Former SF supervisor and assemblymember Fiona Ma, who has been the state's treasurer since 2019, is now running for lieutenant governor, and naturally a sexual harassment lawsuit against her from five years ago, which was only settled in 2024, has been brought up by her opponents. Also, there's a separate mini-scandal in which she's nominally linked involving a school in China.

A couple of established politicos, state Treasurer Fiona Ma and Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, are looking to swap jobs next year, with Kounalakis running for treasurer, and Ma running for lieutenant governor.

Ahead of the June primary, enemies and opponents of Ma could not help but bring up the messy situation surrounding a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit filed by an employee against Ma, a lawsuit that included some fairly lurid accusations about Ma's behavior during the early days of the pandemic.

The lawsuit came from former executive director of the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee Judith Blackwell, who shared a hotel room with Ma in Sacramento in early 2020, and later shared an Airbnb with Ma and another employee — which Ma had offered to her so that she did not have to commute an hour each way to work.

Blackwell's claims included that Ma had made repeated sexual advances toward her and "repeatedly exposed her bare backside" for attention while they co-habitated. She also claimed that Ma had given her gifts and once climbed into bed with her while she was trying to sleep. Blackwell refused her advances, she said, and later suffered a stroke. After being out on sick leave for several months, she was fired without being given a reason in January 2021.

A judge would later rule that there was evidence enough to go to trial on the sexual harassment charge, but he dismissed the wrongful termination charge saying that Ma had presented ample evidence to justify Blackwell's termination for cause.

Ma has denied any wrongdoing, insisting the situations described were "not sexual," and telling the Chronicle that she wanted to go to trial in order to clear her name. But lawyers for the state pushed her to settle out of court after the trial was postponed in early 2024, and Ma's office paid Blackwell $350,000 to settle the harassment claims.

Now, as the Chronicle reports, a group called No on Fiona Ma for Lieutenant Governor 2026 — Taxpayers Against Sexual Harassment by Government Officials appears to be launching a negative campaign focused on the lawsuit. And the group is reportedly represented by someone who leads another group that supports a rival in the lieutenant governor's race, former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.

Oddly, Ma has continued to make public statements that mischaracterize the settlement, insisting that no money changed hands, and saying that all the civil claims against her were dismissed, which they were not.

"Fiona Ma’s statement [about the settlement] is a bold-faced lie," says Gomez Daly of the "No on Fiona Ma" group, per the Chronicle. "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."

Daly also works as political director of California Donor Table, a progressive group that has endorsed Tubbs for lieutenant governor.

This is not the only scandal dogging Ma as she seeks higher (though not much higher) office. As Politico reported last month, Ma was an invited guest at a Chinese boarding school that is the subject of a county audit, after a Riverside County school district improperly issued California diplomas to students at the school. An archived web page from the school in Qingdao, China, called Pegasus California School, shows Ma being shown around the campus, and suggests that she told students at the school she could set them up with internships and jobs in California.

The school was later the subject of an audit by the Riverside County Office of Education, which suggested there was possible evidence of bribery, fraud, and conflicts of interest regarding an odd program that offered diplomas from the Val Verde Unified School District to students who had only attended school in Qingdao. The program dates back 2016, when Val Verde established a "sister school" relationship with Pegasus.

Pegasus California School has also reporteldy received a cease-and-desist letter from the California Department of Education, warning them to stop saying that they have any endorsement or approval from the state of California.

The school has reportedly guaranteed students acceptance to a top 100 American university, or they could have their money back.

While the school's website suggests that Ma traveled to Qingdao "specifically" to inspect the school, Ma insists that she simply paid them a visit while on a personally funded trip with her late father, who had wanted to pay a last visit to his hometown.

Previously: Former SF Supervisor Turned State Treasurer Fiona Ma Is Headed to Trial For Sexual Harassment Charge

Top image: Fiona Ma attends Asian Hall of Fame hosts Centennial Medal Ceremony honoring Connie Chung at Biltmore Los Angeles on September 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Olivia Wong/Getty Images)