DA Eyster Carries On With Steak House Dinners

Through the tumult of the last two years surrounding District Attorney David Eyster’s failed effort to prosecute county Auditor Chamise Cubbison there remains a constant.

Eyster continues to host steak house banquets for employees and their guests, violating county policies under the guise of labeling them “Continuing Education Staff Workshop Annual Debriefing” and tapping into a controversial asset forfeiture program to cover this year’s $3,600 one-night stand.

Internal documents obtained under California’s Public Records Act show County CEO Darcie Antle, a prime prosecution witness in the felony criminal case the DA filed against Cubbison, “pre-approved” Eyster’s most recent claim. Records show it was paid Feb. 13 a week before the banquet was held.

The payment to the Broiler Steak House in Redwood Valley was from a county budget account designated for the DA’s slice of annual asset forfeiture funds. Under asset forfeiture, local, state, and federal agencies can seize property, including cash, vehicles, or real estate, which is believed to be involved in or obtained through illegal activity, even without criminal conviction. In 2023, $376,776 from the program flowed into county law enforcement agencies, according to a state Department of Justice annual report.

The documents reveal Eyster submitted his latest claim three weeks before this year’s banquet using a secondary label: “Staff Workshop and Continuing Education.”

Asset forfeiture regulations allow use of seized funds for law enforcement training. Eyster claims the dinners are continuing education for his employees. However, he has been challenged by the Auditor’s Office in the past because non-employees were guests, and did not receive any “training.”

DA Eyster and CEO Antle did not respond to written questions about whether non-employees attended this year’s banquet, as in the past, or how the dinners meet asset forfeiture spending standards.

The California District Attorneys Association did not respond to written requests for how asset forfeiture funds are managed, and whether Eyster’s use conforms to statewide standards. However, a representative of a District Attorney Office that is considered a model statewide said the Eyster-style banquets would “never be allowed.”

The dinners are symbolic of DA Eyster’s past wrangling with the Auditor’s Office about office spending practices, including disputed travel expenses. Eyster has sought and was granted exemptions by the CEO’s office for travel-related requirements, but the county policy banning staff parties is still in effect. Since taking office in 2011, the DA has quarreled with three Auditors, including Cubbison.

The most recent banquet was held as the criminal case Eyster filed against Cubbison, a fellow elected official, was grinding to a halt in Mendocino County Superior Court after 17 months of a costly legal tug of war. The case was tossed by presiding Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman, setting the stage for substantial damages if Cubbison succeeds in a pending civil lawsuit accusing the Board of Supervisors of denying due process. Four days after Eyster in October 2023 filed a felony criminal charge against Cubbison, board members suspended her without pay or benefits or the opportunity to defend herself.

A few months later after initially resisting calls for his recusal from the case, Eyster hired an outside prosecutor at the rate of $400 per hour to take it through court hearings.by Cubbison was forced to hire a private attorney, while a county public defender was appointed to represent Paula June Kennedy, the county’s former payroll manager who was accused by Eyster of paying herself an extra $68,000 over a three-year period during the Covid pandemic. Both women, veteran county employees, were charged by the DA with felony misappropriation of public funds.

Key prosecution testimony during the preliminary hearing was given by top county officials, past and present, including Antle, retired Auditor Lloyd Weer, and Human Resources Director Cherie Johnson.

Judge Moorman, in explaining her reasoning for dismissing the high-profile case, ripped the witnesses for displaying “willful ignorance” in the courtroom. Moorman found no criminal intent had been shown by Cubbison or Kennedy. In fact, Moorman found Cubbison functioned as a “whistleblower” by informing the County Counsel’s Office of a Kennedy threat to sue the county for excess hours in meeting twice-monthly payroll demands of 1,400 county employees.

The day after Moorman’s dismissal of the case, Cubbison returned to her elected office at the county Administration Center.

DA Eyster regularly posts on social media about court results, but he has never commented publicly about the Cubbison case and its eventual dismissal.

Records show that five days before Moorman’s ruling to dismiss, Eyster greeted seventy-two guests at the latest banquet, most employees of the District Attorney’s Office, spouses, and other guests as usual were included. The DA’s Office was charged $50 per person.

Cubbison ran afoul of Eyster when she began to challenge DA office expenses including the annual dinner. “Are you going to get some training?” became an office quip in the days leading up to the banquet. Cubbison also questioned travel related claims, which so angered Eyster that he went around the Auditor and secured exemptions from the CEO’s Office that continue.

When former Auditor Weer retired in late 2021, he moved to name Cubbison as interim Auditor but Eyster appeared before the Board of Supervisors and successfully blocked her appointment. The DA followed that up with a secret plan emailed privately to a county Supervisor on how to block any Cubbison promotion, and outlining a way for the board to use a state law to force the merger of the county’s two top finance offices into one. Eventually, the Eyster plan called for a new Department of Finance to be created, with voter approval, and placed under control of the board and CEO’s office.

The board forced the proposed merger, but only one candidate – Cubbison - surfaced to be elected to lead the merged Auditor/Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector offices.

However, within four months of Cubbison being sworn in, CEO Antle sought a sheriff’s office investigation into the Kennedy extra pay after consulting with Eyster. A year later, in October 2023, Eyster after having his own team of investigators work the case, finally filed felony criminal charges against Cubbison and Kennedy. The Auditor had refused his offer for her to resign for a misdemeanor charge.

Typically, Cubbison might have challenged the latest banquet payment and forced Eyster to take it to the Board of Supervisors for approval. However, she was still under suspension and facing criminal proceedings when the DA submitted his latest claim. Cubbison declined to address the most recent payment because she had not returned to the office before the Broiler invoice was submitted to then acting Auditor Sara Pierce and paid under Antle’s authorization.

Documents show the February dinner started at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 20, with Eyster giving welcoming remarks an hour later.

Eyster’s agenda included “longevity recognition” to employees including 25-year office veteran Shari Arrington, and Alex Johnston, a 10-year member of the staff.

Eyster, according to the printed agenda, also gave an overview of changes in the law and Prop. 36, and he discussed 2024 calendar year goals, and an assessment on jury trial outcomes and state prison orders.