Ron Calderon

Ronald Steven Calderon (born August 12, 1957 in Montebello, California) is a former Democratic California State Senator from the 30th Senate District.
Calderon is also known for receiving bribes from Michael Drobot.

Early life

On August 12, 1957, Calderon was born in Montebello, California. Calderon attended Montebello High School.

Education

In 1980, Calderon earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from UCLA. Calderon graduated from the Western State University of Law.

Career

Calderon served as a manager in the manufacturing industry, a mortgage banker, and a real estate agent.Senator Ronald S. Calderon – Biography
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Calderon's political career began when he served as chief of staff for Ed Chavez.

Calderon is the second of his family to serve in the senate and the third to hold a seat in the legislature. Prior to Ronald's election his brothers Charles and Thomas also served in the state assembly.

California Assembly

After redistricting, Calderon's brother Tom Calderon decided to run for California Insurance Commissioner in 2002. Calderon ran for the seat vacated by his brother Tom and won the Democratic primary with 46% of the vote. He won the general election with 63% of the vote. In 2004, he won re-election with 62% of the vote. In 2006, he retired to run for the California State Senate. His brother, Charles, succeeded him.

Calderon served as Chairman of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee. He was also elected Assistant Majority Leader.

California Senate

Calderon was elected to the 30th Senate District, which includes: Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce, Cudahy, Huntington Park, La Mirada, Los Angeles, Montebello, Norwalk, Pico Rivera, California, Santa Fe Springs, South El Monte, South Gate, Whittier, East Whittier, East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham, Hacienda Heights, South Whittier, and West Whittier-Los Nietos.

In 2006, incumbent Democratic State Senator Martha Escutia decided to retire. In the Democratic primary, Calderon defeated fellow State Representative Rudy Bermúdez 50.4%-49.7%, a difference of just 305 votes. He won the general election with 71% of the vote. In 2010, he won re-election with 69% of the vote. In 2014, Calderon could not run for re-election due to term limits, and he was succeeded by Tony Mendoza.

Calderon was chairman of the Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee. Senate President Don Perata against incumbent U.S. Congresswoman Linda Sánchez in the Democratic primary. Calderon's State Senate district represented around 70% of the redrawn thirty-eighth. Calderon withdrew from the race in January 2012.

Corruption case

On June 4, 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided Calderon's offices in the California State Capitol in an attempt to find evidence regarding accusations of criminal activity. On the same day, the FBI also raided the office of California's Latino Legislative Caucus of which Calderon served as vice-chair.

An FBI affidavit was published online on October 30, 2013 by cable network Al Jazeera America with a claim that State Sen. Ron Calderon accepted about $88,000 in bribes from a Southern California hospital executive, Michael Drobot, for legislation regarding workers' compensation for an expensive surgical procedure, and an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner during a wide-ranging probe into his conduct as a legislator. On November 12, 2013, Calderon was suspended from his committee assignments, citing the ongoing inquiry into the alleged bribe.

On February 21, 2014 Calderon agreed to surrender to federal authorities after being named in a federal grand jury indictment. After surrendering to authorities on February 24, 2014 Calderon appeared in Court and pleaded not guilty to 24 charges relating to wire fraud, bribery, money laundering and falsification of tax returns. His trial was scheduled to commence on April 22, 2014. Calderon was released on a $50,000 surety bond. He could have faced a prison term of up to a maximum 396 years if convicted on all charges. The California Senate gave the senator until March 3, 2014 to either resign or take a leave of absence, failing which a vote would be taken to suspend him from office. On March 2, Calderon announced that he would take a leave of absence. He was absent until the end of the 2014 session, at which point he was term-limited out of office.

On June 13, 2016, federal prosecutors announced that Calderon agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud. A week earlier his brother Tom pleaded guilty to money-laundering.

In October 2016, Calderon was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder to serve 42 months in federal prison and perform 150 hours of community service. Calderon began his prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Sheridan in January 2017, and released in January 2019, after serving only 24 months of his 42-month sentence. Through his attorney, Mark Geragos, he had petitioned the Bureau of Prisons to be released 12 month earlier, in January 2018, under the Second Chance Act of 2007.

Personal life

In 1982, Calderon married Ana. They have two children, Jessica and Zachary.
Calderon resides in Montebello, California.

See also

* List of American state and local politicians convicted of crimes#California

References

External links

Official Senate web site

California Senator Calderon at archives.fbi.gov

Calderon corruption: Who's who in the investigation.. at scpr.org

Join California Ronald Calderon
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Calderon, Ronald
1957 births
Ron
American bankers
American financial businesspeople
Democratic Party California state senators
Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California
Living people
Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly
People from La Mirada, California
People from Montebello, California
American real estate brokers
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Western State University College of Law alumni
American politicians of Mexican descent
California politicians convicted of crimes
21st-century American politicians