Family Values CA Assemblyman Resigns

From OC Weekly:

[Michael] Duvall, speaking to a relatively mum Republican colleague seated to his left, apparently had no idea his dais microphone became live beginning about a minute before the start of a cable-televised committee hearing. He was captured in the middle of recounting portions of an affair.?

"She wears little eye-patch underwear," said Duvall, who is married with two children. "So, the other day she came here with her underwear, Thursday. And? so, we had made love Wednesday–a lot! And so she’ll, she’s all, ‘I am going ?up and down the stairs, and you’re dripping out of me!’ So messy!"

…Duvall–who was twice a president of the Yorba Linda Chamber of Commerce, served two terms as mayor of Yorba Linda before entering the assembly in? 2006, and is the owner of an insurance agency–continues his tale: "So, I am getting into spanking her. Yeah, I like it. I like spanking her. She goes, ‘I know you like spanking me.’ I said, ‘Yeah! Because you’re such a bad girl!’"

He then laughed.?

The assemblyman representing Anaheim, Fullerton, Placentia, Orange, Brea, La? Habra and Yorba Linda then offered clues to the identity of his sex partner.?

"And so her birthday was Monday," he said at the Wednesday, July 8 committee hearing. "I was 54 on June 14, so for a month, she was 19 years younger than ?me. I said, ‘Now, you’re getting old. I am going to have to trade you in.’ And she goes, ‘[I’m] 36.’ She is 18 years younger than me. And so I keep? teasing her, and she goes, ‘I know you French men. You divide your age by ?two and add seven, and if you’re older than that, you dump us.’"

According to voter-registration records reviewed by the Weekly, veteran Sacramento-based lobbyist Heidi DeJong Barsuglia turned 36 years old on Monday, July 6.

…"Their relationship is the worst-kept secret in Sacramento," a capitol staffer recently told me. "He’s old and fat. She’s hot, blonde and about 20? years younger. He could have never gotten a woman like that before he got? this job.’"

…But Duvall wasn’t content to just share one adulterous tale at the July 8 committee hearing. He referenced a second, simultaneous affair with another woman. He seemed amused that he was cheating on both his wife and a mistress.

"Oh, yeah, Sher, Shar, Shar," Duvall said. "Oh, she is hot! I talked to her yesterday. She goes, ‘So are we finished?’ I go, ‘No, we’re not finished.’ I go, ‘You know about the other one [Barsuglia], but she doesn’t know about you!’"

Luke says: I visited the state capitol in 1999 and 2000 to cover the Free Speech Coalition’s lobbying efforts. Yes, both days, I walked around with a bunch of porn stars as they energetically lobbied the body politic. Frankly, the secretaries and lobbyists and assorted hangers-on surrounding the politicians were often hotter than the porn stars. Only a strongly moral or timid man could stay faithful in that atmosphere. I think of myself as very moral, but even I got weak in the knees with all the knock-out secretaries with their sleek and sexy power outfits taking dictation and seeing to their bosses every need.

Oy, this whole story is so tawdry and shocking, I can barely bring myself to post about it. Think about some fat old conservative with two kids. He’s probably been married for more than 20 years. He gets to Sacramento. He’s an elected state Assemblyman and for the first time in his life he can achieve the "Ass" in Assemblyman. I bet in high school he wasn’t getting any. I doubt that his life insurance business was a hot way of meeting babes. Finally, he gets to live the dream. And just because he shared a few juicy details with a colleague, wham bam thank you mam, the poor bloke’s resigned, his political career over, and I can’t imagine his marriage is doing too well either.

Sheesh, throwing it all away for a few hours of wanton and irresponsible pleasure, the blissful friction that is not sanctified by God or state, the bountiful pressures released but not in a way that glorifies our humanity or our faith or our conservative politics. It’s just so sad. If only he had listened to some David Deida CDs and learned to use beautiful women only for inspiration for achieving your deepest purpose, and not for blowing off steam.

Oy, the humanity! This leaves me with so much to ponder before Rosh Hashanah. I can imagine that there could be certain situations where I would be vulnerable to these very sins.

I’m sure it gets very lonely in Sacramento. I lived in its vicinity from 1980 – 1988, and from 1990-1993. I got very lonely. There were times when I sought out solace in members of the opposite sex. When I was at my most desperate, I would not have minded if they were lobbyists with business before my committee. Frankly, I fear that I would have found that all the more enticing. So much of politics is accomplished behind closed doors. So much of life is accomplished behind closed doors.

Often one can feel like a fragmentary atom whirling through space and you just want to attach to another human being and leave a deep impression. It makes you feel young and alive. That you matter. That you are powerful. That you can overcome all the humiliation that life gives you by spanking some lobbyist. Yes, if I stretch my mind, I can understand the attraction.

If I really work hard, I can imagine some perky blonde lobbyist on my lap wearing eye-patch underwear and my right hand spanking her for her sins. After all, lobbyist is not a nice job. Lobbyists deserve a little punishment and humiliation.

Oy, but afterwards, I would feel so dirty and ashamed. I’d feel I had taken advantage of my position. And to think of all the people I had let down. How could I get up in shul on Shabbos and give a Torah derasha after spanking some young lobbyist?

I’ve never been a guy to spank girls. I’m pretty vanilla. I’m a simple man. I like to live my life by the precepts of the Talmud. I try to be shomer negiya. The prospect of sex outside of marriage just feels so fleeting and sinful to me. It just does not compare to the pleasure of being close to God.

I wonder what my yoga teacher would say about this? He gave a very moving 20-minute lecture last night about the joys of conscious living. I can hardly believe that tawdry spanking affairs with lobbyists constitute conscious living. I strongly doubt that Yogi Bhajan would approve of such behavior. I feel that yoga is a far healthier way of burning off lustful thoughts than spanking lobbyists. I feel very serene and peaceful when I am in yoga, sitting in the back, watching the rest of the class go into downward dog while I mutter to myself, ong namo guru dev namo. This is the peace that passeth understanding.

By contrast, think of the older man who is running around on his wife having tawdry sex with younger women. Think of the constant tension he must be under. Think of the skulking around. Think of the compressed liasons by the copy machine and in the car and the constant sex talk and the cooing in each other’s ear and the sharing of fantasies and dreams and your deepest emotions as you feel like you have finally found someone who accepts all of you. How does this frantic fornicating compare with the contentment that comes with spending seven hours in shul Rosh Hashanah morning?

When I have fantasies about spanking lobbyists with business before my committee, I like to lie down and listen to Torah lectures by Rabbi Ari Kahn until my lustful thoughts go away. Often it is eight hours or so before I get up and go on my way, purified by the wellsprings of wisdom.

Chaim emails: "Holy crap – so you mean I have to get myself into politics to get laid? And by the way, this story makes Eliot Spitzer seem even dumber than I had thought. What was he doing paying big bucks for hookers when it was there for the taking for free?"

I don’t feel comfortable discussing the details of this case on my blog or live cam. It’s a private matter.

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
This entry was posted in Adultery and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.