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Sunday, November 3, 2013

AND More on the Breaking Scandal: Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee and the Calderon Scandal

Capitol and California - Political, Government and Election News - The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, California
Top Ron Calderon Articles see all Los Angeles Times
Exclusive: Hollywood sting | Al Jazeera America 

Rhee-lated $tory: Michelle Rhee answers Ravitch in New Book

al$o $ee Rhee-lated $tory: Excerpts from "Rhee The Art of the Deal" a new $tory about Corporate Education Reform and the Woman that make$ it Happen!

Top Ron Calderon Articles see all


  • FBI agent targeting lawmaker apparently contacted Huizar's office

    FBI agent targeting lawmaker apparently contacted Huizar's office
    A man posing as a studio executive, but apparently actually working as an undercover FBI agent targeting State Sen. Ron Calderon, contacted Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar's office last year with questions about city permits.
  • Federal prosecutor probing Calderon is used to high-profile cases

    Federal prosecutor probing Calderon is used to high-profile cases
    SACRAMENTO -- A federal prosecutor who led the investigation into doping allegations involving Lance Armstrong and others in professional cycling is also one of the attorneys in charge of the current corruption probe involving state Sen. Ronald S....

    Assemblywoman Garcia calls for Sen. Calderon to resign

    Assemblywoman Garcia calls for Sen. Calderon to resign
    SACRAMENTO -- State Assemblywoman Christina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) called Friday for state Sen. Ronald S. Calderon (D-Montebello) to resign after a cable TV network reported allegations that he accepted $40,000 in bribes from an undercover FBI agent as...

    Affidavits are key to corruption cases, former FBI agent says

    Affidavits are key to corruption cases, former FBI agent says
    SACRAMENTO -- When it comes to a federal corruption case, there are few things more important than an affidavit, according to former FBI agent James Wedick. The affidavit, a sworn statement made in support of an investigation, can be "90% of your case,"...

    Lawmakers distance themselves from Calderon

    Lawmakers distance themselves from Calderon
    SACRAMENTO — California legislators scrambled Thursday to distance themselves from allegations of bribery and corruption against Democratic Sen. Ronald Calderon of Montebello, a day after details of a federal probe of his activities aired on a...

Dan Morain: Two cases represent different faces of the dark sides of political money

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 10:00 PMCalderon has been using money to live large since he arrived in Sacramento.
News

Dan Morain: Two cases represent different faces of the dark sides of political money

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 10:00 PMCalderon has been using money to live large since he arrived in Sacramento.
News

Who is Michael Drobot? Leaked affidavit touches on beleaguered donor

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 1:00 AMDuring his regular conversations with a supposed film executive who was an undercover FBI agent, Calif. state Sen. Ron Calderon talked repeatedly about his friend who owned a hospital in Long Beach.
News

Who is Michael Drobot? Leaked affidavit touches on embattled donor

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMDuring his regular conversations with a supposed film executive who was an undercover FBI agent, Sen. Ron Calderon talked repeatedly about his friend who owned a hospital in Long Beach.
News

The Buzz: FBI’s Capitol undercover operations included venture capitalists

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMThe elaborate FBI sting involving an undercover agent posing as a film studio owner who offered bribes to state Sen. Ron Calderon was not the first time the agency investigated the Montebello Democrat.
News

The Buzz: FBI’s Capitol undercover operations included venture capitalists

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMThe elaborate FBI sting involving an undercover agent posing as a film studio owner who offered bribes to state Sen. Ron Calderon was not the first time the agency investigated the Montebello Democrat.
News

Who is Michael Drobot? Leaked affidavit touches on embattled donor

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 12:00 AMDuring his regular conversations with a supposed film executive who was an undercover FBI agent, Sen. Ron Calderon talked repeatedly about his friend who owned a hospital in Long Beach.
News

Capitol Alert: Calls begin for Sen. Ron Calderon to resign his seat

Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6:53 PMA freshman lawmaker who rose through the ranks as an anti-corruption crusader has called on besieged Sen. Ron Calderon to resign his seat over allegations that he took bribes in exchange for political favors.
News

Steinberg: Ron Calderon was unsuited for California Film Commission

Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6:17 PMLawmakers took an extraordinary step to remove embattled Sen. Ron Calderon from the California Film Commission, a post he was entitled to hold until at least the end of his term.
News

Steinberg: Ron Calderon was unsuited for California Film Commission

Friday, November 1, 2013 at 6:17 PMLawmakers took an extraordinary step to remove embattled Sen. Ron Calderon from the California Film Commission, a post he was entitled to hold until at least the end of his term.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/search_results?q=+Sen.+Ron+Calderon%2C&aff=1100#storylink=cpy

Exclusive: Hollywood sting

October 30, 2013  9:00PM ET
FBI investigation of a California political dynasty uncovers alleged bribery and corruption in the shadows of Tinseltown
Topics:
 
Politics
 
Crime
 
Law & Justice
Watch Part 2 of Al Jazeera's investigation here.
LOS ANGELES — Ronald Calderon is a powerful state senator in California who holds sway over the glamorous Hollywood movie industry. He is also, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a politician on the take.
A hefty 56-year-old Democrat with salt-and-pepper hair, Calderon has been a red-carpet star in California politics for more than a decade. As an assemblyman and now a state senator representing suburban Los Angeles, he has established a well-earned reputation for spending campaign money and taxpayer funds on himself.
He’s used campaign cash to cover the finer things in life — plush golf outings, lavish trips to Cuba and Las Vegas, meals at exclusive restaurants and hotels. When California offered to purchase cars for the state’s elected officials, Calderon chose the most expensive one: a $54,830 Cadillac STS V8 luxury sedan.



Calderon



Click for more on The Calderon Dynasty
 

But his days as a big spender may soon be over. The FBI is hot on his trail in an investigation that could become California’s biggest legislative scandal in more than two decades and could signal the downfall of a political dynasty. The FBI employed an undercover sting for more than a year that ended when agents raided the senator’s office in Sacramento in June.
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit subsequently learned of the secret operation. This account is based on a 124-page affidavit, still under seal, filed by the FBI in U.S. District Court in Sacramento in support of a search warrant used in the raid.
The names of several other senators, including the Senate president and the chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, have surfaced in the case, although none has been implicated.
The document lays out a sordid tale of alleged bribery and corruption. Undercover FBI agents posed as independent movie executives interested in taking advantage of a program in which films with budgets of $1 million or more are eligible for special tax credits. The agents, focusing on Calderon, asked the senator to help lower the budget threshold to $500,000. Calderon, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on California's Film and Television Industries, agreed to help lower it to $750,000 but wanted financial assistance provided to his grown children, the affidavit says.
On June 21, 2012, for instance, in a restaurant in Pico Rivera, Calif., outside Los Angeles, Calderon said he could lower the budget threshold if the movie executive would hire his daughter, Jessica.
“There might be a play, you know, to lower the tax credit.” He went on: “Any help you could do forAl Jazeera Investigates: The Calderon Dynasty

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