Assemblyman Jeff Miller removed from Ethics Committee

Assemblyman Jeff Miller, the person to whom Assemblyman Mike Duvall was speaking in an on-microphone, sex-laced conversation, was abruptly removed from the Ethics Committee — the same panel charged by Speaker Karen Bass with investigating the Duvall scandal.

Miller, R-Corona, was taken off the committee "because he was party to a conversation that is being investigated by the Ethics Committee. It is not appropriate for Mr. Miller to remain on the committee," said Bass spokeswoman Shannon Murphy.

Hours after the comments became known, Duvall apologized and announced yesterday that he would resign. As of 10 a.m. Thursday morning, a resignation letter had not been received, Murphy said.

During a July 8 hearing of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, Duvall and Miller had a two-minute conversation in which Duvall can be heard discussing having sex with two women, his predilection for spanking and one woman's habit of wearing "eye-patch" underwear.

Miller says little during the conversation, which is dominated by Duvall, although Miller can be heard chuckling several times.

Shortly after the July 8 hearing ended, Miller's office asked the Rules Committee for a copy of the recording, Capitol Weekly has learned.

It was not clear why Miller wanted the recording, or how Duvall's comments wound up in the Southern California news outlets that broke the story, the KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and, within minutes, in the FlashReport, a blog published by state GOP official Jon Fleischman; OC Weekly also carried a report.