Conservative California lawmakers resigns amid sex scandal

Add former California Assemblymember Michael Duvall [R-Yorba Linda] to the ever-growing list of socially conservative lawmakers who amount to nothing more than self-righteous hypocrites!

Duvall resigned earlier today after a Los Angeles television station broadcast audio tapes of comments he made during a "committee meeting in Sacramento held earlier this summer" about having sex with two younger women. A hot microphone caught them on tape. And KCAL reporter Dave Lopez described both women as "married lobbyists in Sacramento."

Duvall backed Proposition 8, and garnered an endorsement from Capital Resources Institute. The organization was all too quick to distance itself from the scandal-plaque former legislator.

"It is always disappointing when a champion of traditional values does not practice the same in his private life," CRI executive director Karen England said. And this appears to be the case with Assemblyman Duvall. Assemblyman Duvall was one of just a few California legislators to receive a 100% on CRI's annual scorecard. But CRI only tabulates votes. It was left to Mr. Duvall to reveal if those values are part of his own life."

Duvall himself announced his resignation in a one paragraph statement, but Rick Jacobs of the Courage Campaign has called for state Attorney General Jerry Brown to launch an investigation.

"This isn't just a sex scandal, it's a corruption scandal," Jacobs said. "A vice-chairman of the Committee on Utilities and Commerce was literally in bed with Sempra Energy's lobbyist. Assemblyman Duvall's 'sex for votes' affairs have cheated Californians out of honest government. We call on the attorney general to investigate Mr. Duvall to see if he can be prosecuted for selling his votes."

Jacobs applauded Duvall's decision to resign, but he blasted the conservative organizations that backed him.

"If Assemblyman Duvall is who conservative groups hold up as their ideal legislator, it shows how shallow their standards are," Jacobs said. "While Assemblyman Duvall has been fighting to make marriage a privilege for heterosexual couples only, he's been making a mockery of the institution in the California State Assembly, bragging to other elected officials about raunchy details of his affairs."

Indeed!