Calif. Lawmaker Nabbed on Drug Suspicion

[shanti]

anyone know if she is a repug?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050715/ap_on_re_us/councilwoman_arrested

BURBANK, Calif. - A city councilwoman was arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession after her boyfriend told authorities they had used the drug together and he had associated with a notorious street gang and sold guns to a member.

Councilwoman Stacey Jo Murphy, 47, was arrested Wednesday night at her home, where law enforcement agents served a federal search warrant, police said Thursday. Police found cocaine, three loaded handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition, they said.

She posted $100,000 bail and was released from jail Thursday. Arraignment was set for Aug. 25. Phone calls left for Murphy at her office and home by The Associated Press were not returned, but the former Burbank mayor told the Pasadena Star-News, "I'm really pretty shocked about this whole thing."

Also arrested were Murphy's boyfriend, businessman Scott Schaffer, who faces federal firearms and narcotic violations, and an associate of Schaffer's.

The arrests grew out of an investigation of a San Fernando Valley gang that authorities link to the slayings of two police officers. Authorities say they have arrested more than 200 gang members over the last 18 months, seizing cars, firearms, at least $500,000 in cash and more than 300 pounds of narcotics.

*snip*

[Tripper11]

1. Unable to locate any affiliation.....

Here's her bio at Burbank City Web site...Stacey Jo Murphy

Scanned several stories and websites..nothing coming up.

[Tempest]

2. I'm not finding out anything about her affiliation

Google comes up a blank on her party affiliation.

She hasn't made any campaign contributions according to opensecrets.org.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

3. sounds to me like the boyfriend set her up

[LoneDriver]

4. You are right.

I know them somewhat and she is a sweet person under the bad influence of an abusive boyfriend. I don't really know her politics but Burbank is a well run town with pretty good social services and a tight sense of community.

[devilgrrl]

7. The LA Times has a story in today's paper....

and mentions that her friends seem to think she fell for the wrong guy too.

<snip>
Schaffer is a former co-owner and general manager of Sun Valley-based City Cab, where Murphy works as the controller, said the current general manager, Jerry Consul.

He said Murphy appeared upset when she came into the office Thursday after her arrest and release on bail, and left after putting in half a day.

"She is a pleasant lady to work with," Consul said. "She's one of the sharpest and smartest…. We all stand behind her. We all believe that her name will be cleared in the end."

Consul said he believed that Schaffer brought Murphy into the company but didn't know how they met. He also said it was his impression that they ended their romantic relationship in December.

Others who knew them said Murphy and Schaffer made an odd couple and that Schaffer seemed a little rough around the edges for Murphy, a former PTA member with a squeaky-clean image.

more: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-burbank16jul16,1,6099503.story?coll=la-headlines-california

[newswolf56]

5. Appears Murphy's a Democrat since she was honored by

Rep. Adam Schiff as a "woman of the year," the link for which is here:

http://schiff.house.gov/HoR/CA29/Legislative+Issues/Floor+Statements+-+Text/2001/03-21-01+Womens+History+Month.htm

Based on what comes up when you Google "stacey murphy" and scroll meticulously, she has also been the leader -- apparently a very effective leader -- in a bitter fight by the City of Burbank against eminent-domain expansion of a nearby airport. Based on Google links, this controversy appears to have brought Murphy into direct opposition to the federal government (to the FAA bureaucracy if not therefore to the Bush Administration per se).

I am not in the least bit troubled by the notion of a someone possessing firearms, and despite the sensationalizing of the number by the local press, 900 rounds is not an unusual quantity of ammunition for anyone who target-shoots regularly. But possession of any firearm (or even a single round of ammunition) in a place where illegal drugs are found is an automatic mandatory five-year federal prison sentence, no parole or probation: a law that is, ironically, a legacy of the Clinton Administration. One would therefore assume that someone who operates on Murphy's level would be smarter than that -- though I know too that cokeheads can be stupidly, self-destructively arrogant.

But even without knowing anything more about this situation than I have just discovered, Murphy's alleged behavior doesn't ring quite true: PTA moms (and she is that too) don't normally become coke freaks, and they are even less likely to become involved with scumbags running guns to gangbangers. In short, the more I read of this situation, the more it seems questionable. If I come up with such anomalies even from a great distance, one hopes the local press will do much better at short range and will therefore set aside its (obviously vicious) anti-gun prejudice and investigate accordingly.

Edit: sharpening of conclusion.

[newswolf56]

6. Here is a link to the story in Murphy's local paper,

The Burbank Leader, which is apparently owned by The Los Angeles Times.