The race for lieutenant governor has resurfaced a years-old sexual harassment scandal

SACRAMENTO - In the low-profile race for lieutenant governor, Treasurer Fiona Ma has the most name-recognition and has been collecting a wide array of endorsements. But her candidacy is resurfacing years-old allegations of sexual harassment levied against her by a former employee, whose claims Ma's office paid $350,000 in taxpayer money to settle.

The former employee, Judith Blackwell, sued Ma and the treasurer's office in 2021, alleging the treasurer had exposed herself and crawled into bed with her when they shared rooms at a hotel and a rental property.

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From the start, Ma disputed the claims in the lawsuit and said she wanted to clear her name at trial. Earlier this year, she told the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board, which operates independently of the news section, that lawyers for the state decided to settle over her objections.

"It was a frivolous lawsuit," she said. "It was my reputation so I was ready to go to court."

Opponents of Ma have seized on the settlement and are mounting a campaign against her. They've formed a political action committee called "No on Fiona Ma for Lieutenant Governor 2026 - Taxpayers Against Sexual Harassment by Government Officials" that has not yet reported any donors but is represented by a leader of a group supporting one of Ma's rivals, former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.

The group has begun to criticize her publicly, including a recent statement she made to Politico mischaracterizing the terms of the settlement.

"The civil complaints in this frivolous lawsuit were dropped without payment," she told Politico. "I objected to the state settling, and the only public funds spent were by the attorney general to avoid further legal costs."

Ma, who was sued as both an individual and a state official, was represented by the California Department of Justice and by private attorneys, according to court filings. But the settlement agreement clearly states that Ma's office agreed to pay Blackwell $350,000 to settle her claims of sexual harassment, according to a copy of the agreement.

In the lawsuit, Blackwell alleged that while she and Ma were sharing rooms at a hotel and a rental property, Ma called her into Ma's bedroom four times and crawled into bed with her at least once. Blackwell also alleged that Ma "exposed her bare rear end directly to" her several times.

Ma had sought to have the case dismissed, but notably did not deny that the incidents in question happened. Instead, she alleged in a court motion that the four incidents Blackwell described "were not sexual" but "random, isolated incidents that do not constitute sexual harassment."

But Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Christopher Krueger said a jury could reach a different conclusion and declined to dismiss the claims. Ma's deposition was sealed, but the judge wrote that Ma had provided evidence that "she called (Blackwell) into her room while half-dressed on three separate occasions and climbed into bed with her on a fourth."

Krueger did dismiss some parts of Blackwell's lawsuit that alleged that she was wrongfully fired, ruling that the state had provided evidence that she was fired for legitimate performance reasons.

Ma's comments mirrored the way she characterized the settlement when it was reached in 2024.

"After three years of delay, I have been completely vindicated," she said in a statement at the time.

After a reporter read her excerpts from the settlement describing its terms on Tuesday, Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson said she was perplexed by Ma's statements.

"There's nothing to indicate the civil claims against her were dismissed because then there would be nothing to settle," Levinson said. "This just seems strange to repeatedly engage in a mischaracterization of what happened in this case."

In addition to the state attorneys who represented her, Ma raised more than $170,000 from donors to fund her defense in the case. In February 2024, she transferred $50,000 from her 2026 lieutenant governor campaign account into her legal defense account.

Ma, who was elected treasurer in 2018, had initially said she planned to run for governor in 2026 when Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out. She instead announced she would run for lieutenant governor in 2023, after the sexual harassment lawsuit was filed.

The lieutenant governor's official power in California is largely ceremonial. But if the governor dies or resigns, the lieutenant governor takes their place as the top official in California.

An investigation by the Sacramento Bee in 2021 found Ma frequently shared hotel rooms with staff during her first two years in office "to save money." Management experts told the paper the practice was not appropriate because of the power dynamic between the treasurer and her employees, and could be a liability.

Another investigation by the paper found that Ma, who lives in San Francisco, charged taxpayers more for business trips to Sacramento during that time than any other statewide elected official, including those who lived in Southern California. She told the Chronicle editorial board this year that she no longer has the state pay for her hotels in Sacramento, and instead said she charges those expenses to her campaign account.

A group opposing Ma's candidacy criticized her for her characterization of the settlement. Michael Gomez Daly, a spokesperson for the group, called for a law forbidding state officials from sharing hotel rooms with staff.

"Fiona Ma's statement is a bold-faced lie," said Gomez Daly, who also serves as political director of the progressive California Donor Table, which has endorsed Michael Tubbs in the race. "We are calling on Fiona Ma to stop the lies and for the state to finally pass laws prohibiting the very behavior - sharing rooms with subordinates - that led to this payout in the first place."

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