The San Diego-based political consulting group Grassroots Resources is working to re-establish credibility after a scandal involving young Democratic clubs in the South Bay tarnished the reputations of many local politicians, including members of the Southwestern College Governing Board.
Jesus Cardenas, the group’s founder, allegedly created illegitimate clubs to endorse candidates he supported.
Current Governing Board members Leticia Cazares and Nora Vargas said they have a relationship with Grassroots Resources but they denied any knowledge of the illegitimate clubs.
Cazares said Grassroots Resources helped her with political strategizing and campaigning.
“As someone who ran a campaign, they were a consultant for me,” she said. “I don’t know anything about campaigns so I needed support and that is the extent.”
The claims, first reported by Voice of San Diego, led to a three-month investigation of Cardenas and the clubs.Current San Diego County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Will Rodriguez-Kennedy said Grassroots Resources has always been legitimate and no evidence was found against them.
“The reality is that there are over 100-200 students associated with these clubs and they have attended a Central Committee meeting in order to prove their validity,” Rodriguez-Kennedy said. “So, it’s hard to understand the claims being made against them except for the fact that it was in a political context.”
Codi Petterson, president of the San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action, first leveled the allegations.
A 10-page report written by Petterson February details various ways Cardenas benefitted from outdated bylaws and regulations.
He also said Grassroots Resources “denies candidates a legitimate endorsement process.”
State Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) sent the Democratic Central Committeea letter urging them to conduct an independent investigation on the formation of these clubs.
“I cannot idly stand by witnessing the mockery of our endorsement and elective process,” Hueso wrote in his letter.
Rodriguez-Kennedy said Hueso had conflicting interests since he is running against Vargas for District 1 County Supervisor in 2020.
Vargas said conversations about bettering the community are more important than unfounded claims.
Along with accusations of club stacking, Petterson said in his report the actions perpetrated by Cardenas and Grassroots Resources affects “one group of candidates disproportionally, and that is African-American candidates.”
“Young Democratic club associates are all Latinx, and their members are exclusively or overwhelmingly Latinx,” Petterson’s report reads. “The proliferation of these clubs thus compounds the underlying relative demographic decline of the African-American community.”
The report attributes the election losses of SWC Governing Board Seat 4 candidate Nicole Jones and District 8 Councilwoman Vivian Moreno (D-San Diego) as evidence of Grassroots’ involvement in the election.
Cardenas found the claims of racial inequality “insulting.”
“I’m big on diversity,” Cardenas said. “There’s this perception just because of the population that that’s the case but that’s not true.”
Rodriguez-Kennedy said new policies have been put in place to support a stricter verification process.
Clubs have to meet four times a year independently nowto prevent simultaneous meetings. The club’s elected board is now required to vote for the endorsements their respective clubs voted for, essentially acting as a minielectoral college. Chartered clubs also must be made up of 20 “unique individuals,” a slight amendment to the policy that said the requirement was 20 “members.”
Failure to meet these requirements may result in a club getting its charter revoked.
Petterson told Voice of San Diego in an April 15 article that he can only wait and see if the updated policies do anything.
“We’ll have to wait and see how the clubs adapt,” said Petterson.
