National media gave abundant attention to humiliating video of a married GOP Congressman kissing one of his aides while a far more serious Democratic scandal unfolded in California with scant press attention.

Three State Senators faced devastating criminal charges: one for soliciting bribes and trafficking in arms to the Philippines, another for taking bribes and doing favors for federal agents posing as Hollywood executives, and a third convicted of voter fraud and perjury.

The state Senate majority administered the lightest imaginable punishments to their fellow Democrats, announcing “suspensions” that allowed their disgraced colleagues to receive their salaries of more than $95,000 a year. Democrats have enjoyed such unquestioned control of state government in Sacramento for so many years that they’ve come to illustrate Lord Acton’s famous declaration: “Power corrupts. But absolute power corrupts absolutely.”