Seriously, this is amazing: “Known for navigating the state Capitol’s backrooms and this city’s complicated political landscape, state Sen. Leland Yee now is accused of consorting with notorious felons, accepting money for his cash-strapped political campaigns in exchange for favors and promising undercover FBI agents he could deliver connections to international gun runners.” They actually noted his political affiliation (Democrat) – note, though, that as per this article by my RS colleague streiff they apparently had to be prodded into doing it – and favorite hobby-horse (gun control*), and you will find very little in that article that is dull. But there is one item that needs to be pushed back on: “Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, called the allegations against Yee “shocking” and “surreal.””

‘Surreal,’ I will grant. But ‘shocking?’ In 2011 SF Weekly described Mr. Lee (who was then running for Mayor of San Franscisco) thusly:

Leland Yee is a political lifer who has served on the school board, the Board of Supervisors, in the state Assembly, and now in the state Senate, where he represents the Eighth District. He has built a public facade of earnest goodness that, if it were as much his essence as it is his veneer, would make him Sacramento’s top Eagle Scout.

But during that time, Yee has produced a series of possible ethical breaches so numerous and bizarre that voters might feel compelled to seek out extraordinary accomplishments to balance out his weird record.

It would appear that many people on the Left have known for some time that Leland Yee was dirty. They just didn’t realize that he was trying to run automatic weapons into the country. And while I will admit that I wouldn’t have myself guessed that somebody who once tried to go after video games for their ‘violence’ would get caught making shady arms deals, I feel that some of the shocked looks on California Democratic faces are just a bit, ah, disingenuous.

Via @qixtqatl, who could not believe that I was not on top of this story already. …Which is fair: this sort of story is like catnip for me.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: If you’ve ever wondered what the Lefty equivalent would be to breaking news that a family values politician had just been caught with a teenage Thai ladyboy in a campaign contributions-fueled love nest, well, now you know.

*From that article: “In an interview on KPIX 5, Yee said that he was not going to be intimidated, because he believed so strongly in keeping guns out of the hands of bad guys. “This is not an easy issue,” Yee said. “But I am a father, and I want our communities to be safe, and god forbid if one of these weapons fell into the wrong hands.””