DUI arrest brings scrutiny to personal life, voting record of conservative state senator

Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

By Dan Aiello
California Progress Report

The latest high profile arrest for driving under the influence in California’s capitol city has brought allegations of hypocrisy to a state senator’s voting record.

Senator Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) issued a written apology Wednesday following his 2 a.m. arrest on suspicion of DUI while driving a state-owned vehicle.  

The legislator had been stopped by the California Highway Patrol at 13th and L streets in Sacramento's downtown core across from Capitol Park and within yards of the darkened Capitol building scheduled to open for state business a few hours later. 

Ashburn was booked into Sacramento County Jail and released later that morning.

“I am deeply sorry for my actions and offer no excuse for my poor judgment," Ashburn said. "I accept complete responsibility for my conduct and am prepared to accept the consequences for what I did. I am also truly sorry for the impact this incident will have on those who support and trust me – my family, my constituents, my friends, and my colleagues in the Senate."

The arrest garnered predictable criticism from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which was established in 1984 to lobby for stricter laws against driving under the influence.

“We’re very disappointed to hear of another high profile drunk driving arrest in California,” said Silas Miers, the law enforcement program specialist for MADD’s California State office in Sacramento.

Miers said his organization did not work with Ashburn. “In recent history I don’t think we’ve actually worked with his office.”  

In fact, MADD’s main legislative focus last year was Los Angeles Democrat Assemblymember Mike Feuer’s  Assembly Bill 91, which will establish four pilot programs to place Ignition interlock system in the vehicles of those who have been arrested for drunk driving.

Ashburn had opposed the legislation, which was passed and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“We would definitely like one of these devices installed on the senator’s vehicle,” said Miers. “But the law goes into effect July 8th,” and will not retroactively affect Ashburn.

Ashburn's arrest also sparked criticism of the senator that could not have been predicted, as allegations about the circumstances prior to his arrest brought scrutiny to Ashburn's personal life and its seeming contradiction to his conservative voting record.  

At the time of his arrest, around 2 a.m., Ashburn was traveling with a male companion, but Officer Jarrod Lassila, a spokesperson for the CHP’s Capitol Division charged with protecting the more than 400 government buildings in the downtown core, would not release the man’s name, “because he was not detained.”

Lassila said Ashburn’s vehicle was stopped after the patrolman observed it weaving down city streets.

The identity of Ashburn's companion is not known, but Lassila said the individual did not drive home the Senator's vehicle. "It was parked," at the location of the senator's arrest, said Lassila, leading to speculation that Ashburn did not know the passenger well.

According to the Senator’s biography on his web site, he is the father of four daughters and two grandchildren.

But his arrest Wednesday within a few blocks of the city’s gay bars has resurfaced Capitol rumors that Ashburn is gay, and his late night arrest with a male companion has raised sharp criticism and cries of hypocrisy from the gay and lesbian community at odds with Ashburn over equal rights legislation.  

Rumors that the Senator had been seen earlier as a patron of one of Sacramento’s gay and lesbian bars have led media to question who Ashburn was traveling with in the early morning hours of his arrest, but neither the CHP nor Ashburn's senate office will say.

“I can’t answer that,” Lassila said, when asked if the report included information about where Ashburn had been drinking or who he was with at the time of his arrest.  
 
Tanner Reive, 28, the sole bartender working Tuesday night at The Depot, a popular gay watering hole, said “He looks familiar, but that may be because he’s a Senator. I can’t say definitively that he was here Tuesday night.”  

The number of establishments opened late in Sacramento’s somnolent downtown core is limited, but not entirely to gay establishments.  

A March 4 article in the Bakersfield Californian looked back at years of rumors and avoidance of any direct answer by Ashburn before questioning the relevance of Ashburn’s orientation to his voting record.

"Why would that be anyone’s business?" Ashburn responded when asked by the reporter about the rumor. "I think there are certain subjects that are simply not relevant and this is one of them. It has no bearing on the job I do."

In fact, Ashburn’s closeted status may have a profound affect on his voting record.

In an unrelated interview with the California Progress Report regarding the anticipated repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, openly gay Senator Christine Kehoe(D-San Diego) said, "We all know how corrosive it can be to the human spirit" when anyone is forced to live their life in the closet.

According to Equality California (EQCA) spokesperson Vaishalee Raja, Ashburn’s voting record over the last three years has been “basically at zero percent,” on the equal rights organization’s legislative scorecard.   

And one openly gay local official was ready to out the conservative Republican legislator.

"To live a secret life and at the same time be attacking the people who you’re one of but are too ashamed to admit, that’s hypocrisy," said West Sacramento’s Democrat Mayor Christopher Cabaldon, in an interview with local news station, KOVR.
Cabaldon told the reporter he had seen Ashburn at gay spots around town on previous occasions, while readily admitting he does not know personally if the senator is gay.

But if Ashburn has any love for the LGBT community, its not reflected in what activists say is an anti-gay voting record.

Ashburn voted against a number of social issues, but consistently against any equal rights legislation based on sexual orientation, including last year’s Senate Resolution 9, authored by openly gay San Diego Senator, Christine Kehoe, calling for the repeal of the nation’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell discriminatory policy, and openly gay Senator Mark Leno’s bill establishing a day of recognition for slain civil rights leader, Harvey Milk.

Ashburn also is an opponent of marriage equality for same-sex couples, supporting proposition 8 and opposing a resolution last year which passed condemning it.

EQCA's Executive Director Geoff Kors issued the following statement regarding Ashburn's arrest:
 
“It is extremely hypocritical for Senator Ashburn, by patronizing a gay club, to be enjoying the fundamental rights and freedoms of association that others have fought so hard for but that he himself has repeatedly voted against.”

Senator Ashburn has consistently received a zero percent on EQCA's Legislative Scorecards since 2004, with the exception of 2007, when he scored 10 percent.

Calls to Senator Ashburn’s spokesperson, Noel Libeng, for the Senator's response, were not returned by press time. 

Late Friday, Sacramento's District Attorney provided details of Ashburn's arrest report, stating the Senator had a blood
alcohol level of .14, - or .06 over the legal limit - at the time of
his arrest and had been pulled over by CHP Officer, R. Gomez, after
Ashburn's state-owned Black Chevy Tahoe was observed "straddling" two
lanes and "making several brake applications without debris or traffic
in the path of the vehicle," according to a probable cause declaration
which is routinely filed as part of the district attorney's procedure on misdemeanor
complaints.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dan Aiello is the California Progress Report's Sacramento reporter.