SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Another conservative, “family values” crusader has outed himself as a closet philanderer. California Assemblyman Michael Duvall [R-Yorba Linda] resigned from office Wednesday amid an ethics probe fellow assemblymen launched after Duvall unintentionally broadcast details of his sexual conquests over an open mic during a lull in a legislative hearing.In a videotape of the July episode, released online Tuesday night, Duvall seems to take a great deal of pleasure in providing graphic details about extramarital liaisons with two women. One of the trysts appears to have been with a high-profile lobbyist who had business before the utilities committee Duvall served as vice chairman. That one, he said, he enjoyed spanking as part of their bedroom antics.
At least he offered a modicum of contrition.
“I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly,” Duvall said in a written statement he distributed Wednesday afternoon. “It would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign.”
Duvall’s behavior composed one more embarrassment for a legislature already mired in gridlock over economic woes, a prison crisis and infrastructure issues. Pundits and voters-rights organizations repeatedly have bashed the Assembly for a lack of productivity and an overabundance of hubris.
“The use of sexual favors is just one more example of the tactics that energy companies and lobbyists have used to win favorable laws from lawmakers,” California Common Cause President Kathay Feng told the Los Angeles Times.
Even self-described “pro-family” groups took shots at Duvall as he stepped down.
“It is always disappointing when a champion of traditional values does not practice the same in his private life,” Capitol Resource Institute Executive Director Karen England noted in a prepared statement.
The institute had given Duvall a 100-percent recommendation for his voting record on conservative issues including same-sex marriage and censorship. In March, a spokeswoman for the organization called Duvall “a consistent trooper for the conservative causes,” and noted that “for the last two years, he has voted time and time again to protect and preserve family values in California.”
Some in the state capital and the media have whispered Duvall is just the tip of the misbehavior iceberg. He happened to be the one indiscrete enough to get caught with his figurative pants down. However, guilt or innocence aside, it didn’t take long for other politicos on both sides of the aisle to condemn the man in public. Some were more circumspect than others.
“Sticking around for a while would have just prolonged the agony, and he would have had the same result,” Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh told the LA Times.
Because Duvall is known to have voted against at least two “green” energy measures opposed by the company for which one of his alleged paramours works, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass [D-Los Angeles] said the legislature plans to investigate Duvall’s record for any apparent conflicts of interest. One member of the legislative ethics panel indicated the probe may be expanded to include other lawmakers rumored to have intimate links with lobbyists.
