Supporters Distance Themselves from D9 Council Candidate Barrios
Council President, Union Board Step Away
Two weeks ago, Kelvin Barrios was the presumed front-runner for the District 9 City Council seat being vacated by Georgette Gomez.
He had solid union support, a who’s who list of endorsers, the backing of Gomez, and had raised more than twice as much as his general election opponent, Sean Elo-Rivera.
An independent expenditure group backed by Local 89 of the Laborer’s International Union of North America had spent more than two hundred thousand dollars in support of his campaign, and had another hundred and fifty on hand.
Now, his campaign is in tatters. Allegations about financial misconduct, a ham-handed attempt at denial, and years-old racist-seeming social media posts have all come to light.
This week, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council saw a rank and file revolt, as delegates persuaded the leadership to put a hold on spending funds already set aside in support of Barrios. While the Labor Council’s endorsement stands for now that, too, may go away.
On Wednesday, City Council President Gomez said she was pausing her support for Barrios’ candidacy, pending the completion of an investigation by the District Attorney.
Andy Keats reported at Voice of San Diego:
“As far as I knew, Kelvin, like my entire staff, followed all city ethics rules when he worked for me – he did constituent work in City Heights and worked on transportation policy,” Gómez said, in a written statement. “What I’m learning now is concerning, and I’m not going to disregard it simply because Kelvin worked for me in the past and I endorsed his campaign.”
The Union-Tribune reported Sunday that the DA’s Public Integrity Unit was investigating transactions made by Barrios when he was the treasurer of a political club, the San Diego Young Democrats. Barrios was previously fined more than $4,000 by the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission for spending money from a campaign he worked on and a different political club on personal expenses.
Barrios said Monday that his opponent, San Diego Community College Trustee Sean Elo-Rivera, was behind the allegations of financial impropriety, but erroneously claimed that he had already been vindicated by four different organizations. In fact, the district attorney’s office refuted his claim that it had dismissed a complaint against him, and neither the FPPC, the city attorney’s office or the Democratic Party’s ethics committee had cleared him of wrongdoing, despite his claims that they all had.
Late Tuesday afternoon candidate Kelvin Barrios took to Twitter, admitting that mistakes had been made, apologizing, and saying he took full responsibility.
He’s not yet commented on his old social media posts. The United Domestic Workers issued a statement on Saturday saying they could not endorse Barrios’ candidacy because of his past use of a racial slur.
https://twitter.com/seanelo/status/1297348990577422337?s=20
For more information on Barrios and the race for the District 9 Council Seat, go here.
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