Latino lawmaker (CA) says feds asked him to wear wire

Sfgate

Embattled state Sen. Ron Calderon says federal authorities wanted him to wear a wire and record conversations with the Senate leader and another lawmaker, and after he refused they tried to ruin his reputation by raiding his offices and leaking an FBI affidavit alleging he took money in return for promoting bills.

Calderon, who has not been charged and has denied any wrongdoing, made the allegations in a complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. The Democrat from the Los Angeles-area city of Montebello asked a judge to hold federal investigators and prosecutors in contempt for leaking the sealed affidavit, which was written to support a search warrant for Calderon's Sacramento offices.

The filing includes a copy of a receipt for a wireless transmitter on the letterhead of Calderon's lawyer, Mark Geragos.

Calderon's complaint said the senator was approached six times by FBI agents and twice by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas Miller demanding that he "participate in a sting operation" against Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg and Sen. Kevin de Leon and "secretly record conversations" with them.

"The FBI affidavit omitted facts that just days before the affidavit was prepared, the FBI was attempting to use Senator Calderon as an informant against Senators Steinberg and de Leon," the complaint alleged.

Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said Calderon is lashing out after Steinberg had Calderon stripped of his committee assignments earlier this week.