Oh yes, it can--and it will. Lockyear will mount a phony investigation. All will be blamed on a few low level staffers and they will be canned. The Democrat run Legislature won't touch this with a 10 foot pole.
CA is basically a corrupt dictatorship. Unless there is real criminality here and not just gray area, all that will happen is that the people in the Red Zone will have to pay more and the people in the Blue Zone, which outnumber those in the Red, will not be affected.
Sad, but true.