Statement from Assemblyman Mike Duvall regarding his resignation from office today:

“I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state. I have come to the conclusion that it would not be fair to my family, my constituents or to my friends on both sides of the aisle to remain in office. Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work."

The statement is now available on Mike Duvall’s website here. We don’t do this often, but we thought we would toot our horn as we broke this resignation before any main stream media source — television, newspaper, radio… YEAH!

UPDATE: A funny aside, right after Duvall resigned, I got an email from Ken Mettler, President of the California Republican Assembly, calling on Duvall… Read More

Over at the venerable Red County/OC Blog website, editor Matt Cunningham has already begun to look past the fact that scandal-embroiled incumbent Mike Duvall still occupies his seat in the legislature, and is looking towards a potential special election if Duvall follows the advice of OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh and resigns his seat.

Cunningham is a fan of Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, whose Supervisorial District overlaps much of the 72 Assembly District, and who is facing term limits next year. You can read Norby’s comments over on Matt’s blog post here.

This Duvall scandal is exploding at light speed — and this kind of analysis coming from a "steady hand" in Orange County like Cunningham is telling indeed…… Read More

The pseudo-news, tabloidy UK Daily Mail has decided to run with the Duvall scandal, choosing to tie the story to, of all people, Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s worth a read to see how this is being portrayed over in jolly London… THE LINK: The spanking senator: Politician friend of Schwarzenegger caught on camera bragging about extra-marital affair… Read More

OC Weekly’s Scott Moxley has just posted a follow up piece to his breaking story of last night on the ever-growing scandal of Mike Duvall.

In his latest piece, Moxley reports that well respected Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh, formerly Assembly Republican Leader, has called on Mike Duvall to resign his office.

An excerpt from Moxley’s piece…

The Sacramento Bee has reported that GOP Assemblyman Mike Duvall has been removed from the Assembly Rules and Utilities and Commerce Committee after the startling revelations about his extra-marital affairs with Capitol lobbyists. Also, the leader of Assembly GOPers, Sam Blakeslee, has dumped Duvall from his leadership post in the Republican Caucus.

In the story are statements from Assembly Speaker Karen Bass and Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee:

While the breaking story of Assemblyman Mike Duvall talking graphically about extramarital affairs on an open legislative microphone continues to be a top story, we’ll keep bumping this to the top of the blog when new links are added.

**IT IS BECOMING ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE STORIES. GO TO A GOOGLE SEARCH OF MIKE DUVALL’S NAME FOR NEWS STORIES. BE PREPARED TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME. WE WILL KEEP UPDATING THE LIST BELOW…** Here is the link to the original KCBS/KCAL story…… Read More

At some point this morning a short statement from Assemblyman Mike Duvall appeared on his campaign website, and we reprint it for FR readers below: "I made a mistake and I sincerely apologize. I deeply regret the comments I made in what I believed to be a private conversation. This is a private matter and I ask that everyone respect the privacy of all involved." — Assemblyman Mike Duvall … Read More

(Note: cross-posted here and at RedCounty)

"So Messy." Those words are weapons hurled in a moment of Delta-house bravado turned around to be the political epitath of their author. The sad situation with Assemblyman Mike Duvall, while still developing, offers a prime opportunity to illustrate some crisis communications maxims that are as true now as ever, and apparently bear repeating:

1. Saying nothing is stupid and never, ever, ever, helps. Ditto running from cameras. Ibid for smugly sitting on the Assembly floor while cameras photograph you and journalists attempt to speak with you.

2. Avoiding the truth or delaying acknowledgement of it never, ever, ever helps. In this case it probably makes it worse.

3. No amount of legal advice or political counsel can change video/audio recordings. It’s as indelible as you-know-what on a blue dress.

Given this, why the delay?

I don’t know Assemblyman Duvall, beyond his reputation, but I do believe there was a narrow moment yesterday when Duvall might have been able to capture control of the situation, attempt to regain direction, say something, and then move on. But… Read More