Ethics investigation sought for state senator accused of soliciting cannabis bribes

A Riverside County legislator is calling for an ethics investigation into a state senator accused of soliciting bribes from a cannabis company in Baldwin Park and accepting fraudulent campaign contributions.

Assemblymember Bill Essayli, R-Corona, sent the request for an investigation to the speaker of the Assembly and speaker pro-tem of the Senate on Dec. 12 following the unsealing of a plea agreement with former Baldwin Park City Attorney Robert Tafoya, who secretly pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax evasion charges last year.

“Although the plea agreement does not specifically name the individual legislator, there is sufficient information contained within the record to warrant an immediate investigation by the Assembly and Senate Ethics Committees to identify the person described in the plea agreement and to consider any and all appropriate disciplinary action,” Essayli wrote.

“The Public Trust placed in every Member of the California Legislature must not only be protected against clear criminal violations, but must also be safeguarded against any appearance of impropriety.”

Sen. Susan Rubio unnamed

The unnamed state senator, described as “Person 20” in a plea agreement, matches the description of state Sen. Susan Rubio, D-West Covina. Rubio served as a Baldwin Park councilmember during the time period in question. “Person 20” is described as someone with the power to fire Tafoya and who won a primary for state elected office in June 2018. Though fellow Councilmember Monica Garcia ran in that same race for state Senate, she lost to Rubio in the primary.

Rubio was reelected in 2022 to the 22nd Senate District, which extends from El Monte on the west to Ontario in San Bernardino County on the east.

Matt Z’berg, a spokesperson for Rubio, stated the Department of Justice spoke with Rubio about Tafoya more than a year ago and assured her “she was not a target in the government’s investigation.” Rubio cooperated fully and is not in communication with the DOJ anymore, he said. Rubio was one of two nays when a vote on 15 development agreements with cannabis companies came before the City Council on April 18, 2018.

However, Rubio did support at least one cannabis permit before the vote and came under fire earlier that year for accepting a $1,500 contribution to her Senate race from the applicant.

‘No basis in truth’

In the statement, Z’berg denied the allegations made in Tafoya’s plea agreement.

“It is unfortunate that Mr. Tafoya is making claims that have no basis in the truth and is entwined with someone who has currently been suing Senator Rubio for years,” Z’berg stated.

In 2017 or 2018, “Person 20” allegedly asked Tafoya to help set up a bribery scheme in which a cannabis company would pay $240,000 to an intermediary posing as a consultant, who would then funnel $200,000 to “Person 20” presumably in exchange for his or her support, according to the plea agreement.

The deal, however, fell apart before any money exchanged hands and the middleman canceled his consulting agreement with the cannabis company — drafted by Tafoya — out of fear the company may go to the police.

Passed $15,000 in cash

In October 2017, “Person 20” reportedly asked Tafoya to funnel $15,000 on two separate occasions to her campaign through other individuals to “demonstrate to other donors his/her broad support amongst the community.” Tafoya allegedly agreed “because he believed Person 20 could remove defendant as city attorney and understood that Person 20 could provide defendant additional work if he/she were elected to State office.”

The first time, Tafoya withdrew $15,000 in cash from his Tafoya & Garcia account and provided it in cash in an envelop to “Person 20.”

After winning the June 2018 primary, “Person 20” asked for $15,000 more and Tafoya agreed in exchange for assurances that Person 20 would protect his job in Baldwin Park, and assist him financially, if he or she were elected to state office.

Tafoya made two contributions totaling $2,600 to Rubio’s campaign that same year, according to campaign finance disclosures. He had also donated $4,200 personally toward the race roughly two years earlier.

Z’berg’s statement references Tafoya’s relationship with Rubio’s ex-husband, former Assemblymember Roger Hernandez, who is currently suing his former spouse. Tafoya personally represented Hernandez before becoming Baldwin Park’s city attorney in 2013.

Legal entanglements

Hernandez alleged in a May 2022 lawsuit that Rubio and her sister, Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, had defamed him and caused clients working with him as a government consultant to severe ties.

A judge threw out the defamation portion of the case, which alleged Rubio, who received a domestic violence restraining order against Hernandez in 2017, and her sister had maligned Hernandez’s reputation while speaking out about domestic violence issues. The court later excised significant portions of the remaining allegations in the lawsuit in 2023, concluding that “many of the above allegations appear to have been included solely for the purpose of causing embarrassment to Susan and Bianca.” The rest of the case is still pending.

It’s unclear if there was ever a falling out between Tafoya and Rubio, however. His law firm continued donating to Rubio’s campaigns in 2020 and 2022, records show.

Tafoya quietly resigned from his role in Baldwin Park in late 2022 after the Southern California News Group detailed allegations against him in a different plea agreement. He agreed to plead guilty to the subsequent charges against him roughly a year later.

Federal investigators set their sights on Tafoya and others after flipping Baldwin Park Councilmember Ricardo Pacheco in 2020. Pacheco pleaded guilty that year to taking bribes from a police officer, working undercover for the FBI, in exchange for voting in favor of a union contract. Pacheco agreed to cooperate as part of his plea agreement.

Wide-ranging corruption probe

Over the next three years, federal investigators rounded up politicians from across the Southland, secretly charged them and added them to their growing informant network. Pacheco’s middleman, San Bernardino County Planning Commissioner Gabriel Chavez, went down in 2022 and admitted to facilitating more than $170,000 in bribes to Pacheco in a scheme similar to the one proposed for “Person 20” by Tafoya, who allegedly offered up templates for sham consulting agreements.

Compton Councilman Isaac Galvan was arrested for allegedly facilitating $70,000 in bribes and pleaded not guilty in September 2023.

A few months later, investigators nabbed Tafoya and former Commerce City Manager Edgar Cisneros in secret, offering them leniency in exchange for cooperation. They both pleaded guilty by the end of 2023, but their charges were not revealed until this month.