For the last two weeks California's political establishment has been caught up in the drama surrounding the indictment of former Newsom Chief of Staff Dana Williamson, former Xavier Becerra Chief of Staff Sean McCluskie, and prominent Democrat political consultant Greg Campbell for bilking Becerra's campaign account of $225,000.
DIVE DEEPER: Newsom's Former Chief, Described as 'Mob Boss' by Fellow Dem, Failed to Report $1.7 Million in Income
This week, however, attention is returning to a long-running bribery scandal involving failed and former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and David and Andy Duong, a father-and-son team who operate recycling and pre-fab housing companies, amid new revelations about Attorney General Rob Bonta's involvement.
In January 2025 Thao, her boyfriend, and the Duongs were indicted and charged with bribery offenses, and Andy Duong was charged with making false statements to investigators. According to the indictment, the Duongs entered into an agreement with then-candidate Thao whereby they'd pay $75,000 for a negative mailer campaign targeting her opponent and pay her boyfriend $95,000/year for a no-show job, and Thao would, once elected, direct lucrative city contracts for homeless housing to the Duongs' housing company.
READ MORE: Oakland Mayor Claims She's Under Threat From 'Radical Right-Wing Forces,' Including FBI
That sounds rather vanilla, as these things go, but it's just the latest legal kerfuffle for the Duongs, who have been investigated for making straw contributions to Bay Area politicians and have been known for flaunting their ties to Bonta and his wife, Asm. Mia Bonta, in order to procure government contracts.
And this is Andy Duong with his very close friends Mia and Rob Bonta, on a limo, where he refers to Rob as his “brother.” Duong has donated thousands to Bonta. 👇 https://t.co/oQXZz9U26J pic.twitter.com/dSENOKxHCD
— 💥Susan Dyer Reynolds🗞️ (@SusanDReynolds) June 22, 2024
I think that's the current California AG Rob Bonta with Andy Duong the alleged sex trafficker. Kamala was the California AG. So much corruption in California. pic.twitter.com/xnAX8sQcL1
— JP (@JP13517) September 20, 2024
Despite these voluminous postings, Rob Bonta's spokesperson claims that the Duongs are simply campaign donors, full stop. Rob Bonta returned about $155,000 in campaign contributions from the family after the federal investigation came to light in 2024, and he and his wife maintain that they've done nothing wrong and were completely unaware of the arrangement between Thao and the Duongs.
Why is it, then, that just weeks after the indictments dropped Bonta "made five separate payments to the law firm Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati totaling $468,228" from his reelection campaign account for "professional services (legal, accounting)"? Investigative journalist Ashley Zavala with Sacramento's KCRA made that discovery on Monday, and asked Bonta's campaign that question.
Dan Newman, Bonta's spokesman, said the Attorney General was just trying to help federal law enforcement officers bring people to justice.
"There are of course ongoing legal proceedings in the East Bay in which several people were charged with serious crimes. The AG wants to ensure that anyone who committed a crime is held accountable, so he engaged outside legal counsel to help his law enforcement partners pursue justice."
With his campaign money? When he's the Attorney General? If it was such a priority, perhaps Bonta could have diverted CA Department of Justice monies from suing Trump to this endeavor?
Of course, nobody believes that explanation; it's nonsensical. The two explanations that make sense are that the expenditures were for his and/or his wife's representation during the 18-month FBI investigation, or that he was assisting with Thao's legal fees. Only one of those possibilities, though, is potentially a permissible use of campaign funds (depending on exactly what was being investigated by the feds).
So, in a follow-up, his campaign went with that possibility.
KCRA 3 followed up on Tuesday, pressing the campaign on whether that was a permissible use of campaign funds and specifics around the legal expenses. Dan Newman, Bonta's reelection campaign adviser, then confirmed Bonta used the money to hire attorneys to help him as he answered questions from federal investigators.
Newman said Bonta is not and was never a target of the investigation and said the use of funds was "absolutely proper." He said it was necessary to use campaign funds "because of the nature of the charges against the people implicated."
Newman confirmed the money was not used to help his wife, Assemblymember Mia Bonta. He also stated Bonta's involvement in the investigation is over.
It's not clear that using campaign funds for that expense is permissible, though, but a campaign finance expert said that California's Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) wouldn't make that determination unless a complaint is filed.
Normally California Democrats circle the wagons in these situations, but that might not be the case here:
The development comes as three sources tell KCRA 3 that Bonta is reconsidering a possible run for governor. The sources who spoke on the condition they remain anonymous said Bonta has been floating the idea in talks with consultants and allies over the past week.
Those same sources said Bearstar Strategies, which ran successful statewide campaigns for Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris, is eyeing Bonta as their possible candidate. Bearstar has been struggling to secure a candidate in the race after Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis decided to run for state treasurer instead of governor and after U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla announced he wanted to stay in Congress.
Veteran political operatives in the state, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RedState that Bearstar's Ace Smith was behind the leaks of extremely unflattering videos of gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter over the last few months, so expect things to get spicy if Bonta enters the race.
Editor’s Note: Help us continue to report the truth about corrupt politicians like Rob Bonta and Gavin Newsom.
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