Hot microphone moments nothing new in California politics

UC President Janet Napolitano’s sotto voce dismissal of student protesters’ “crap” this week adds her to the ranks of California politicos who’ve been tripped up by live microphones. Napolitano apologized on Thursday.

Here are a few other notable caught-on-tape blunders in and around the Capitol over the years.

▪ Assembly Democrats talked budget crisis political strategy in 2003.

▪ Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger seemingly knew his private musings about “black blood” and “Latino blood” were being recorded – and then they became public as he ran for re-election in 2006.

▪ An unidentified person with Jerry Brown called Meg Whitman a “whore” during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign.

And of course...

▪ Former Assemblyman Mike Duvall, during a break in a 2009 committee hearing, detailed his alleged affair with a lobbyist.

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 12:00 AM.