SACRAMENTO WATCH : Capitol Hill

Sen. Frank Hill, convicted last week on corruption charges, “resigned” his Senate seat Thursday but refused to say when he will actually leave. Because of his conviction, Hill already had been stripped of his committee assignments and had voluntarily agreed not to vote on any bills. Why stick around then?

Why indeed. Secluded in his Capitol office, the Whittier Republican has continued to draw his $52,000-a-year salary and $101-a-day tax-free living allowance. Incredibly, a state law requiring elected officials to resign following conviction of a serious crime does not apply to legislators, who can be expelled only by a two-thirds vote of their colleagues.

But many of Hill’s Senate colleagues--legislators who one hopes would have greater sensitivity to growing public outrage about legislative corruption and ineptitude--seem to have no appetite to evict this man from their midst. Senate GOP leader Ken Maddy said lawmakers see Hill as a good friend. “I think he was more of a victim of circumstances and the venue than he is of committing a crime,” Maddy said. Pardon us, but Hill was no victim. He was videotaped accepting a $2,500 honorarium from an FBI agent posing as a businessman seeking a legislative favor.

One response to this mess has been a plan to introduce a legislative constitutional amendment calling for automatic loss of office--and pay--upon conviction of a felony. Another has been a resolution aimed specifically at Hill.

The lawmakers owe it to the people, and to themselves, to support both of these measures, not the least out of self-respect.