When District Attorney David Eyster filed trumped up felony misappropriation charges against former County Auditor Chamise Cubbison more than a year ago, Eyster thought he had a good case. Most outside observers thought the case was filed on specious grounds because Eyster simply didn’t like having his asset forfeiture spending questioned by an independent Auditor.
After the Supervisors jumped on Eyster’s bogus filing as dubious grounds to suspend Cubbison without pay, without any opportunity for Cubbison to respond, some people thought the case would be adjudicated in a timely manner and demanded that Cubbison be given her elected position back.
We wrote at the time that anyone who has experienced the Mendocino County courts would know that the case would drag out for a long time. But even our skepticism was insufficient to the distorted reality which has ensued because here we are more than a year later and the case has not even made it to a preliminary hearing where the prosecutor is supposed to try to convince a judge that there is reasonable cause to proceed.
Remember, no one has accused Ms. Cubbison of personally profiting from any alleged “misappropriation.” All she stands accused of is somehow — maybe, perhaps; the County’s emails seem to have either vanished or are contradictory — approving the use of an obscure payroll code to authorize some extra payments to the County’s payroll manager for work no one disputes was done during the high-stress covid interlude, but which, again allegedly, was not permitted because the payroll manager was a salaried manager, not an hourly employee.
That’s all this case — a felony case — is about: who approved a payroll code for one person who put in the time she was paid for.
Ms. Cubbison received no financial benefit and Ms. Kennedy was paid for work she undeniably did but wasn’t technically permitted to be paid for.
In the immediate aftermath of the DA’s charges, Ms. Cubbison was suspended — without pay — and lost her job, her excellent reputation tarnished. Kennedy was charged with incorrectly receiving pay for work she actually did due to the payroll code. She also lost her job, was also fired without pay, also accused of felony misappropriation, and left an emotional wreck to the point that her defense attorney filed a mental health diversion claim in open court.
Meanwhile, the man who everyone agrees initiated the use of the obscure payroll code for Ms. Kennedy, retired Auditor Lloyd Weer, remains off-scene, uncharged, comfortably drawing his generous pension, not even subpoenaed to testify.
Ms. Cubbison has filed a civil suit against the County for wrongful termination and denial of due process (we can think of several other grounds) which will probably only be addressed after the criminal case is over, if it's ever over. (Ms. Cubbison has been accruing a large legal bill over time which, presumably, will be submitted to the County and addressed in her civil case, but that’s still a long way off.)
Judge Ann Moorman, who now presides over the tattered and battered case after two previous judges were slo-mo cast aside has grumbled a few times about the delays — none of which have had anything to do with Cubbison — but she has never taken any action to speed things along or sanction the stumbling prosecution.
A few months after DA Eyster filed the case, insisting that he had no animosity for or prejudice against Cubbison despite having denounced her the year before in a Supervisors meeting, Eyster walked away from the case, turning it over to a former private attorney/associate and charging the County $400 an hour, plus a ten thousand dollar signing bonus, long-since exceeded, to do whatever she is doing to keep the comatose case on costly life-support.
Also meanwhile, the Supervisors blithely bumble along congratulating themselves for “consolidating” (i.e., disrupting without any plan or risk assessment) the office Ms. Cubbison was suspended from and trying to deal with, having installed their own more pliant executive staffer to run the office and claim credit for finishing things that were already underway under Cubbison, and for the discovery of millions in funds they magically just uncovered — after telling everyone they were broke.
By now it should be obvious that the manufactured molehill that this mountain of an grotesquely manufactured case is based on has all but blown away, but, as usual, nobody in official Mendocino County will acknowledge it, much less be held accountable.
Eyster will probably not run for re-election but will retire and retreat to tend to his well-manicured lawn, sip a nice glass of wine, and a pull down a very generous County pension.
Supervisors Glenn McGourty and Dan Gjerde, the prime malefactors behind the misbegotten “Get Cubbison” project, will drift into comfortable retirements with glowing declarations of whereas that they denied their far more capable and responsible colleague, the falsely vilified John McCowen, while Supervisor Ted Williams will face no serious criticism or opposition from his oblivious coastal constituents. And Supervisors Maureen Mulheren and John Haschak will sit idly by earning their big self-awarded pay raises, pretending that everything is just fine.
As an organization, Official Mendo will stumble along waiting to make a mess of the next big thing. (Our guess: the new jail project and/or the Psychiatric Health Facility.)
Here’s just a brief reminder of how bizarrely the Cubbison case has unfolded so far via a summary of the titles of the articles written by AVA ace reporter Mike Geniella since charges were filed last October. Just imagine how much pointless stress and wasted public money is behind each painful and ludicrous step.
October 14, 2023: DA Files Criminal Charges Against County Auditor & Former Payroll Manager
October 17, 2023: County Auditor Suspended Without Pay
October 18, 2023: A Pair of Vindictive Indictments
October 22, 2023: Mendocino County Supervisors Face Legal Challenge Over Auditor’s Suspension
October 27, 2023: Doubting The Cubbison Charges
October 31, 2023: County Supervisors Under Fire for Cubbison Ouster
November 2, 2023: The Backlash: Cubbison Support Grows
November 15, 2023: DA a No Show In Race for Judge
November 29, 2023: Cubbison Seeks DA Recusal
December 13, 2023: Cubbison Did The Right Thing; Then…
December 17, 2023: Cubbison Demands Job Back
December 20, 2023: Cubbison Fights Back
December 27, 2023: Cubbison Case Delays & Demands
January 4, 2024: More Cubbison Case Questions
January 10, 2024: The AG Seems To Be Listening
January 13, 2024: DA Not Recused
February 21, 2024: Judge Faulder Disqualified From Cubbison Case
April 3, 2024: Eyster Hires Outside Prosecutor In Cubbison Case
April 17, 2024: Last Week In Ukiah; Judge Shanahan Recuses Herself
May 9, 2024: High-Stakes Cubbison Criminal Case Delayed Again
June 15, 2024: Cubbison Prelim Set For July 25th
July 19, 2024: Missing E-Mails Found; Could Be Key To Cubbison Case
July 21, 2024: Special Prosecutor Voices Concerns About Missing County Emails
July 24, 2024: Criminal Trial Of Auditor/Payroll Manager Stalls Over Emails
August 3, 2024: Former County Payroll Manager Seeks Mental Health Diversion In Criminal Case
August 16, 2024: Court Delays Decision On Whether To Grant Former Payroll Manager Mental Health Diversion
September 28, 2024: Cubbison Defense Moves To Have Criminal Case Tossed
November 7, 2024: Special Prosecutor Opposes Dismissal In Cubbison Case
November 9, 2004: Cubbison Case Bogs Down Again
If only it was possible to believe Trump would actually drain the swamp, I’d say Mendoland needs something like him.
We can dream.
All the delays in the Cubbison case is insane. Justice delayed is justice denied! Come on folks let’s get this put to bed or dropped.
What’s The Frequency, Kenneth!