A lawsuit has officially been filed against Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Todd Gloria regarding his fundraising for two different offices. The lawsuit is due to the fact that by running two different campaigns, Gloria would be able to shuffle money from his Assembly campaign to his mayoral campaign using the San Diego County Democratic Party as a medium.
Gloria’s spokesman, Nick Serrano, along with the Democratic Party Chairman, both chose to do damage control by calling it “clearly a conveniently timed, ill-fated attempt to undermine the San Diego County Democratic Party as we enter the endorsement process” and an “…11th hour mudslinging in a political conflict in which our party has not yet taken a position.” This downplaying isn’t fooling anyone, including fellow Democrats.
Fellow Democrat mayoral candidate, Councilwoman Barbara Bry, called out Assemblyman Gloria during the recent mayoral debates by saying, “Mr. Gloria, I want to know what office you are running for.” This was met with total silence on Gloria’s part as he had no response.
According to attorney David Kenney, “(Wahlstrom) had to ask the court for an injunction now because like a horse that escapes from a barn, the $300,000 of illegally collected funds in the hands of Gloria’s admittedly fraudulent 2020 Assembly election committee would be impossible to return in the manner required by law if they were allowed to be spent while we wait for the separate 120-day clock to run.”
He later stated, “We fully intend to file a subsequent lawsuit to obtain the different remedies available under the Political Reform Act if the city attorney and district attorney fail to timely and properly act.”
The San Diego County Democratic Party Central Committee will vote tonight on who to endorse for mayor. If they choose to endorse Assemblyman Gloria, the Democrats will also be endorsing his campaign finance violations, meaning that they are complicit in his malfeasance. If endorsed, this will give Gloria access to Party funds—which has perhaps been his plan all along.
On the original post there was a misquote saying it was Summer Stephan who was quoted saying “(Wahlstrom) had to ask the court for an injunction now because like a horse that escapes from a barn, the $300,000 of illegally collected funds in the hands of Gloria’s admittedly fraudulent 2020 Assembly election committee would be impossible to return in the manner required by law if they were allowed to be spent while we wait for the separate 120-day clock to run.” The quote is in fact by attorney David Kenney.
