Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco should be investigated over questions surrounding governor campaign, supervisor says

A Riverside County supervisor wants an investigation into whether Sheriff Chad Bianco misused public resources, including his deputies and department's social media channels, during his bid for governor.

"While I understand that public officials retain the right to engage in political activity in their personal capacity, the use of public resources for such purposes is strictly regulated under California law and ethical guidelines," Supervisor Jose Medina wrote in a letter to Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin.

Bianco, who came up short this month in his bid to advance to the general election in the governor's race, did not respond to requests for comment.

In a phone interview Thursday, June 11, Medina said he sent similar requests for investigations to California's attorney general and an internal anti-fraud committee in the county auditor-controller's office.

The supervisor added that he doesn't have evidence of wrongdoing by the sheriff.

The offices of Hestrin and Attorney General Rob Bonta did not respond to requests for comment. Auditor-Controller Ben Benoit said his office received a waste, fraud and abuse complaint through its website and is looking into it. He declined to elaborate.

In his March 26 letter to Hestrin, Medina outlined a number of areas that he thinks should be looked into, including:

• "Instances in which public news conferences, community safety events or official appearances may have included statements promoting or alluding to a gubernatorial campaign."
• Times in which deputies or other sheriff's employees "may have assisted with activities that appear campaign-related while on taxpayer-funded time."
• "Potential use of county-issued vehicles, facilities and audiovisual equipment, or other publicly funded resources" for campaign purposes.
• "Any use of (the) sheriff's office(s') social media accounts, news releases, newsletters, or email systems to disseminate messaging that could reasonably be interpreted as political promotion rather than official public information."
• "Appearances in uniform or in official capacity, and displaying the sheriff badge at events where campaign messaging may have been delivered, potentially creating confusion between official duties and political activity."

It's not the first time Bianco has faced questions regarding his official duties and his political aspirations.

In August, then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stephen J. Cloobeck sued Bianco, accusing the sheriff of violating state campaign finance law by wearing his official sheriff's uniform at political events.

Bianco's campaign accused Cloobeck, who dropped out of the race last November, of trying to boost his profile by suing the sheriff. The court dismissed the case in December at the request of Cloobeck's lawyer, records show.

Medina said he asked for an investigation after a May 18 news conference in which Bianco, while wearing his uniform, defended his seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in Riverside County during the Proposition 50 election, as part of a criminal probe.

"I was a little taken back by the press conference," Medina said. "It seemed to me to be more of a campaign event than anything else."

Medina said he's met with investigators from Benoit's and Hestrin's offices to discuss his concerns. Medina added the DA's investigators asked for more details and that Benoit's office might be looking to hire an outside auditor to look further into the matter.

A former Democratic assemblymember, Medina has frequently clashed with Bianco, a Republican. The supervisor was elected in 2024, promising to bring more accountability to the sheriff's office, which faces scrutiny over the number of inmates who have died in its jails.

An effort by Medina to establish a sheriff's oversight committee fell short at the Board of Supervisors last year. The supervisor also has criticized Bianco's ballot investigation, which is on hold amid a legal challenge before the California Supreme Court.

Bianco, in turn, has accused Medina of injecting partisan politics into county government, something Medina said was ironic given that the sheriff ran for governor.

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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 12:58 PM.