
At one point in the intense cross examination of the key investigator in the Chamise Cubbison criminal case, Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman turned to a prime prosecution witness and demanded an answer.
Moorman asked whether county taxpayers were out “a single dime” paying for extra work that all parties – investigators, prosecutors, county officials, and the Auditor’s Office – seem to agree that Paula June Kennedy, the county’s former payroll manager and Cubbison co-defendant, had put in during the three years of the Covid pandemic.
Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Porter looked startled and replied softly, “No.” Kennedy had not taken anything more than what everyone involved agreed she had earned, said Porter.
However, county taxpayers are footing far bigger bills stemming from District Attorney David Eyster’s decision to pursue criminal prosecution of Kennedy and elected Auditor Chamise Cubbison.
Local taxpayers are also on the hook for Cubbison’s civil litigation targeting the county Board of Supervisors for immediately suspending her without pay and benefits without giving the Auditor a hearing to defend herself.
Documented taxpayer costs are nearly twice the disputed $68,000 in extra pay DA Eyster cited 16 months ago when he filed a single felony misappropriation of public funds each against Cubbison and Kennedy.
So far, the county of Mendocino has been billed $119,243 by two outside law firms engaged in prosecuting the criminal case and defending the county Board of Supervisors in the related civil lawsuit.
That figure, however, does not represent additional county costs of investigative and court-related services and the burden on the county Public Defender’s Office to provide a legal defense for co-defendant Kennedy, who qualifies because of her inability to pay for a private defense.
Cubbison is experiencing significant costs of her own by having to hire private attorneys to defend herself against the DA’s criminal charges, and to pursue civil litigation for damages against the county that could cost local taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars more if she succeeds.
The County Counsel’s Office provided the costs documented after requests made under the California Public Records Act.
They are just the beginning. Typically, felony trials are expensive, no matter who is paying the bill. Civil litigation can drag on for months, even years, requiring significant legal costs.
Records released by County Counsel Charlotte Scott show the San Francisco law firm of Liebert Cassidy Whitmore has already billed the county $97,172 for fees related to defending the county against Cubbison’s pending civil lawsuit. Attorneys for the firm had advised the Board of Supervisors at the time of Cubbison’s suspension that its action was proper and legal.
Cubbison’s civil attorney, Therese Cannata of San Francisco, recently won a favorable court ruling to continue deposing retired Auditor Lloyd Weer, a central figure in both the civil and criminal cases, and to preserve for trial the complete deposition of retired county Treasurer-Tax Collector Shari Schapmire.
The depositions are critical to Cannata’s ability to show that DA Eyster waged a behind-the-scenes vendetta against Cubbison with the help of some members of the Board of Supervisors. Internal documents and a video of his public appearance before the board damning the Auditor document how Eyster quarreled with Cubbison for three years over his own office spending before seizing on the disputed extra pay as an issue to accuse her and Kennedy of criminal misconduct.
In her defense, Cubbison contends that Weer was engaged in setting up the extra pay for Kennedy beginning in late 2019 while he was still in charge of the office. Cubbison was Weer’s assistant before he retired in September 2021, and she was later elected to lead a merged Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector offices as mandated by the Board of Supervisors.
Special Prosecutor Traci Carrillo’s law firm of Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller & Moskowitz of Santa Rosa has already billed the county of Mendocino $22,070 for her services through December. The amount does not include Carrillo’s fees and expenses for four days of the preliminary hearing before it stalled and was delayed until Feb. 24.
If, at the end, the Cubbison case is bound for trial, taxpayer costs for prosecutor Carrillo alone will escalate sharply to cover her $400 per hour fee. Eyster, in January 2023, after resisting calls to step aside because of his conflicts with Cubbison, finally hired Carrillo at that hourly rate – high by Mendocino County standards – and agreed then to pay her law firm a $10,000 retainer.
Lt. Porter, county CEO Darcie Antle, former Auditor Weer, and other witnesses have all testified during the preliminary hearing that there was no doubt Kennedy worked the hours during the Covid pandemic that she collected to pay for, prompting Judge Moorman’s question about county taxpayer cost.
At issue is whether Kennedy, as Payroll Manager, was given the nod by either Cubbison or Weer or decided to act on her own to use an obscure payroll code to reimburse herself because she had exhausted compensatory time off that salaried county employees can draw instead of overtime.
On the last day of the preliminary hearing, a former county payroll clerk testified that documents provided by IT seemed to show that Kennedy adjusted her pay after overall department payrolls were completed.
The preliminary hearing in the criminal case is scheduled to resume Feb. 24. at the conclusion, Judge Moorman is expected to decide whether to bind the case over for trial or approve pending defense motions for dismissal.
And this is what’s known. A whole lot of other fumble bumbling not yet exposed. May never fully be. This folks is why the world is falling apart. People who can barely tie their own shoes charging $400 an hour. Lawyers the highest paid of all. No one wins in this one. Residents lied to, dismissed. Funding squandered. Mockery of common sense. God help us all. Again what a cluster F!
I think there is a lot of money being wasted by the County on this case, but don’t blame the lawyers. Eyster hired them because of his own conflict of interest. $400/hr. Is the low end of the going rate for lawyers in the greater Bay Area. I’d be surprised if Cubbison’s lawyer charges a lower rate.
Nobody likes lawyers until they need one.
Proposition 36 will cost thousands of taxpayer dollars for each offense when a hungry person steals $5 of food from the market and gets arrested in California. Freedom isn’t free.
Why are you crying, it’s what you voted?
Voting is the pertinent thought Whiny. The people of Mendocino voted for Cubbison. Eyster conducted a campaign to overturn their will and further a personal vendetta against a person that called attention to his misuse of taxpayer dollars.
The voters need to speak up and tell Eyster to kick rocks. He’s cost the county more money than Prop 36.
Mendocino voted for Eyster by the same margins as Cubbison, so this is really more an issue with the quality of people rising to the top in Mendocino County.
Sounds likevyour baby daddy doing time for crimes against honest folks.
Eyster’s Ego and the Supervisors who supported him are going to cost the County a lot of wasted money. The sooner they’re out of office, the better.
With any luck it will cost Eyster his job
While I agree with most of this article there is one point about Kennedy’s role on which I advise the reader exercise caution. I was present in the courtroom for the payroll clerk’s testimony and did not hear her say that Kennedy had added her extra pay after Weer or Cubbison had approved and signed the payroll lists. My companion does not remember that either. We may have missed something but I just want to warn readers not to rush to judgment on Kennedy.
Truly it doesn’t matter who approved it if there was any discussion or dialogue about it and everyone knew that this was going on there you go. County has dismal horrible payroll practices submitting time cards 2 weeks in advance on estimates.
Not sure where you’re coming down although I think you may have criticized me county’s overall payroll/wage practices in the past. I’m not making a judgment about the case but I don’t think it’s fair to imply that Kennedy committed blatant fraud by altering the records unless/until that is proven.
Kennedy worked from home during most of this, no one knows how many hours she worked or didn’t work. It’s all based on her word. For that it’s worth.
the payroll got done each pay period. 1200 person payroll with numerous codes would take plenty of hours.
If I’m reading everything correctly I sure use his own personal email to send information to manipulate the case. This makes his own personal email open to investigation. Eysters personal email needs to be subtenant and access for more case manipulation. He thought he was so smart nobody was going to see that or figure it out. He threw himself under the bus. No one can deny that. That is a crime of flat out crime. Manipulating cases and using your personal email things you just don’t do as the da or any piece of human for that fact
Talk about a waste of taxpayers
Money What happened to the Harender Grewal case ??
Last I heard it was 750 k to the taxpayers.
And a lot to the Ag Dept
A lot of good people aren’t there anymore.
Or whatever happened to the 50 other cases that are open for wrongful terminations and other HR debacles. There’s still open cases with Mr Allman about i juries and pay. Barbara Howe the hustled off Health Director. County doesn’t know how to cut their losses. They spend more money on litigation than any other expense within the county. Millions upon millions of dollars a year. Many lawsuits nearly about control that drone on forever because there is no control or knowledge of how to do these things so they grind away throwing money down the toilet. No matter the results of this in the end if there’s a civil case civil litigation does not equal success in other litigation look at the OJ case. The Goldman family and the Brown family won millions of dollars in the civil suit. Mendocino County do not fool yourself thinking if you win this you will not lose in civil court. Different level of culpability. I hear what the others are saying about the email thing it is pretty concerning that Eyster used his personal email to send information about this case and agreed his email should be subpoenaed and reviewed as far back as 3 years before the action occurred.
There has been some reporting that other salaried country employee worked overtime during the pandemic and were compensated over their salaries. Is it possible to get more information on that? How were payed more? Given Kennedy did payroll she should have seen how that was done. Did she use a different system for her overtime? Who approved the increases payments for the extra hours worked for the other employees? Were some salaried employees who worked more payed overtime and others not? If so, who made those calls? I know this might not matter for the court case, but from the outside it seems puzzling. And I don’t understand how things worked.
100% correct Angus “It seems puzzling, I don’t understand how things worked” Neither do any of them at the county!!! They fumble bumble around all day long until somebody raises the right flag or does something that Peaks interest otherwise the shenanigans continue with little mention. The corruption is deeper and wider than the Grand Canyon itself.
What the heck it’s only taxpayer money.
Lost the email evidence how convenient.
Bumbling inconsistent judicial process.
County under investigation by state.
Police Hanky panky, watch out.
But we have great scenic views
and all the meth you want
Mendo Magic, its magic we are not broke.
The supervisors are a bunch of chuckleheads. There’s obvious corruption, people are getting away with it. The taxpayers pay the price and foot the bill! So tired of it!