O.C. Assemblyman Duvall resigns amid recorded sexual comments

Orange County Assemblyman Michael Duvall, who was caught on an open mike making sexual comments, resigned 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," he said in a statement posted on his website. "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."

Capitol Blackberries are buzzing after KCAL-TV Los Angeles late Tuesday night aired a videotape of the Orange County GOP lawmaker talking to a colleague at a committee hearing in explicit detail about recent trysts.

In the KCAL report, Duvall (R-Yorba Linda), the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee vice chairman, appears not to realize that his microphone is on during a lull in a July committee hearing and talks about his conquest of two women.

Reporter Dave Lopez then reports that Duvall says on the tape that the women with whom he has been having sex are lobbyists.

The report alleges that one of the lobbyists works for a utility with business before Duvall's committee but does not name her.

Later in the report, Duvall is seen ducking Lopez on the Assembly floor and in the hallways outside the chamber as the reporter confronts him with questions about his sexual encounters.

The Assembly Legislative Ethics Committee is looking into the reports about Duvall's alleged relationship with the lobbyist, a source close to the committee said this morning.

Members of the ethics panel plan to meet today with their legal counsel to determine what action they might take, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for lack of authority to speak for the committee.

"They are taking this very seriously," the source said.

Meanwhile, Duvall posted this apology on his campaign website:  “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.”

Duvall joined the Assembly in 2006, representing the 72nd District, which includes the cities of Fullerton, Anaheim, Placentia, Orange, Brea, Yorba Linda and La Habra.

He is a former Yorba Linda City Councilman and member of the Orange County Sanitation District board and Orange County Transportation Authority. According to his Assembly website, he also runs an insurance business with his wife.

-- Evan Halper in Sacramento

Photo: Mike Duvall campaign office

Comments

[erin]

I lived in the OC for 28 years and worked for 18 years in the office of an elected official, so this is no surprise. I think if I hear one more Republican elected official use the term "family values" (and throw in "Christian" also) to get votes, I'll hurl! They do not own the words "family" or "values," and we have to take that term back from them. We all have values, and we all have families; but apparently these men use the term so loosely they make a mockery of both their own families and their phony adherance to "values." They denigrate their own marriages and women in general while voting against allowing gays to marry.

[Ed Wood]

How can selling your vote for sex be a "private matter"? He sure didn't have any problem waving his bible around ranting and raving about "Family Values" - The conservitives must be breathing a sigh of relief that he wasnt referring to MALE lobbyists.

[Reader]

So he is sorry that his COMMENTS had become a distraction? What about his actual BEHAVIOR? What a hypocrite.

[HealthyNana]

The question is "Is this the way the congress is invisibly getting paid by the lobbists? Is this why certain congresspersons are so scared to go against these companies (lobbists) fearing that they may tell on them? Bears investigation!

[M J]

Now this scumbag can get a job as an Obama Czar or become a democrat and join the best of cheats and thugs.

[Dwane Porter]

This man has the NERVE to ask - and i quote "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.”"

Let me translate for you - I made a mistake and I sincerely apologize only because I got caught. I deeply regret getting caught and the comments I made in public which are recorded to my knowledge was me bragging about my sexual conquests. This is a private matter because I don't want you involved in my personal marriage affairs, unlike how I am involved in other people personal marriage affairs (like same-sex marriage) and I ask that everyone respect the privacy of all involved, so my wife can get around to taking me for everything in divorce.”

[rob]

Isn't it interesting that nobody in the assembly knew about this behavior? If they did, why wouldn't they disclose it? Are they all on one sort of take or another? Rhetorical question.

[sue baumann]

PLEASE!!!!! HE'S ONLY SORRY HE GOT CAUGHT.