Bermudez, Calderon campaigns engage in war of words over “child porno” mailers

By Brian Hews
The campaign battle between local state assembly candidates Ian Calderon and Rudy Bermudez has taken yet another twist with the wife of Bermudez diving into the fray with a week and a half before voters head to the ballot box.
Calderon and Bermudez are engaged in one of California’s nastiest primary campaigns in the newly created 57th Assembly District.
Voters on Friday and Saturday will be receiving a giant sized post card from Nancy Bermudez, the longtime wife of the former assemblyman that attacks the first time candidate Calderon for portraying her husband for supporting a bill that “wrongfully” portrayed him as “supporting child pornography.”
Los Cerritos Community Newspaper was emailed an advance copy of the campaign mailer from Bermudez campaign advisor Bruce Young.
In the mailer, Nancy Bermudez states “Ian Calderon sent out a mailer claiming Rudy voted with the porn industry on AB 281, which is an outright lie.”
“As you can see, AB 281was a bill sponsored by the District Attorneys to increase the penalties for child porn. Even Ian’s uncle, (Senator) Ron (Calderon), voted for the bill. Ian Calderon needs to stop lying. Ian hasn’t earned the right to lie about someone who risked his life to keep us safe.” The signature of Nancy Bermudez appears at the bottom of the mailer.

The bill, that Bermudez and every other member of the State Assembly voted to support, increases the penalty for possession of child pornography by making the possession of more than 100 prohibited items an alternate felony misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in county jail or by imprisonment in state prison for 16 months, 2 or 3 years.

Calderon sent out a mailer to voters earlier this week that claimed that Bermudez “took care of porn sellers. “In the Assembly, Rudy Bermudez voted for AB 281 to keep up to 100 pieces of child pornography before they could be guilty of a felony,” the mailer stated.

“While Ian Calderon was growing up as a surfer in Orange County, Rudy was risking his life as a prison guard and parole agent. Nearly every day, I watched Rudy put on his bullet proof vest to go arrest some of California’s most violent criminals to send them back to prison. I never knew if the next knock on the door would be the Chaplin telling me that something horrible had happened to my husband,” Nancy Bermudez stressed in the mailer.

LCCN sent a copy of the mailer to Leslie Rodriguez, campaign manager for Calderon Wednesday night via email.

“It’s easy to take photos of the Internet and misrepresent them to the public. The photos in this hit piece are of Mr. Calderon in Halloween costumes when he was a freshman in college,” Rodriguez said.

“Mr. Bermudez does NOT deny that he voted to allow anyone to poses 100 pieces of child porn before they can be charged with a serious crime. Every picture or video of child pornography sold means that another child will be abused and enslaved. Possession of ANY piece of child porn should be a felony. That is what Mr. Calderon believes. Rudy Bermudez thinks its O.K for anyone to have 100 pieces,” Rodriguez said.

“Ian is accountable for his beliefs and Rudy has to be held accountable for his record,” she said.

“Not only does Rudy think its O.K for people to have child porn in their possession, he has teamed up with his friend Michael Ross, a lobbyist for the porn industry to attack me. His Campaign Manager, who is responsible for this hit piece, was convicted and sentenced for mail fraud and now Rudy Bermudez and his Team is being investigated for fraudulent money laundering by the Fair Political Practices Commission,” Ian Calderon said in a statement to Los Cerritos Community Newspaper.

But on Thursday, Bermudez campaign advisor Bruce Young countered that statement to LCCN with the following, “Ian Calderon’s lips are moving so he’s lying again. The bill passed 73-0. Ian is attacking his own uncle Senator Ron Calderon and 72 other Assembly members for supporting child pornography, which is absurd.”
“What sane person actually believes the District Attorneys of California would sponsor a bill for pornographers? Ian needs to take responsibility for his lies and the fact that he is under investigation by the FPPC for hiding money and falsely signing forms under penalty of perjury,” Young blasted.