INSIDE INGLEWOOD-State Senator Roderick D. Wright showed up at the Democratic Party’s Region 14 Pre-Endorsement Conference in Lawndale. He was nattily dressed in a blue ensemble that included a blue felt jacket and did not appear concerned.
The recently convicted Wright, found guilty on eight counts of voter fraud and perjury charges on January 28, is to be sentenced on March 12 in downtown Los Angeles.
On the day before he was convicted, Morningside Park Chronicle publisher Teka-Lark Fleming (a newspaper for which this journalist is editor-in-chief) overheard Wright telling a LA County Sheriff’s Department deputy bailiff how he has so much money that his entire salary of $100,000+ only pays his taxes. Wright was outside in a court hallway awaiting the jury’s return, which did not happen until the following day.
He further upset many state-level colleagues two days later when he attempted to push through a bill that would convert certain felonies into misdemeanors, a bill which many felt was meant to benefit Wright. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg [D-Sacramento], who stripped Wright of a state committee chairmanship, was not pleased.
“‘Putting the merits of the policy aside, it’s the wrong author at the wrong time,’” Steinberg spokesman Rhys Williams was quoted as saying in a February 1 Sacrament Bee story.
Nevertheless, Wright appeared to be warmly received by a range of area politicians, from Representative Janice Hahn [D-CA44] to fellow Inglewood Democrat Eloy Morales, Jr., the city council member who is running for 62nd Assembly seat against Autumn Burke and others.
The event was a gathering of party members—primarily elected officials and their colleagues seeking office—whereby candidates seek endorsements. Region 14 of California comprises Assembly Districts 54, 59, 62 and 64, Senate District 30 and Congressional Districts 37, 43 and 44.
It was unknown which, if any, candidates Wright endorsed at the event.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a monthly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com) Photo credit: Teka-Lark Fleming.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 13
Pub: Feb 14, 2014