It was just an accident, California Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi's representatives say. The lawmaker walked out of Neiman Marcus without paying $2,500 for leather pants, a skirt and a blouse because she was distracted while talking on her cell phone .Abercrombie Fitch Outlet Stores Are Full Of Fashion.Later, a more dire-sounding explanation emerged: the absent-mindedness, her lawyer said, was partly due to the effects of a benign brain tumor for which she is taking medication.
Hayashi apologized from the state Capitol last week, and some fellow lawmakers expressed sympathy and support.Back in her district across the bay from San Francisco, however, there's no clear consensus of opinion about what happened.Many residents said they hadn't heard about the shoplifting or the medical diagnosis, or they shrugged with indifference when told.But others said Hayashi, who heads the powerful Business, Professions and Consumer Protection Committee and is considering a state Senate run, has more explaining to do.
"We want to know the truth," Hayward-resident Michael Howey said outside a Safeway not far from Hayashi's district office. "Health matters are not always everyone's business, but in her position, it is the voter's business to know if their elected leader is competent for the job."Hayashi's spokesman Ross Warren has said the three-term lawmaker, who is prevented from running again because of term limits, has no plans to resign. Her lawyer, Douglas Rappaport, has said the tumor is being treated and no longer affects her concentration or judgment.
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