The California Democratic Party experienced some unwanted negative drama over the weekend, as one of its top officials resigned after being caught up in a bribery and corruption probe that officials described as a “mushrooming” investigation.
According to Breitbart, California Democratic Party secretary Melahat Rafiei resigned from both her state and national positions as a result of the probe after being implicated in “alleged bribery in negotiations between the city of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Angels over a stadium.”
Breaking: Melahat Rafiei on Sunday night resigned from her elected roles with the Democratic National Committee and as secretary for the California Democratic Party, as fallout from the corruption investigation in Anaheim continues.
https://t.co/xw5CqlNFrK— Brooke E. Staggs (@JournoBrooke) May 23, 2022
The Los Angeles Times noted: “She did not respond Sunday to a request for comment, but acknowledged in the letter that she was a confidential witness in the FBI probe of the proposed $320-million sale of Angel Stadium land.”
The outlet added: “Federal investigators said in a court filing that they believe there was fraud, bribery, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and other corruption in the negotiations between Anaheim and the Angels over the proposed sale.”
The situation had become so intense for the Democratic official that many Democrats took to Twitter to call for her resignation in the days leading up to her actually going through with it.
I am a voting member of the California Democratic Party and I call for the resignation of Melahat Rafiei.
Melahat must resign from ALL positions of public trust!
She is the current secretary of @CA_Dem & recently appointed by Gov. Newsom to the Fair Board. It was revealed… pic.twitter.com/u5ZWk2gVkJ— Julie Solis (@Solis4Ca) May 21, 2022
California has struggled for years with corruption and bribery scandals within the ranks of the Democratic Party, given their near-total control of local and state government.
It might take a complete overhaul of the state by Republican elected officials to clean things up, but that isn’t likely to happen anytime in the near future.