California Politicians Apparently Not So Corrupt

Corruption, I'd say, is largely a function of power without accountability, plus culture. By culture, I refer not only to the wider macro culture of the entire society, but even more specifically to the micro, or workplace culture. And then again, criminals of various types are drawn to certain professions where they can perpetrate their preferred deeds. Pedophiles are obviously drawn to jobs where they can work with kids, as we see in the scandals concerning scouting and clergy abuses. You would expect education too, and there have been instances, but not so many owing to a culture unsympathetic to their depredations and good accountability processes, at least here in California that I've seen. A politician, in most cases in order to get the job, is essentially a salesperson, with the product being themselves. That certainly can lend itself to all kinds of ethical problems with honesty, and then they have power once in. That power can open up the possibility of bribery and many types of corruption. One would think in these cases that criminal minds prone to sociopathy, narcissism and fraud might well be attracted to careers in politics. As with teaching, medicine and the other helping professions, we should expect to see predominantly the sincere attracted, especially if the established culture is above board and positive, but with always the danger of the predatorily self-serving insinuating themselves into the mix.

At the bottom of the page is the list of all California politicians convicted of crimes between 2010 and 2020. To these we can also add a Federal Representative, Duncan Hunter (R-CA 50), convicted in 2019 of using $250,000 in campaign money for personal expenditures. 

When you consider there are 58 counties, most with 5 elected supervisors, 482 incorporated cities, most with at least five council members, 977 school districts, most with at least five board members, 537 water districts, 40 state senate and 80 state assembly districts, and many other positions as well, (DA, Sheriffs, Assessors, Coroners, City Attorneys, Mayors, County and City Clerks, Registrars, as well as the statewide offices, you are talking tens of thousands of elected politicians in this state. 11 of them have been convicted of felonies in the past 10 years. 11, even though in almost all cases each of them faces rivals of the opposing party or even their own party, unhappy special interests, nosy journalists and other political enemies who have a vested interest in and would love to expose any illegal or inappropriate behavior they could find. 

California

• State Senator Ron Calderon (D), brother of Tom, was convicted of money laundering. (2016)^[26]
• State Assemblyman Tom Calderon (D), brother of Ron, was convicted of money laundering. (2016)^[27]
• State Senator Leland Yee (D) pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering (2015)^[28] and was sentenced to five years in prison (2016).^[29]
• State Senator Roderick Wright (D) was convicted of eight counts of perjury and voter fraud. He was sentenced to 90 days and barred him from ever holding public office again and will be required to perform 1,500 hours of community service and three years' probation under the terms of his conviction. (2014)^[30] Wright was pardoned in 2018.^[31]
• State Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi (D) was charged with felony grand theft after being caught on video surveillance allegedly shoplifting $2,445 worth of merchandise from San Francisco's Neiman Marcus store.^[32][33] She was sentenced to $180 fine and three years' probation and was ordered to stay more than 50 feet from the store. (2011)

Local

• District Attorney for Contra Costa County Mark Peterson (D) convicted of perjury. (2017)^{[citation needed]}
• Los Angeles County Sheriff of Los Angeles Lee Baca (D) convicted of obstructing the FBI. (2017)^[34]
• Mayor of Gardena Paul Tanaka (R) convicted of civil rights abuses. (2016)^[35]
• Sheriff of San Francisco Ross Mirkarimi (D) convicted of false imprisonment. (2013)^[36]
• Mayor of San Diego Bob Filner (D) given three months of house arrest, three years' probation, and partial loss of his mayoral pension after pleading guilty to state charges of false imprisonmentand battery. (2013)^[37]