The races for two Chula Vista City Council seats feature two candidates who were diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this year.
Since the pandemic began, the rate of COVID-19 cases in Chula Vista has been among the highest in the county. Businesses have been forced to close and the city laid off hundreds of employees.
So, it’s no surprise that the pandemic has become a big campaign issue in two separate City Council elections.
The District 3 race for southeast Chula Vista features incumbent Councilman Steve Padilla, former police detective who currently works in a public affairs consulting firm he began in 2007, and Henry Martinez, a retired Naval officer who co-founded the Otay Ranch Veteran’s Parade and wants to eliminate tolls from State Route 125.
When it comes to COVID-19, Padilla believes the economic crisis won’t be solved until the health crisis is taken care of, while Martinez believes businesses need to be reopened immediately.
Padilla was the first elected official to be diagnosed with COVID-19 back in April and was hospitalized for several days.
While he recognized the initial response didn’t do enough to address cultural and language barriers in the first months of the pandemic, Padilla was grateful that the city, county and state came together to bring more testing and tracking programs to the area.
Padilla stressed the importance of resisting pressure from private interests to reopen businesses and criticized county Supervisor Jim Desmond’s “irresponsible” proposal to stop enforcing the state’s reopening plan.
“I think its extremely irresponsible and I think it puts lives at risk,” he said.
Padilla also criticized the county’s allocation of federal CARES Act money by saying county officials should have distributed money based on need, not population. He has been speaking with Supervisor Nathan Fletcher about how to change the process should the federal government issue another relief package.
“I think they know that the response is not one that should be political; it should be one that is impactful and responsible,” he said.
Padilla’s challenger, Martinez, formed a Facebook group that connected Eastlake residents to hand sanitizer, baby wipes, bread, produce and about 50,000 facemasks during the start of the pandemic.
Martinez believes health officials shut down businesses too quickly.
“Closing down was premature; they should have just continued letting the businesses run – of course taking the precautions needed – but closing down was not a smart way of doing business,” he said.
Martinez, who said he is not a scientist, believes that closing down the country prompted the virus to “morph” and get people sick.
When it comes to Chula Vista’s post-COVID-19 recovery, Martinez said he is most concerned by two state propositions that he believes will hurt businesses and homeowners. He opposes Prop 15, which would require commercial and industrial properties to be taxed based on their market value, and s Prop 22, which would override a state law that classified contract workers as employees.
Both of these propositions will be decided by voters in November. As a city councilman, Martinez would have no influence over their outcome.
Martinez said he s “traditional family values,” and said he is against drag queens reading to children, which stirred controversy in the city last year. Padilla says Chula Vista needs an experienced leader who knows how government works.
The District 4 race features incumbent Councilman Mike Diaz, a retired firefighter who also teaches high school students about careers in fighting fires, and Andrea Cardenas, a political consultant who has volunteers for Democratic candidates since she was in high school and previously worked in constituent services for San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
The southwest part of Chula Vista has been the hardest hit during the pandemic. Residents of this district for the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the city.
Cardenas was one of them. She was diagnosed in April but was not hospitalized.
Cardenas is the director of community engagement with Grassroots Resources, a political consulting business owned by her brother. She says economic and social disparities that have plagued southwest Chula Vista for decades ensured that this part of the city would be impacted by COVID-19.
“These are issues that have been in our community since I was a kid,” she said. “I think the fact that I have first-hand experience with these issues is critical.”
She has publicly talked about her own experiences with homelessness and food insecurity.
Cardenas said she hasn’t seen District 4 improve over the last 30 years, saying politicians have historically been more focused on the eastern part of the city.
“People in District 4 are not always proud to be Chula Vistans, or they feel disconnected from the east side of Chula Vista,” she said. “That’s been a problem.”
Incumbent Councilman Diaz is running on a record of getting things done. Specifically, Diaz says the city has repaved sidewalks, fixed pot holes, increased public safety staffing and shut down illegal marijuana dispensaries during his term.
Additionally, Diaz said he is working behind the scenes to bring an emergency homeless shelter to the district.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Diaz said he pushed the city to set aside CARES Act funding to cover park fees for businesses transitioning services to the outdoors. Otherwise, businesses would have had to pay the city $25 an hour to use the park.
“There is nothing in her platform that I have not already tackled. Period,” Diaz said. “She is four years too late.”
Both candidates have criticized their opponent’s character during this election.
Cardenas says Diaz’s ideologically conservative worldview is out of touch with residents of the district.
Diaz said Cardenas’ connection to Grassroots Resources shows she is ethically compromised because of a political controversy regarding local Democratic Clubs linked to that political consulting firm she works for.
“We are worlds apart,” Diaz said. “You look at corruption, just Google ‘Cardenas’ and ‘fake democratic clubs.’”
In 2019, political activists claimed Jesus Cardenas created 13 “fake” democratic clubs in the South Bay to sway the endorsement process in favor of his opponent. In the local Democratic Party, these individual clubs decide who the party endorses.
The party investigated the complaint and revoked 12 of the clubs’ voting privileges. The party also rewrote the rules to prevent this from happening in the future.
Cardenas said the whole thing was politically motivated and says she was only trying to introduce minorities to the democratic process. She noted several endorsements, including Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas as an approval of her integrity.
“I don’t think that the mayor of our city would take an endorsement against her colleague lightly, and I don’t think she would be placing her trust in someone who is corrupt,” she said.
