Sen. Alvarado-Gil’s harassment allegations rekindle the corrupt side of the Capitol | Opinion

State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil of Amador County finds herself in some legal trouble, with her former chief-of-staff challenging her in court for sexual harassment and a serious back injury resulting from allegedly granting the senator a sexual favor.

While her attorney denies wrongdoing, the scent of potential scandal is back in the Sacramento air. It is an all-too-familiar fragrance.

Alvarado-Gil’s allegations bring back memories of the 2009 sex talk tape former Orange County Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who ultimately resigned. There was the 2019 finding by the Assembly of sexual harassment against Los Angeles Assemblyman Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, who soon resigned from the chamber as well. And there were the 2017 harassment and assault allegations against fellow Los Angeles Democrat Matt Dababneh, who then retreated from public office.

Sacramento doesn’t confine wrongdoing solely to sexual matters. Take, for example, corruption.

The 2015 guilty plea by former State Senator Leland Yee admitted to racketeering after an investigation into his ties to organized crime led by an associate known as “Shrimp Boy.” And who can forget the 24 criminal charges filed against Montebello State Senator Ron Calderon in 2014 after a lengthy federal investigation, leading to his suspension from the upper chamber?

Having watched hundreds of elected officials in my career, I do not doubt that at some point before the actions that got them into trouble, these leaders became less concerned about their communities and more about their per diem, prestigious office space, and the perks of office. They eventually changed, just in the wrong way.

Experts have dissected the crime of fraud as a triangle. There is a pressure to commit fraud, an opportunity to commit fraud, and the ability to rationalize that it is not inconsistent with one’s values. The ingredients of financial fraud are similar to Sacramento’s political scandals.

While Alvarado-Gil’s case has yet to be decided in a court of law, previous legislators have demonstrated that the Capitol can be ripe with the opportunity to misbehave. Legislators are sometimes surrounded by people in their work environment and communities who make way more money than they do. They also, if they are doing their jobs appropriately, have underappreciated demands on their time and energy. Some legislators wind up wanting things things. They may want to improve their communities, but they may also want money, junkets, sex, or status.

Legislators have unusual power. They can hire, fire, and promote. And they can influence legislation on almost every topic if they want to insert themselves into a fight.

Most resist heading down a dark path. At some point, elected officials who go awry flip the switch from serving their communities to serving themselves. When that happens, bad things start to snowball.

I don’t think Senator Yee, for example, started his career wanting to accept bribes or conspire to purchase and illegally import guns from the Philippines to the U.S. At some point, he justified this in his mind despite his record of voting for gun control. Hanging out with someone named Shrimp Boy should have been a warning. (Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow is serving a life sentence in federal prison for murder and racketeering, among other charges.)

As for the inappropriate things Assemblyman Duvall said about sexual conquests in an open microphone while in session, they were horrible. Somewhere down the line, he rationalized his conduct as a perk of his status.

Public office is supposed to be about serving your community. But for some, losing the meaning of serving can start very small at first. Then they start pushing the limit. Then they lose control.

Many years ago a friend told me that whatever age you are when you get elected to a significant office is where you stay developmentally until you leave office. While you are in the Capitol you don’t get the normal verbal and nonverbal cues everyone else does. So if you get elected to the Legislature at 28 years old, you are still 28 in intellectual maturity on the day you leave office. We see more evidence all the time that this may be true.

When they get to the point where the office is about them and not about the people they serve, it is time for them to move on to something else.

This story was originally published September 26, 2024 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Sen. Alvarado-Gil’s harassment allegations rekindle the corrupt side of the Capitol | Opinion."