Investigation into funds used for Sarah Palin's speech
In April 2010, Yee filed a public records request to discover if any state funds were used by California State Stanislaus Foundation to hire and pay former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin $75,000 to speak at the school's 50th anniversary celebration on June 25.[68] The foundation refused to divulge the any information about fees paid to Palin.[69]
In response, Yee introduced SB 330 which would require groups to abide by California's Public Records Act.[69] On May 28, the Los Angeles Times reported that two California State sources disclosed that Sarah Palin will receive $75,000 for her speaking engagement. Officials would not confirm the amount of the disclosure.[70] In response to the disclosure, Yee said, "It's rather disappointing that Sarah Palin is asking for nearly $100,000 to speak at this anniversary event when we're looking at state increases in student fees, cancellations of classes and the fact that this money could be going to scholarships? She could do wonders for all of us ? by taking this money and donating it back to the foundation."[71] Palin's speech brought in a then record $200,000 profit for the Cal State Stanislaus Foundation [72]
[edit] Allegations
In 1992, Yee was accused of the petty misdemeanor crime of shoplifting a small bottle of sunscreen in Hawaii. In 1993, the case was closed without prejudice after Yee left the jurisdiction without informing law enforcement.[73]
Yee has also been pulled over by SFPD twice, under the suspicion that he was cruising for prostitutes in the Mission District of San Francisco on South Van Ness Avenue. In each case, he was questioned by police and let go with no charges filed.[74]
Conflict of interest in editing Wikipedia
On September 4, 2007 it was revealed using WikiScanner that IP addresses registered to computers in the California Senate office had made changes to its Wikipedia entry favoring Leland Yee.[75]
Criticisms of Rush Limbaugh
On January 19, 2011, conservative political commentator Rush Limbaugh mocked Chinese president Hu Jintao during his visit to the White House on his radio show. "Hu Jintao -- He was speaking and they weren?t translating. They normally translate every couple of words. Hu Jintao was just going ching chong, ching chong cha," said Limbaugh, who imitated Hu's speech for seventeen seconds. Yee criticized Limbaugh for his remarks: "His classless act is an insult to over 3,000 years of cultural history, and is a slap in the face to the millions of Chinese Americans who have struggled in this country and to a people who constitute one-quarter of the world's population."[76] He demanded an apology from Limbaugh for what he and others view as racist and derogatory remarks. He also organized with civil rights groups?including Chinese for Affirmative Action, Japanese American Citizens League and the California National Organization for Women?to boycott companies like ProFlowers, Sleep Train and Domino's Pizza that advertise on Limbaugh's talk show.[77][78] Yee has received threatening messages and also received a fax from an unknown sender which made racist comments and labeling him a Marxist. "Rush Limbaugh will kick your ***** ass and expose you for the fool you are," part of the memo said.[79]
Shark fining legislation
California State Assemblyman Paul Fong had introduced Assembly Bill 376, a legislation intended to ban a method of harvesting shark fins, but the details of which also stipulates that any commercial or culinary use of any shark's fin become banned, in particular Shark's fin soup, which Assemblyman Fong describes as: "Anything that is unhealthy, that the culture is practicing, we should stop doing it. We used to bind women's feet and that was unhealthy for the woman".[80] In what may be a described as a cynical analogy with a long obsolete practice of foot binding is echoed by Hawaii's former first lady Vicky Cayetano who states that: "shark fin soup is about as cultural as bound feet",[81] however, Senator Leland Yee, while voicing his concern about the illegal shark fining trade, argued that the mentality behind AB376 constitutes "the wrong approach and an unfair attack on Asian culture and cuisine... rather than launch just another attack on Asian American culture, the proponents of the (blanket) ban on shark fin soup should work with us to strengthen conservation efforts".[82]
