America has its family dynasties. Notably there is the vast Kennedy dynasty and to a lesser degree, the Bush family.

Lucky California: We have the Calderon family dynasty. That is not good news for Californians as a whole.

It seems Charles Calderon led the family of Democrats into politics with his 1979 election to the Montebello school board. He went onto win a state Assembly seat in 1982. Brothers Ron and Tom would follow with various positions of like kind.  (Who can keep track of these politicians with their musical chairs of “leadership?”)

The game is to term out in one spot and go onto another as Charles is doing now. Presently he is a candidate for a Los Angeles Superior Court Judge position. The family tree has blossomed to his son, Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier.

Considering the present legal woes of brothers Ron and Tom, perhaps Charles will win the judgeship and be able to sentence his siblings for their crimes.

“Calderon” is a name to be reckoned with. The elected positions always come with the gravy of chairmanships or service on various powerful committees, along with the cream of collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in “consulting” fees for various public entitles.

The family has might, as attested to by former state Sen. Gloria Romero, a fellow Democrat. She credited the boys as having “mastered the art of leverage.” Too bad as elected officials, that leverage didn’t benefit the citizens of California.

U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. assessed the criminal behaviors as follows: “When public officials choose to callously betray the trust of the people they serve and selfishly line their pockets with money … then it’s up to us … to make sure we hold those individuals accountable.”

Investigations and FBI raids have led to indictments of Ron and Tom Calderon over healthcare fraud, accepting bribe money to sway legislation, hiring of a daughter/niece, and money laundering. Ron is a senator; Tom is not serving in an elected seat at this time and he has dropped his plans for running for his terming-out brother’s seat.

Part of the Ron Calderon’s defense, besides the usual declaration of “not guilty,” is that the real targets of the investigations are state Sen. leader Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and state Sen. Kevin De Leon, D-Los Angeles.

One L.A. Times report said many people in and outside of government are not surprised with the indictments. The men “had reputations for pushing the envelope on ethics regulations, tapping campaign funds and gifts from special interest to fund their luxurious lifestyles.”

Irrespective of the Calderon scenario being at the indictment or allegation stage, Steinberg has asked Ron to step down from his Senate seat.

Dumping Calderon sounds prudent, but Steinberg is doing a 180 in the case of State Sen. Roderick D. Wright, D-Inglewood. Wright had his day in court in January, being convicted by a 12-person Los Angeles jury. He was found guilty of eight counts of voter fraud, voter registration fraud and perjury.

Wright was indicted in the fall of 2010 and drug it out this long, serving and being paid the whole time. Steinberg refuses to support ousting of the convicted Wright using the excuse that a judge hasn’t really cemented the convictions until Wright is sentenced. However, Steinberg did just grant Wright a paid leave of absence.

Non-politicians call that a “vacation.”

Naturally, Democrats are sweating, because ridding of these two infestations upsets the Democrats’ super-majority in California.

Here is the bottom line tragedy. Quickly following reports on these pilferers, the L.A. Times ran an article entitled, “Fraud cases won’t sway voters,” with the subtitle of “Scandals of Calderon Brothers and Sen. Roderick Wright aren’t likely to affect elections, experts say,” reporting, “voters consider such controversies to be business as usual.”

The continuing descent of California is a direct product of the above real-life situations.

How about you, fellow voter? Do you really want to settle for such debauchery and slime?

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.