Wright sentencing first in 3 criminal cases involving state senators

California state Sen. Roderick D.Wright’s sentencing Friday morning in his perjury and voting fraud case comes as two of his Democratic colleagues in the upper house have been charged with crimes but not yet tried.

State Sens. Ronald S. Calderon of Montebello and Leland Yee of San Francisco have been indicted by federal authorities in separate cases alleging that they offered official actions in exchange for payments. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Wright was convicted by a Los Angeles County jury in January on eight felony counts, including perjury and voting fraud. Prosecutors persuaded a jury that Wright had lied about living in Inglewood so that he could qualify to run for the area’s state Senate seat, which he first won in 2008.

On Friday, he was sentenced by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy to 90 days in county jail, starting Oct. 31, three years’ probation and 1,500 hours of community service.

In late March, the California Senate voted 28 to 1 to suspend all three lawmakers -- with pay -- pending the resolution of their cases.

In the midst of the scandals, Democrats lost their supermajority in the Senate for the rest of the legislative session, which ended Friday. All three lawmakers, however, represent strongly Democratic districts that are not expected to change party hands in the next elections.

But the controversies surrounding Wright, Calderon and Yee could feed anti-incumbent sentiment and crop up in contested races around the state in November.

Follow @jeanmerl on Twitter for the latest in Southern California politics news.