The big news of the day was President Obama’s address to Congress. But we cannot forget the schadenfreudelicious scandal that got the day off to a roaring start. As you’ll remember, California state Rep. Michael Duvall (R-Yorba Linda), a married champion of family values and traditional marriage, was picked up on a live mic at a committee hearing graphically boasting of his sexual encounters with not one but two mistresses (one of whom is a lobbyist with business before his committee).
After first insisting that he thought he was having a “private conversation”, which one imagines is true, Duvall resigned his office shortly after noon California time.
Now there are a few more details. First, a California group has called on the state legislature to investigate Duvall, until today the vice chair of the Committee and Utilities and Commerce, for possibly selling votes for sex. Next, the energy lobbyist Duvall bragged about sleeping with, Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, has categorically denied to her employer that she ever had a sexual relationship of any kind with Duvall. And her employer, Sempra Energy, has released a statement to that effect.
