By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--July 3, 2015
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Hey, remember Leland Yee? Sure you do. He was a left-wing State Senator who represented California's 8th district. He also ran for Mayor of San Francisco, and was generally considered a Bay Area political fixture. He spent most of his time trying to do away with guns and violent video games. At least that's what he did when he wasn't busy facilitating the sale of firearms and shoulder-launched missiles between Islamic extremists in the Philippines and undercover FBI agents.
Whoops!In a stunning criminal complaint, State Sen. Leland Yee has been charged with conspiring to traffic in firearms and public corruption as part of a major FBI operation spanning the Bay Area, casting yet another cloud of corruption over the Democratic establishment in the Legislature and torpedoing Yee's aspirations for statewide office. Yee and an intermediary allegedly met repeatedly with an undercover FBI agent, soliciting campaign contributions in exchange for setting up a deal with international arms dealers. At their first face-to-face meeting in January, "Senator Yee explained he has known the arms dealer for a number of years and has developed a close relationship with him," an FBI affidavit says, noting Yee told the agent the arms dealer "has things that you guys want."
Closing a dark chapter in California politics and capping the downfall of a prominent Bay Area legislator, former state Sen. Leland Yee on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering charge that is expected to land him in a federal prison cell for at least several years. The 66-year-old Yee cut a plea deal with federal prosecutors, avoiding a looming August trial date but forcing him to admit he took payments in return for promises to use his political clout for a host of powerful interests, from NFL owners to medical marijuana businesses. Dressed in a dark suit and calm enough to chat casually with reporters before entering his guilty plea, Yee confessed in his plea agreement that he used his bids for secretary of state and San Francisco mayor as racketeering enterprises to extort bribes for his cash-starved campaigns. So, adios to another in a long line of hypocritical Dems who hate guns, violence, and the 1st Amendment, but love to profit from all three whenever possible.We're glad this criminal is off the streets, but we'll also be honest. We were hoping this one would go to trial because an anti-2nd Amendment Democrat who also happens to be an international gun-runner is just too much fun to pass up. Have fun in the slammer, Mr. Yee.
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