Sacramento Sex Scandal Offers Lessons About Hypocritical California Politics: New at Reason

There’s an ongoing sex scandal in state politics in California.

Steven Greenhut writes:

There are few areas of private life that California’s legislators won’t at least attempt to meddle in, which makes it that much more infuriating when the Capitol crowd can’t get its own house in order. I’m thinking, of course, about the unfolding sexual-harassment scandal, and lawmakers’ amazing efforts to basically look the other way.

Nothing to see here, just keep moving on. Maybe, by the time lawmakers get back to work in January, the whole mess will be off the news pages. Then they can go back to doing what they do best—regulating and hectoring the rest of us. But, for now, the rest of us can at least learn some stellar lessons about political hypocrisy.

One key lesson is that a lawmakers’ publicly stated positions and posturing have little to do with how they might handle any particular scandal.

The latest evidence of this comes from KPIX-TV in the Bay Area, which reported that Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), “is a vocal supporter of women’s rights, so her silence on the matter of Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra’s sexual harassment case is surprising.” But “this isn’t the first time she’s been silent when it comes to sexual harassment” and that particular San Fernando Valley Assembly member, according to the news report.

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