A lawsuit against Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and his brother leans hard on conspiracy theories.

Sara Rubin here, thinking about how muddy the waters of politics, power and political spending can get. There are campaign finance reports by candidates, investigations by California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, lobbyist reports and statements of economic interest, among other public records. These data points can all lead to a trail of breadcrumbs—or at least a pile of breadcrumbs that may or may not lead anywhere in particular, hence the muddy water metaphor (to mix my metaphors here). 

Less public (but also sometimes quite muddy) are matters of human resources. Mix it all together and you can get a lot of smoke, but not necessarily any fire. 

This muddy, smoky brew of insinuation and allegation is on my mind because of a lawsuit filed in Sacramento County Superior Court last week on Sept. 2 by Cynthia Moreno, formerly the press secretary to State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister. She names Rivas as an individual, as well as his brother, Rick Rivas, as defendants. 

At least one fact is not in dispute: Moreno was terminated on Aug. 6, in a letter from the Assembly Rules Committee Chief Administrative Officer Lia Lopez. Moreno disputes the why—but her lawsuit is not a simply wrongful termination allegation. She claims she was fired as an act of retaliation for raising concerns about the Rivas brothers’ relationship, claiming conspiracy and racketeering. 

Rick Rivas is currently the vice president of public affairs for the American Beverage Association (a trade group representing Big Soda). But starting years before Robert Rivas got into politics, Rick has been a political consultant and campaign strategist; dating back to 2006 he managed campaigns for Anna Caballero, now a state senator from Merced, formerly a legislator representing Salinas-based districts. He worked on successful fracking ban measures in San Benito and Monterey counties. Rick also worked, quite openly, on his brother’s campaign for State Assembly. 

In her lawsuit, Moreno lists recent campaign expenditures—gleaned from some of those aforementioned public records—to Rick’s business, Garnett Lake. There was $15,213.82 in the 2024 election cycle, $20,015.64 in 2022 and $126,592.79 in 2020. The lawsuit goes on to list other contributors to Garnett Lake, such as the Friends of University PAC that advocates for the UC system—and notes that a bill, ACA 3 which would have provided home loan support for UC support staff, was tabled by an Assembly committee.

It’s a lot of breadcrumbs, but it’s not quite clear where those breadcrumbs lead. Moreno claims it amounts to bribery—and that she raised ethics questions and then faced retaliation for so doing. A lot of smoke, maybe, but no evidence of fire.

In a statement, Lopez from the Rules Committee defended the integrity of her personnel investigation and decision into Moreno. “This complaint is a total fabrication, and I am confident that Ms. Moreno’s claims regarding ‘unethical or illegal practices’ by Speaker Rivas or his brother will be disproven in a court of law,” she said. Lopez defends the findings of the Workplace Conduct Unit and their decision to terminate. Moreno is demanding her job be reinstated and back pay.

Members of the Rivas team cited matters of pending litigation and personnel as reasons they cannot speak about the specifics of the allegations. But an adviser suggests turning to public records to substantiate that their conduct has been above board—the same public records that, when viewed through Moreno’s lens, are evidence of rampant misconduct. It’s a reminder of how squishy it can be to interpret meaning out of disjointed data points.

It’s never been a secret that Rick has advised his brother (among others). It’s perhaps no surprise that an angry ex-employee would lean on some eyebrow-raising breadcrumbs in a lawsuit. But it’s not clear that trail leads anywhere beyond establishing what is already well known: The two brothers, who do not share household finances, both work in politics.