The California Labor Federation, the State Building and Construction Trades Council, the Sierra Club, and the Planning and Conservation League, are urging State Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. to investigate Republicans in the Legislature who, according to press reports, are trying to trade favorable votes on the budget for agreements to weaken worker protection laws and environmental regulations.
Here is the text of the letter:
Dear Attorney General Brown:
We are writing to request an immediate investigation into potential public corruption-related to current legislative budget negotiations.
As has been reported in the press, Republican legislative leadership are withholding their votes on a state budget as they attempt to extract votes on policy matters unrelated to the budget. Specifically, they have demanded that legislators vote for proposals to weaken labor and environmental standards as a condition for any “aye” vote from Republican caucus members on the overall budget.
These actions also appear to be in violation of Penal Code Section 86, which makes it a felony for a legislator to engage in this type of conduct.
Section 86 reads “Every Member of either house of the Legislature…who asks receives, or agrees to receive, any bribe, upon any understanding that his or her official vote, opinion, judgment, or action shall be influenced thereby, or shall give, in any particular manner, or upon any particular side of any question, or matter upon which he or she may be required to act in his or her official capacity, or gives, or offers or promises to give, any official vote in consideration that another Member of the Legislature shall give this vote either upon the same or another question, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years…”
This section prohibits any legislator from giving or offering to give his or her vote in exchange for another legislator’s vote on the same or a different matter. The budget negotiations, both as reported privately and publicly, clearly violate this anti-bribery statute.
Vote trading is illegal under any circumstance. Vote trading during this deep fiscal crisis is unconscionable. Political gamesmanship threatens the livelihood of millions of California taxpayers, workers, and vendors.
We, the undersigned, write to urge you to immediately begin an investigation as to the illegal vote trading that the Republican leadership has engaged in. Because of the pressing nature of the budget negotiations, we ask that you expedite such investigation.
Sincerely,
ART PULASKI
Executive Secretary Treasurer, California Labor Federation
BOB BALGENORTH
President
State Building & Construction Trades Council
BILL MAGAVERN
Director, Sierra Club California
TINA ANDOLINA
Legislative Director
Planning & Conservation League