Posted on 03/03/2018 11:17:46 PM PST by blueplum
Special interests have continued to shower California legislators with hundreds of thousands of dollars in freebies, including foreign travel, golf games and concert tickets, as efforts to rein in gifts to elected state officials after a series of corruption scandals have stalled.
New filings show lawmakers also were given bottles of champagne and whiskey, cigars, flowers, neckties and makeup in 2017, continuing a trend of gift-giving with few limits that has not slowed after the bribery scandals that sent former Sens. Leland Yee and Ron Calderon to prison. {snip} The governor reported $44,000 in gifts, most to cover the costs of speaking trips to China, Russia, Belgium, France, Germany and Norway. Many were paid for by the nonprofit California State Protocol Foundation, a group funded by supporters, "to eliminate cost to taxpayers," according to his report.
State Senate leader Kevin de León, who is running for U.S. Senate, reported the most gifts of the legislative leaders. The Los Angeles Democrat accepted tickets to events and expensive dinners from Planned Parenthood, billionaire activist Tom Steyer and the Barona Band of Mission Indians, a casino operator, for a total of $9,700.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
That was more than a "bribery scandal"... that was arms smuggling.
Lavish gift giving is part and parcel to corrupt socialist and communist regimes such as China and Russia. You would expect it in the Socialist Peoples Republic of Mexifornia.
Lavish gifts = collusion
California legislators make Cook county look like a starter kit maybe the Mafia wants warmer weather?.
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