Michael Tubbs, Running For Lt Governor, Found Guilty of Not Reporting Millions That Now Pay His Salary as He “Fights Poverty”
STOCKTON- Disgraced former Stockton Mayor Michael has announced he is raising money to run for Lieutenant Governor of California. This announcement comes days after the Fair Political Practice Commission found that Tubbs hid over $4 million in donations he raised for his “Reinvent Stockton” nonprofit that also runs “Stockton Scholars”. Tax documents also show that the same “nonprofit” then paid him and his friends six figure salaries with Tubbs making $202,612 while his former tax funder paid “executive assistant”, Cameron Burns, was paid $136,882. Now he’s raising money to run for Lt Governor while claiming he helped poverty in Stockton. The reality is, the only people he helped leave poverty was himself and his chauffeur Cameron.
According to the Fair Political Practice Commission (FPPC),former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs failed to report multiple behested payments equaling $4,241,000 while he was Mayor. These were donations he used his position as mayor to secure, which now pay his salary since losing re-election. Furthermore, he no longer even lives in Stockton, having moved to Los Angeles after losing and publicly proclaiming he was no longer interested in helping people “who didn’t vote right.”
Tubbs founded the Reinvent Stockton Foundation his first month in office as mayor. He immediately received $4 million from an “anonymous donor.” The address where “Reinvent Stockton” was located was at his mother’s house where he was living.
For over four years 209 Times was warning the public, former county prosecutor (now turned defense attorney for SUSD trustee AngelAnn Flores) Tori Verber Salazar, the San Joaquin County Grand Jury and the FPPC that an investigation was needed into Tubbs and his cohorts former SUSD President Lange Luntao. former City Councilmember Jesus Andrade, and Sammy Nunez who has since been convicted of drugging and raping his own daughter and niece as small children.
Complaints by citizens of Stockton about the millions of dollars were filed with the FPPC back in 2018. Yet, for some strange reason the FPPC took 6 years to determine what was plain to see. Both Tubbs and Andrade bragged about having consulting firms. Yet both also failed to mention it on their FPPC Form 700 statements of economic interest, another violation of the Political Reform Act.
Tubbs, Andrade, Luntao and former DA Tori Verber Salazar all had interesting relationships with the Tides Foundation in the Bay Area. 209 Times had concerns that Tubbs in particular was not reporting millions of dollars he was raising for his nonprofits with what appeared to be highly questionable and unethical dealings with the Stockton Unified School District. Former SUSD Director Nic Howard, who was hired by John Deasy for a position he did not possess the qualifications for, is also being paid a salary of $184,653 from Tubbs’ nonprofit organization.
The money being raised was sold to the public as “money for scholarships” with Stockton Scholars giving amounts of $500 or $1,000 to students who “qualified.” Initially only SUSD students were allowed to apply as students of other school districts in Stockton were openly discriminated against by a mayor who was being paid to represent the whole city. Now millions of dollars are going towards the salaries of Tubbs and his co-conspirators that were supposed to be for scholarships.
In an attempt to stay relevant in the public’s eye, Tubbs reinvented his message to launch a campaign he calls EPIC, Ending Poverty In California. Not only has he had zero impact of the economy or poverty rates of the state, he left the City of Stockton he was mayor of, footing the bills for hundreds of thousands of dollars paid out for lawsuits for attempted property takeovers supported by his administration like the Stockton Royal property and Grand Save Market takeovers that were ultimately rejected by courts. Stockton also remains one of the most violent cities in the nation as the Measure A sales tax increase Tubbs pushed for has failed to hire the additional police officers that were promised despite collecting $340 million from tax payers. The poverty rate in Stockton is 15.6% of the population living below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 12.5%.
