The criminal case against Chamise Cubbison, Mendocino County’s former auditor, tax collector, and controller, comes before Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman on Monday for a motion to dismiss. The case, filed by Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster, involves allegations of improper use of a county pay code and a missing trove of county emails.
Cubbison’s defense argues the charges are politically motivated, stemming from long-standing tensions with the district attorney's office. Mike Geniella, a retired journalist and former public information officer for the DA’s office, explained the background to the case.
“This really all started several years ago,” Geniella said. “Ms. Cubbison was the assistant auditor at the time. Lloyd Weir, who’s now retired, was the auditor. Ms. Cubbison and the district attorney’s office became engaged in a kind of a running challenge over the DA’s office spending. That conflict escalated, and the district attorney took the extraordinary step of publicly denouncing her.”
Geniella added that the conflict expanded when the county consolidated the auditor’s and treasurer’s offices, a move that Cubbison opposed.
The allegations against Cubbison involve the use of an obscure county pay code — code 470 — to resolve a pay dispute involving an exempt employee, Paula June Kennedy, who claimed 390 hours of unpaid work. Kennedy eventually received $68,000 over three years.
“It is alleged that to get around this dispute, internal dispute, this strife about pay for Kennedy, that [Cubbison] not only agreed to, but facilitated the scheme to use this obscure pay code,” Geniella said. “Now, Cubbison is denying that."
Lloyd Weer, who at the time was the auditor and Cubbison’s boss, also initially denied facilating use of the pay code. However, a taped interview conducted by the DA’s investigator, Kevin Bailey, revealed Weer later acknowledged discussing pay matters with Cubbison. “Well, yeah, we did talk pay, and he and she told me about these other two people, and I told her to look into it,” Weir said, according to Geniella.
Adding complexity to the case is the disappearance of thousands of emails central to the investigation. Geniella emphasized the importance of these records. “This is what they, people, do in that world — emails. And suddenly, what we learned last, in August this past summer, well, of thousands of emails involving these three people. Suddenly the archival system is collapsed,” Geniella said. “They live and die by emails.”
Retired auditor Weir, Sheriff’s investigator Andrew Porter, and Tony Rakes, the former head of the county’s IT services, are all under subpoena to testify. The missing emails are expected to play a significant role in the proceedings.
Judge Moorman could decide to dismiss the case or allow it to proceed to a preliminary hearing, where more evidence would be presented and a decision would be made on whether to allow the case to go to trial.
