While he was in the Assembly in 2012, Charles Calderon pushed for several bills that would have made it easier for mobile home park owners to collect more rent. Many Malibu residents opposed AB 317 last year as it affected many of the individual unit owners in the two local mobile home parks.

It has now become known that at the same time Calderon pushed his bill, his son Ian Calderon, who is now a Democratic Assemblyman representing the Whittier area, worked as a consultant for longtime family friends with relatives who operated mobile home parks. A year later and due to investigative reporting by reporter Ben Baeder, we have learned that last Friday, Charles Calderon's brothers, state Sen. Ron Calderon and former State Assemblyman Tom Calderon, were named as defendants in a multi-count federal corruption case that alleged the brothers used their positions in power to take bribes, launder money and peddle influence. Both men have entered not guilty pleas.

According to a news story by Baeder, "While their older brother Charles and his son Ian haven't been charged or implicated in a crime, the setup enjoyed by Ian, who worked at a recycling firm with ties to several mobile home parks, very nearly echoes a key charge in the federal case against his uncle Ron Calderon." Despite the allegations involving his brothers, Charles is running for one of several open seats on the Los Angeles Superior Court. If he wins, the eldest Calderon could be assigned to the county bench as a judge. He has held a variety of offices in and around the state since 1988.

He denied any wrongdoing. Ian Calderon did not return a call from Baeder seeking comment for this story. One long-time affordable housing advocate said Charles Calderon for years pushed legislation that would benefit the owners of mobile home parks.

"This totally doesn't surprise me that his son worked for a mobile home park owner," said Larry Gross, director of Los Angeles-based Coalition for Economic Survival, an agency that pushes for tenants' rights and an increase in affordable housing. "Calderon (was) always the go-to guy for mobile home park owners. They saw him as their ticket to weakening laws that protect tenants."

The Coalition was one of several groups that opposed Assembly Bill 761, a failed bill introduced in 2009 that would have made it easier for a park owner to charge more rent when a rent-controlled unit changed hands.

As a long-time Malibu Realtor, I fought this bill last year as it alarmed several of my clients, who own units in the two local mobile home parks. Many in Malibu mobilized to oppose this bill, even the members of the Malibu City Council opposed AB 317 and worked for the changes in the text. I am now surprised to hear that Calderon, who authored this bill and others was close with the owners of some of these mobile home parks.