported, though he has two years left in his second term as mayor.
Politico gave a glowing report on Steinberg’s legislative efforts without mentioning the scandals on his watch.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.