CALIFORNIA BRIEFING / LOS ANGELES
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has been indicted on charges of trying to bribe his opponent in a 2008 election campaign, a spokesman for state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Thursday. Judge Harvey A. Silberman and two political consultants are accused of trying to induce Deputy Dist. Atty. Serena Murillo not to run against him in the June 2008 election -- apparently unsuccessfully, because she did run, losing by a margin of 53% to 47%. The three are accused of two counts each of solicitation.
Brown spokesman Scott Gerber said the two political consultants, A. Randall Steinberg and Evelyn Jerome Alexander of SJA Strategies, pleaded not guilty, and Silberman’s plea was postponed until a judge could be designated from another county to hear the case. All three were released on $20,000 bond.
Daniel Nixon, a lawyer for Silberman, said the judge “is appalled and outraged by these charges. He has done nothing wrong. He is absolutely innocent and he is going to fight these charges with all of his might.”
-- Mitchell Landsberg
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
