Governor and Assemblyman Are Cleared of Vote Trading

SACRAMENTO — Two politicians accused of vote trading--one a freshman assemblyman and the other California’s two-term governor--have been cleared of the charges, the state attorney general’s office said Friday.

Assemblyman Carl Washington (D-Paramount) was under investigation after he changed his position on a bill exempting casinos and bars from California’s ban on smoking in the workplace.

During a hearing on the bill in July, Washington said he philosophically opposed the legislation, written by Assemblyman Edward Vincent (D-Inglewood), but would vote for it as a courtesy because Vincent had agreed to support one of Washington’s bills.

His action could have been viewed as a violation of an anti-bribery section of the state Penal Code, which prohibits vote swapping among legislators.

But in a letter released Friday, chief assistant Atty. Gen. George Williamson said there was “insufficient evidence to demonstrate any type of prearrangement or agreement” between Washington and Vincent.

In a second case, Gov. Pete Wilson was accused last week of bribery or extortion for slashing $203 million in Democrat-backed projects from the state budget--and promising to reinstate the money if a Wilson-backed school testing proposal won approval.

State Sen. John Burton (D-San Francisco) said Wilson “stepped over the line” with such arm-twisting, but the governor defended it as the normal use of his veto powers.

The attorney general’s office agreed, concluding in a letter signed by Williamson that the governor’s actions were “nothing more than political leveraging.”