Rob Muelrath Research

High Level View

Rob Muelrath is the founder and principal of Northern California based Muelrath Public Affairs. Through his consulting agency, Muelrath has connections and ties to dozens of elected officials and corporate clients through Sonoma, Napa, and Marin counties. His clientele spans multiple city and county levels, having managed the campaigns of over a dozen elected officials through Sonoma, Napa and Marin, as well as the city level, with candidates in Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Petaluma, and more. He worked to elect a majority of candidates to the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (and is working for two more candidates looking to get elected in 2026), and a majority of the Santa Rosa City Council, including the Mayor and Vice-Mayor.

His corporate clients include the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, PG&E, Waste Management Inc., Walmart, the Sonoma County Airport, and more. He is also a crucial advisor to the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, who have paid him hundreds of thousands to push through their political campaigns.

Altogether, Muelrath’s connections pose a troubling pattern of interconnected corporate and political influence. Allegedly, Muelrath’s strategy includes offering to run candidates campaigns cheaply, often billing them just a couple of hundred dollars for printing and supplies– in turn, once they are elected, he is able to lean on his political clients to support the business deals from his corporate clients, a remarkable alignment of governmental power with business interests wielded by just one man.

City/ County Contracts

Muelrath has worked with several influential boards throughout the region, and in one case is even a board member. Below are just a few of the boards he has worked with, including direct connections to and those in power on said boards.

Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport Aviation Commission
The Sonoma County Airport Aviation Commission is a client of Muelrath Public Affairs. In addition, the Sonoma County Airport oversaw a large redevelopment of the land around the airport and the creation of a lucrative business park owned and operated by Larry Wasem, a client of Muelrath Public Affairs. To-date, the county has purchased two buildings in the business park for $32 million. A third building for $56 million was rejected after a controversy involving Wasem and Muelrath client, Supervisor David Rabbitt, described below. The total price tag of the entire Airport development project – including building a new building and purchasing two others, comes out to at least $434 million; a major investment from the county towards Wasem’s development company. To-date, all four Muelrath county supervisor clients have supported this larger development, while Supervisor Chris Coursey – the only elected not a client of Muelrath – has opposed. Muelrath’s financial entanglement between both the Airport Board, current county supervisors and Wasem is a troubling conflict of interest. Below are listed the members of the Airport Commission:

• D1: Shane Bickford
  • Commercial Loan Officer, Poppy Bank
• D2: Marlin Jones
• D3: Vacant
• D4: Stephen Birch
• D5: Art Hayssen
  • Art Hayssen Aviation
• At-Large: Marlon Young
  • Krankemann Law, Lawyer; Pilot
• At-Large: Dane Jasper

North Bay Water Reuse Authority
The North Bay Water Reuse Authority is a client of Muelrath Public Affairs. In addition, the members of the Reuse Authority are listed below, with Muelrath client David Rabbitt highlighted.

• Chair: David Rabbitt
  • Sonoma County 2nd District Supervisor, Muelrath Client
• Vice-Chair: Larry Russell
  • Marin Municipal Water District Director
• Director: Belia Ramos
  • Napa Board of Supervisors
• Director: Caole Dillon-Knutson
  • Fmr. Mayor of Novato, fmr. Novator City Council member
• Director: Dr. John Shribbs
  • Petaluma City Councilmember
• Director: Gary E Robard
  • VP of Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District
• Director: Mark Joseph
  • American Canyon City Councilmember
• Director: Scott Sedgley
  • Mayor of Napa
• Director: Dennis Rodoni
  • Marin County Supervisor, District 4
• Director: Jack Baker
  • North Marin Water District

Sonoma County Fair Board
Besides Muelrath having the Fair Board as a client, he also serves as a member of the board as well, Additionally, Muelrath has a number of professional connections to some of its members. Lisa Wittke Schaffner is the CEO of North Coast Builders Exchange who run a political action committee that has funneled money to Muelrath clients over the years. The North Coast Builders Exchange is also allegedly working with Gen H Housing, another Muelrath client. Also on the board is Marilyn Herzog, who is a prominent local ranger and deeply connected to Muelrath client the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.

• Hugo Mata, President
  • Founder and Principal, Soluna Outreach Solutions
• Rocco Cunningham, Vice President
  • President, Integrity Trading
• Stacey Powers, Treasurer
  • Vice President of Commercial Lending, Exchange Bank
• Sharon Wright, Secretary
  • Principal and Owner, Wright Consulting; Chair, Burbank Housing Development Corporation
• Kanani Reynolds, Past President
  • Auctioneer
• Lisa Wittke Schaffner
  • CEO, North Coast Builders Exchange
    • The NCBE ran a PAC which gave to Muelrath clients like the Farm Bureau, the Yes on Measure U PAC, and likely others. Muelrath client Generation Housing (“Gen H”) is also a member of the NCBE membership network.
• Marcia Mickelson
  • COO, Kunde Family Estate Winery
• Kevin Howe
  • Orthopedic Surgeon
• Alma Bowen
  • Executive Director, Nuestra Comunidad
• Teejay Lowe
  • Managing Director, West College Center; Managing Director, Jadewin Vineyards
• Marilyn Herzog
  • Prominent local rancher, deeply connected to the Farm Bureau a Muelrath Client
• Annette O’Kelley
  • Retired teacher
• Neysa Hinton
  • Mayor of Sebastopol
• Carole Quandt
  • Self-Employed Proofreader
• Rob Muelrath

In 2020 Rob Muelrath reportedly worked on the Pro-Measure G campaign. Measure G was a half-cent sales tax meant to bolster fire safety. The Press Democrat reported that Muelrath was promised up to $435,000 for his efforts with polling and consulting on the measure. Ultimately the campaign failed. Muelrath blamed the loss on a “lack of any campaign.”

Campaigns Worked On/ Employed By

Much of Muelrath’s business is in running the campaigns of elected officials throughout Sonoma and Napa county and the cities therein. Below is a collection of his elected official clients, along with a list highlighting those who currently hold office.

Sonoma County

Currently, four of the five elected Supervisors for Sonoma County had their campaigns run by Muelrath. He is currently running the campaigns for Tom Schwedhelm (4th District) and Sylvia Lemus (2nd District), who are campaigning to replace retiring Supervisors James Gore and David Rabbitt.

Current elected Sonoma County officials that employed Muelrath Consulting:

• Rebecca Hermosillo, District 1
• David Rabbitt, District 2
• James Gore, District 4
• Lynda Hopkins, District 5
• Deva Marie Proto, Clerk-Recorder-Assessor

Muelrath also has connections to Sonoma County Sheriff Eddie Engram. Muelrath is a campaign donor and serves with Engram on the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Foundation – an organization founded by Engram that supports the county Sheriff's initiatives. Engram has opposed Sanctuary status and has a policy of limited cooperation with ICE. He has also refused to cooperate with the Sheriff oversight board.

Below is a list of all Sonoma County political campaigns from 2022 to the present day that have employed Rob Muelrath as a consultant, along with how much they paid him for his work. Over the past four years, Muelrath has been paid nearly $1 million on Sonoma County-level campaigns, with the majority of that compensation coming from the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. A number of members within the Farm Bureau are also Muelrath clients.

City of Santa Rosa

Muelrath has worked for three out of the seven of the current electeds on the Santa Rosa city council, including the current mayor and vice mayor. He is also working on the campaign for Terry Sanders, who is looking to succeed Victoria Fleming in the D4 council seat.

• Eddie Alvarez (District 1 Councilor)
• Mark Stapp (Mayor and District 2 Councilor)
• Jeff Okrepkie (Vice Mayor and District 6 Councilor)

Additionally, Muelrath worked for Scott Flater – the son-in-law of local developer Bill Gallaher. Both spent big in Santa Rosa elections to defeat various measures and candidates. Muelrath worked for Flater in 2016 supporting three candidates for office:

• Jack Tibbets (District 3: successful)
• Don Taylor (At-Large: unsuccessful)
• Ernesto Olivares (At-Large: successful. Former Mayor)

Collectively, Muelrath has been paid over half a million dollars to run campaigns within Santa Rosa since 2016 – over half of which came from a campaign backed by the California Apartment Association.

City of Petaluma

Rob Muelrath has run three races in Petaluma since 2020. Both David Adams and Gabe Kearney’s races were unsuccessful, while Karen Nau’s was successful and she currently serves as a city councilor for Petaluma.

Napa County

Muelrath has been successful in running campaigns for the Napa County Sheriff, Oscar Ortiz. Additionally, he ran the successful Measure U ballot initiative to fund road and highway repair in 2024.

Additionally, Muelrath ran at least five unsuccessful campaigns in the county from 2020-2024.

• Oscar Ortiz for Sheriff 2022 (current position)

• Citizens for Fixing Potholes and Reducing Traffic, Yes on Measure U (2024) (successful)

• Mike Basayne for Napa County Treasurer-Tax collector 2020 (unsuccessful)

• Mariam Aboudamous for Supervisor 2020 (unsuccessful)
• Friends of Alfredo Pedroza for Supervisor 2024 (ultimately did not run)
• Dunbar for Supervisor 2022 (unsuccessful)
• Pete Mott for Supervisor 2024 (unsuccessful)
• Suzanna Truchard for Supervisor 2022 (unsuccessful)

Statewide

While Muelrath’s work on statewide or state level campaigns are not as broad as his local work, he has taken on some interesting clients, including a government relations firm, the California Association of Realtors, and Judge Monique Langhorne.

Muelrath has worked on the state level for Darius Anderson, the founder and owner of Platinum Advisors, a government relations firm. His company paid Muelrath’s firm $13,909 in 2014. Anderson is also the former owner of The Press Democrat which he sold in 2025.

Regarding the Judge race, Muelrath worked for the anti-recall committee for Judge Monique Langhorne who presides over the First Appellate District, Division One. This district covers Napa and Sonoma counties. The effort to defeat the recall was successful.

Corporate Clients

Muelrath has a large swath of corporate clients. While his full client list is not public, he has a handful of his clients listed on his website, along with reporting on other clients that can be found online.

In 2021, Muelrath was invited to join the board of directors of Whitestar Protection Group, a private investigation company. This was the successor to scandal plagued Whitestar Security Group which folded after the sexual assault allegations against former-Windsor mayor, Muelrath client and Whitestar investor Dominic Foppoli. While it is unclear whether or not Mulerath ultimately joined the board, Whitestar would later be hired by developer Larry Wassem to investigate SEIU-1021 labor organizer Ryan Williams – after Williams advocated to oppose the county supervisors’ decision to relocate a county building to the business park for $56 million. This issue too erupted in scandal. Wasem is the developer behind the Sonoma County Airport Business Park– Muelrath has the airport/ business park and Whitestar in common as clients and seems to be a logical thread that brought Wasem to hire Whitestar for his investigative work.

Regarding the Sonoma County Airport, Muelrath highlights on his website that worked with them when they wanted to construct a runway extension and terminal expansion. Through Muelrath’s guidance, the proposal went before the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and passed 5-0. Four out of five Sonoma County Supervisors are Muelrath clients.

Similarly, Muelrath has worked for Calpine, an energy company that had proposed two power plants in Northern California. While Muelrath describes “many political obstacles and delays” to the project on his website, he was ultimately able to get this project passed 5-0 by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Muelrath also notes in the bio on his website that he has worked for PG&E but the nature of his work with the company is unclear.

Currently, Muelrath is wielding his influence by working for developer Keith Rogal to help facilitate the redevelopment of the Sonoma Developmental Center in Glen Ellen. This is another project that will eventually go before the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, of which a supermajority are currently Muelrath Clients.

A full list of corporate clients we have been able to find online include:

• Calpine
• Coppola Companies
• Developers Diversified Realty
• Dutra Group
• Lowe’s Home Improvement
• PG&E Corporation
• Regency Centers Corporation
• Republic Services Inc.
• Ryder Homes
• Saggio Hills Resort
• Walmart
• Waste Management Inc.

Farm Bureau

Muelrath’s biggest client to-date is the Sonoma County Farm Bureau. His firm has been paid over $730,000 by the Sonoma County Farm Bureau’s PAC, making them far and away his biggest political client. It is also possible that he has also privately consulted for them.

Biggest Financial Backers of Political Action Committee - Family Farmers Alliance sponsored by Sonoma County Farm Bureau
The Sonoma County Farm Bureau runs a PAC that has muscled through their political agenda, stewarded by Muelrath. Listed below are the major funders to the PAC over the years, providing a snapshot of the coalition of business interests that have put money in Muelrath’s pocket. They are some of the biggest agricultural businesses interests operating both within Sonoma County, as well as statewide.

• Sonoma United - No on J, Sponsored by Western United Dairies
  • PAC that opposed a ballot measure that banned “concentrated animal feeding operations” i.e. industrial farming operations. (AGNet West Radio, July 19, 2024)
• Weber Family Farms Inc.
  • Family run poultry farm in Petaluma, CA (Sonoma County Farm Bureau, May 8, 2024)
• Clover Sonoma
  • Dairy farm in Sonoma County
• Petaluma Poultry Processors
  • Poultry farm in Sonoma County
• California Farm Bureau Federation
  • Main body representing farmers in California.
• Agricultural Council of CA Issues PAC
• CoBank, ACB
• National Pork Producers Council
• Building a Healthy Future for CA Facilitated by Agricultural Council of CA
• American AgCredit

Independent Entities

In 2023, Muelrath consulted for the Koi Nation, which is working on getting a casino built in northern California. Per a Facebook post, Muelrath advised them to attend a Rotary Club meeting in Windsor. The Koi Nation also hired infamous PR consultant Sam Singer, who continues to serve as the media contact listed on their website. In 2025, the casino project was blocked after a judge stripped their Windsor land of trust status. As of August 2026 the project remained stalled. It is unclear whether Muelrath is involved at this stage.