The Sting of Sacramento : Brilliant FBI work shows the underbelly of corruption

Another one bites the political dust in Sacramento--and the dust is still stirring.

Assemblyman Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), in a deal struck with federal prosecutors, pleaded guilty to political corruption and has resigned. It’s the end to another chapter in a continuing, disgusting saga of government for sale.

The former Republican Assembly leader agreed to enter a guilty plea to one racketeering count in exchange for a sentence of two years in prison and nine months in a halfway house. He thus avoided a trial on six criminal counts for which he could have expected a six-year sentence.

Earlier this week lobbyist Clayton R. Jackson was convicted of corruption and given a 6 1/2-year sentence. Jackson’s co-defendant, disgraced former state Sen. Paul Carpenter, also was convicted but fled the country and is a fugitive.

All were swept up in the FBI’s eight-year investigation of corruption in Sacramento, in which agents offered money in return for official action. The sting has led to the conviction or indictment of a dozen people.

The FBI, to its credit, has relentlessly pursued the investigation, which has illuminated the dangerously cozy relationships between legislators and lobbyists in the state capital. Are lobbyists indeed the unelected arm of government in Sacramento? The investigation sadly demonstrates that too often legislating doesn’t quite work the way it’s described in the civics books.