Local Elected Officials Call on Senator Ron Calderon to Resign

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia addresses media members at Bell Gardens City Hall.

By Brian Hews and Brian Hews

The calls for embattled California State Senator Ronald Calderon to resign from office ramped up on Wednesday morning as Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia was joined by more than 20 different local elected officials at a press conference held outside of Bell Gardens City Hall.

Garcia is the first member of the California State Legislature to demand Calderon’s resignation from office after it was revealed several months ago by Hews Media Group-Community Newspapers and other media outlets that the Senator is the focal point of a massive corruption investigation by members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Garcia said at the press conference that was attended by more than 40 reporters from all over California that Calderon “needs to resign in the best interest of the community and for the good of the State legislature.”

“Today we are practicing our First Amendment Rights as elected officials to call on the immediate resignation of State Senator Calderon,” Garcia said with nearly two dozen elected officials standing at her side.

“While we respect Senator Calderon, the detrimental effect and disturbance of the investigation are affecting the fabric of our Democracy,” Garcia said.

“Our community has suffered.  We are trying diligently to regain the confidence of our citizens to restore integrity in our local governments and to move forward,” Garcia said.  “The dark clouds that this case puts us under put all of us in jeopardy,” she stressed.

“All of us as elected officials have taken an Oath to uphold the laws of our office and this state and country.

“I fully realize that we must respect the presumed innocence of Senator Calderon, but the distraction caused by this case, in my own backyard and its long term implications are detrimental to the fabric of government and to the citizens that the Senator represents,” Garcia continued.

“Last week I requested the Senator’s resignation. Serving the public is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. It is my hope, that with the Senator stepping away, we can begin to restore faith in government and faith in our elected leaders and remove the black cloud over our backyard, the Capitol, and the State of California,” she stressed in a follow up statement.

Bell Gardens Mayor Daniel Crespo calls for State Senator Ronald Calderon to resign from office.

Joining Garcia at event were some of the most powerful and influential local elected officials in the district in which Calderon represents.

Calling for Calderon’s resignation was Norwalk Mayor Luigi Vernola, Downey Mayor Mario Guerra, Pico Rivera Mayor Pro-Tem Brent Tesoro, Bell City Councilman Ali Salah, Commerce City Councilman Denise Robles, Downey City Councilman Alex Saab,  Bell City Councilman Nestor Valencia,  Bell Gardens City Councilmembers Jennifer Rodriguez, Montebello Unified School Board Member Gerri Guzman, Central Basin Water District Director Leticia Vasquez, Pico Rivera Mayor Gustavo Camacho, South Gate Mayor Gill Hurtado.

“I want to thank our elected officials for coming out here and having the united voice asking for the resignation of Senator Calderon,” Garcia said.

Calderon in a statement through his Press Secretary Mario Beltran blasted Garcia late Wednesday afternoon.

“In politics one expects politicians to act in their own interests.  But it is still shocking to me when a politician acts out in such an opportunistic way as in the actions taken by Cristina Garcia.  Without knowing the full story and waiting to hear all the facts in this case, she has assumed the role of judge and jury by calling for my resignation.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, Central Basin Water Board Director Leticia Vasquez and Downey Mayor Mario Guerra (behind).

“During her campaign for State Assembly she said time and again that she was not a politician.  She told the voters that she was going to be different.  Soon after her election she confessed (in a story first published by HMG-CN) to the voters that she lied about having a PhD.  She said that she made a mistake and was sorry for misleading the public about her qualifications.  She asked the voters to give her the benefit of the doubt and to judge her on her actions as their new Assemblywoman,” Calderon said.

“It is now clear that she is a politician after all – quite an ambitious one at that.  I would not wish on my worst enemy what I have been going through.  But I do hope that Ms. Garcia comes to understand that what has happened to me could happen to anyone in public office. Sometimes one is better served to act in kindness than in self-righteousness because all politicians live in glass houses,” Calderon concluded.

Video of Assemblywonan Garcia’s opening statement is below: