\u00a0Sacramento Bee<\/a>\u00a0reported that Flora \u2014 a self-professed devout Christian who is now divorced \u2014 had an affair with former lobbyist Emily Hughes, which Pebbles\u00a0said\u00a0overlapped with her own relationship with Flora.<\/p>\nEmily Hughes previously worked as a lobbyist. Linkedin\/EmilyHughes<\/p>\n
Pebbles said Flora would pick up the tab at bars, restaurants and hotels during their relationship, which ended in 2022 months after she not only learned he was married, but conducting a simultaneous affair with Hughes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was always party time, lobbyists, drinking and going out,\u201d Pebbles told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing what I know now, the spending he was doing did not reflect his own personal budget.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPaying for your mistress and a hotel is not at all campaign-related.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Post was not able to independently confirm Flora spent campaign money on hotels for him and Pebbles.<\/p>\n
Assemblymember Heath Flora frequently drinks at one of Sacramento\u2019s dive bars. Obtained by the CA Post<\/p>\n
Pebbles, who said she was going through her own divorce at the time, specifically recalled spending time with Flora at Chargins Bar & Grill and Club 2 Me \u2014 Sacramento bars in an area called the \u201cBarmuda Triangle\u201d that have appeared in Flora\u2019s campaign finance reports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can tell you there was a lot of money spent,\u201d Pebbles said.<\/p>\n
Chargins is known as a neighborhood haunt in East Sacramento. Obtained by the CA Post<\/p>\n
Pebbles said Flora\u2019s hard-partying lifestyle took a toll on her mentally and emotionally, especially when she learned he was in a relationship with Hughes. <\/p>\n
Pebbles eventually entered treatment for alcohol abuse, and is now in a much better place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very spiritual and god-fearing myself,\u201d Pebbles said. \u201cI took this as a Republican, hard-working man, comes from a farm, comes from religion. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere were definitely some elements he gave off that portrayed him to be very different. It kind of gives me the ick now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flora, left, lost his leadership position in a fiery vote Monday. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cJust the fact that he attempted to use god and religion in a manipulative way, it\u2019s just gross,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The allegations come as newly filed campaign finance disclosures show Flora\u2019s committee continued ringing up thousands of dollars in charges at Chargins bar even as scrutiny of his spending intensified.<\/p>\n
The latest filings reveal another 21 separate tabs at Chargins totaling more than $5,400 at the East Sacramento dive between late April and mid-June, bringing Flora\u2019s reported spending there to more than $16,000 since the start of 2025.<\/p>\n
Flora racked up thousands of dollars in tabs at Chargins this spring. Obtained by the CA Post<\/p>\n
Twenty of his recent tabs at Chargins were reported as \u201cDistrict Meeting\u201d meals, while a $1,010.61 expense on June 2 was described as an \u201cElection Night\u201d meal. <\/p>\n
The campaign also reported a $961.17 tab a week later, again identifying it as a district meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of these tabs occurred during weeks the Legislature was hammering out legislation and the state budget.<\/p>\n
Flora, right, is currently the focus of two state ethics investigations. AP<\/p>\n
Flora\u2019s crucial vote to approve tax hikes pushed colleagues to a breaking point. <\/p>\n
Assemblymember Alanis, who joined Flora in supporting the tax increases, issued a blistering statement Monday saying the party was not \u201cunified\u201d on the leadership change.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe election of a new minority leader was fiercely divided,\u201d Alanis said. <\/p>\n
\u201cA significant portion of caucus members opposed the leadership change and the direction it represents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flora is seeking a final term in the state Assembly. AP<\/p>\n
Flora, who is seeking a final two-year term in the Assembly, received just 30.6% of the vote in the June primary election in Stanislaus County \u2014 the lowest level of support for any incumbent state legislator and all of the Republican parties within his district declined to endorse him.<\/p>\n
Joel Campos, chair of the Stanislaus County Republican party, which is represented by Flora, said the group is \u201cexcited\u201d about Macedo\u2019s rise to leadership. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe offers a strong conservative voice from the Valley and will advance our values with credibility and integrity,\u201d Campos said in a text message.<\/p>\n
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Flora\u2019s latest campaign filings also disclosed a $22,500 fundraising charge for the Las Vegas Raiders\u2019 season-opening game against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13, a $2,476 charge at Bighorn Golf Club for campaign meetings, and purchases at BevMo ($200.79) and Total Wine & More ($358.05) that were categorized as \u201coffice expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Post previously reported that a source confirmed Flora\u2019s campaign treasurer stepped back from directly managing his books in early 2024.<\/p>\n
Flora did not respond to detailed questions from The Post about Pebbles\u2019 allegations, the latest campaign expenditures or whether campaign funds ever paid for expenses related to their relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State law permits campaign money to be used for expenses reasonably related to political, legislative or governmental purposes but generally prohibits expenditures for personal use.<\/p>\n
The Fair Political Practices Commission, which has two active investigations involving Flora, declined comment on the pending cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ousted GOP Assembly leader Heath Flora was allegedly conducting two affairs while still married \u2014 and one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,13,15180,121,3586],"class_list":["post-423295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-politics","tag-republican-party","tag-sacramento","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423295","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=423295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}