State Senate officials told Sen. Carole Migden's Capitol staff to go home for the week Thursday after the combustible San Francisco Democrat was overheard berating them.
Enedina Hidalgo, the director of personnel for the state Senate, was in the hallway when she heard Migden screaming at the staff, according to a witness to the event. The source said Hidalgo later entered the office while the senator was not present on Thursday, informing the staff of their rights.
Soon after, Hidalgo returned to Migden's office with Tony Beard Jr., the chief sergeant-at-arms of the state Senate. They told staff members to pack up their belongings and then helped them out of the building, the witness said.
A spokeswoman for Migden, Tracy Fairchild, declined comment and referred all questions about the incident to Senate Rules Committee officials, who also declined comment.
It was the latest transgression for Migden, whose decade in the Capitol has been marked by controversy, volatile behavior and high staff turnover amid complaints that she is unreasonably demanding and verbally abusive.
In June, she became the first sitting legislator in a dozen years to lose a re-election bid in her own party's primary. Her fellow Democrats campaigned against her, in part, on character issues. She will leave office in November.
Migden suffered a bout of bad publicity during the campaign, especially surrounding an erratic 30-mile drive last May on Interstate 80 in which she careened off the center divider and later rear-ended a car with her state-owned sport-utility vehicle.
She pleaded no contest to misdemeanor reckless driving and suggested that medicine she was taking for leukemia may have contributed to the episode.
She also was fined a record $350,000 by the Fair Political Practices Commission for campaign finance violations.
But the latest staff abuse incident reflects the longest-running complaint against Migden.
Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, an Oakland Democrat and chair of the Rules Committee, declined comment about the incident. Secretary of the Senate Greg Schmidt, the top aide to the Rules Committee, and Hidalgo also declined comment.
When Migden was asked directly about Thursday's events, Perata aide Lynda Gledhill sought to intervene, telling Migden she did not have to comment.
"They weren't sent home," Migden said of her staff, before walking away.
Late Thursday afternoon, the phones to Migden's Capitol office went unanswered and mail had piled up by 4:45 p.m., stuffed under the locked office door.
On Friday, none of Migden's regular aides reported to work in the Capitol. Her office was staffed by temporary workers from the Rules Committee.
Call Shane Goldmacher, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5544.
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