TMZ paying off public officials for publicly available information? As if! But that's not the way California State Assemblywoman Julia Brownley sees it, which is why she's introduced legislation to make it illegal to pay for information about criminal investigations. (Why there aren't already laws on the books prohibiting these types of bribes is, um, a shock?) Brownley is blaming TMZ's supposed news gathering techniques for the early release of information pertaining to Mel Gibson's arrest, among others. Reports Harvey Levin's soapbox:

Brownley said, "Mel Gibson was one of those cases where information was given out before his due process was executed." Huh? You may recall, L.A. County Sheriff's officials lied to TMZ and other media the entire day following the arrest, claiming it occurred "without incident." Officials ordered the arresting deputy to rewrite his report, eliminating all references to "f**king Jews" and other bad behavior.

TMZ goes on to point out that Brownley represents the district where a slew of celebrities, like Gibson, reside … and how this all might be a ploy to raise some celebrity dolla dolla bills for a reelection campaign. That, or she's tired of not receiving an invitation to Mel's annual Hate-a-thon, which, we hear, always has those little shrimp hors d'oeuvres we love.