By Alec Regimbal : sfgate – excerpt

Assembly Bill 37 would allow Calif. lawmakers to start using unlimited campaign funds to hire bodyguards or install security systems.

On April 21 of last year, a convoy of roughly 20 truckers gathered outside the Oakland home of state Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, with the express purpose of intimidating the Democratic lawmaker. They crowded the streets in front of her house, honking and demanding through bullhorns that Wicks, who was home at the time, come outside. After police arrived, the convoy departed…

Those events and others like them are the inspiration behind an unusual bill that’s currently working its way through the California Legislature: Assembly Bill 37, which would remove the cap on how much campaign funds state and local lawmakers — as well as those who are running for such offices — can put towards security, and would for the first time allow candidates to use political donations to hire bodyguards…

One might ask why these public servants need protection from their constituents. What are they doing to anger the public they are supposed to support?