Sen. Ron Calderon breaks silence on FBI raid

Six days after the FBI served a search warrant at his offices, state Sen. Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) broke his silence on the federal investigation Monday, vowing that it would not sidetrack his legislative agenda.

“My family and I have gone through a lot the last several days,” Calderon told a group of reporters gathered in the hallway outside the Senate chambers on his first day back to work since the raid. “It’s been very stressful, very hard on all of us. We’re all anxious to put this behind us and carry on a normal life.”

Calderon said the investigation will not interrupt his work at the Capitol.

“My intention at this point is to do my job that I was elected to do, attend my hearings, get my bills passed out of committee to the floor, and do the work of the state,” he said. As for the FBI investigation, he said, “I have a lot of my own questions that aren’t answered yet.”

The lawmaker referred all questions about the investigation to his attorney, Mark Geragos.

The news conference lasted less than five minutes, and after Calderon finished speaking, he paused, spun around and disappeared though an office door behind him -- ignoring questions shouted out by reporters

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said last week that the agency was “taking evidence respective to an ongoing investigation,” and that a court order prevented any further public disclosure about the focus of the probe.

A federal law enforcement source told The Times last week that Calderon was “the focus of the investigation.”

On Friday, state Sen. Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles) said he had been subpoenaed to testify to a federal grand jury as a witness, sparking speculation that investigators were looking at a group of healthcare companies that have fought restrictions proposed by De Leon and have paid Calderon’s brother Tom, a former lawmaker himself, tens of thousands of dollars in consulting fees since leaving the Legislature.

Southern California officials have said they’ve been interviewed by the FBI about contracts that had been awarded by the Central Basin Municipal Water District to Tom Calderon.

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