The journalist KW Lee lived a life worthy of the hall of glory of California

When I began to reflect California’s policy on the Union Sacramento half a century ago, I paired with another reporter, Kw leeTo investigate how the legislature spent money on internal operations.

KW, short for Kyung Won, had already made waves, revealing that a legislator who owns a travel agency had used the telephone provided by the state at its district office for expensive transcontinental calls to create hotels and travel for its customers.

The legislature must have censored the member for the abuse of money from taxpayers. Instead, she replied, making it practically impossible for reporters to have access to financial information.

The main response encouraged Lee to double his reading. He opened a rear door to the legislative finances by reviewing invoices records at the State Controller Office.

It was in the pre -digital era, of course, so he and I spent countless hours searching through the documents. What we found – plus some discoveries from an internal source – has led to a series of articles for lavish costs.

It included the purchase of office furniture, reconstruction and other services from preferred suppliers without bidding, as well as a free transformation of the kitchen by the contractor for the reconstruction of the legislative employee who manages contracts. Legislators also used legislative sergeants such as drivers, personal jobs and even pets.

An invoice was particularly uncomfortable. The Assembly paid a huge account of a rental business business as a legislator parked one of its cars at Los Angeles International Airport for a month and forgot about it.

Our revelations were so disturbing that Leo McCarthy, chairman of the State Assembly, agreed to resolve limited access to the finance of the legislature – still less than the full Open Records Act Managing Other State AgenciesBut a little better than the complete secret.

During those weeks of the breaty of invoices, I found that Lee was not only an extremely intelligent and fiercely aggressive journalist, but also the most interested and completely unique person I have ever met.

He Was Born in Korea – Then A Japanese Colony – In 1928 II Ended in 1945. Lee Covered the Civil Rights Movement in the South During the 1960s and Wrote About Political Corruption in West Virginia and the Plight of Appalachian Coal Miners Before Comeing Tole

While the investigation of political abuse was Lee’s occupation, he was busy with a difficult position of colleague Korean immigrant Chol Su Lee, who was convicted of a 1973 gang in San Francisco and sentenced to death. Over the years, Lee has written more than 100 articles about the case, finally led to a new process, justification and freedom. His work inspired the movie from 1989. “True believerS “

Lee’s friends seemed to have always been on the verge of succumbing to illness. He experienced attacks of liver and stomach cancer, undergoing a liver transplant in 1992, which is something like a miracle, given that the liver disease is claiming that both of his parents and all six of his siblings.

Throughout his health crises, Lee remains committed to aggressive journalism – even based on the English edition of Korea Times in Los Angeles – and to recognize the contribution that Asian Americans make in California. He also continued to push me and other journalists to deepen in political abuse of characteristic stupidity.

Lee died on March 8Three months of shy of his 97th birthday. It is amazing that he lasted so long and even more so that he achieved so much. This column touches only a few accents in a life that deserves a place in The Hall of Fame of CaliforniaS