Leno trapped in elevator | The Sacramento Bee

Sometimes being chairman of the appropriations committee just isn't enough.

Assemblyman Mark Leno says he spent about 90 minutes on late Monday evening trapped in a Capitol elevator somewhere between the basement and first floor.

"The good news is I am not claustrophobic, at least in an elevator of that size," said Leno, a San Francisco Democrat.

"I was in 'elevator one', on the far left when facing the elevators, and something didn't work," he added. "Though the indicator light read 'B,' as in basement, the door wouldn't open."

It was about 10:30 p.m. said both Leno and Ronald Pane, chief sergeant-at-arms for the Assembly.

Leno called the sergeants, who then called an elevator repair company.

"We called an elevator company, they responded and the following day the Department of General Services did an inspection," said Pane. "It couldn't be anything bad because they didn't take anything out of service."

Leno returned to the Capitol on Tuesday and is more likely than ever to take the stairs.

"The irony here is I am someone who always uses the staircase," he said.