Asm. Joaquin Arambula (D\u2013Fresno) apparently failed a drug test, according to a court declaration filed by his wife, Elizabeth Arambula, in their divorce case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula claimed in an April 17 filing that her husband missed a drug test and subsequently submitted a diluted result, which is considered a failed test by standards the two sides agreed upon with the court.<\/p>\n
The backstory: Joaquin Arambula checked himself into rehab for alcoholism, cannabis addiction and video game addiction, missing several weeks of work in the Legislature at the start of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His wife filed for divorce on Jan. 26 while he was checked into rehab.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula petitioned the court last month to seal all records, but that was opposed by Joaquin Arambula and rejected by Fresno County Superior Court Judge Steven Crass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joaquin Arambula said in previous court filings that he has volunteered to undergo drug testing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOne law for everyone\u201d: Elizabeth Arambula wrote in a declaration that her husband opposed her request to seal court records, saying at the time, \u201cThe Truth will set me free.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said she wished to have the records sealed in order to protect their three children.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI accept this reality and therefore the protection of [Joaquin Arambula\u2019s] political career cannot come before the health, safety, and welfare of our three daughters,\u201d Elizabeth Arambula wrote. \u201cDespite his position of power, [he] must be held to the same standards as everyone else who appears before this Court. One law for everyone. If that premise requires me to be more direct with this Court about my concern, so be it. I have been married to [him] for fifteen years. I know his patterns better than anyone. Therefore, I am deeply concerned that [he] will not maintain his sobriety and, without court intervention, will also fail to agree to reasonable support orders, custody orders, and the restoration of funds he took from our accounts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDirty test results\u201d: Joaquin Arambula claimed to have \u201cno misses\u201d with his drug testing results, which Elizabeth Arambula says is not true.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She stated in a court filing that Joaquin Arambula missed a test and subsequently produced a negative dilute result during the week of March 24.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBy [his] own standard these are dirty test results,\u201d Elizabeth Arambula said in the filing. She pointed to her husband\u2019s March 30 declaration, which states that any missed, refused, diluted or tampered test shall be deemed a positive result.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also took issue with Joaquin Arambula characterizing his testing as \u201crandom,\u201d since he has limited his testing window to Thursday through Sunday of each week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGrandiose\u201d financial situation: Much of the April 17 filings centered on Joaquin Arambula\u2019s financial standing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zeppy Attashian, Elizabeth Arambula\u2019s attorney, wrote in a declaration that Joaquin Arambula earned over $910,000 in 2022, nearly $298,000 in 2023 and over $1.27 million in 2024. She also claimed that Joaquin Arambula\u2019s 2025 adjusted gross income of $150,047, which he reported on his tax returns, did not line up with bank deposits of over $1.7 million last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Arambula wrote in her declaration that they had an extravagant lifestyle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe standard of living our family maintained during the marriage was, by any fair characterization, grandiose,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI say this not as a boast, but as an honest description of the lifestyle [Joaquin Arambula] and I built together over fifteen years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She also explained her reasons for opposing Joaquin Arambula\u2019s proposal to put $300,000 into a 529 account to cover college expenses for their children, calling it a control tactic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality is, [Joaquin Arambula] can afford to disburse funds to me as I have requested, fully fund the 529 accounts, and continue living a lifestyle where he spends excessively on himself and our daughters,\u201d she wrote. \u201c[He] just doesn\u2019t want me to receive any benefit from our marriage because I chose to leave.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moving back home to campaign: Elizabeth Arambula addressed her husband\u2019s claims in previous filings that she left their house \u201cvoluntarily\u201d and that her departure was a personal choice of timing and convenience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said Joaquin Arambula insisted on moving back into their house from Sacramento.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough [Joaquin Arambula] has family he could live with during our separation, he refused,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIn the past, [he] has lived in Sacramento for a significant part of the year, returning on weekends. Despite having someone else to live with, is consistently in Sacramento, he kicked me out claiming he needed our home for his re-election campaign as it is located in his district.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joaquin Arambula is not running for reelection in the Assembly, instead opting to forego one final term in office to run for Fresno City Council.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What we\u2019re watching: The estranged couple will return to court on Friday to discuss child and spousal support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Asm. Joaquin Arambula (D\u2013Fresno) apparently failed a drug test, according to a court declaration filed by his wife,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,7999],"class_list":["post-280989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-highlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}