This story was coordinated with former Congressman and Imperial Beach Mayor Brian Bilbray
Something stinks in Imperial Beach and it isn’t Mexican sewage. For the first time, Imperial Beach will elect city council members from designated districts. This year, Districts 2 and 4 are on the ballot. District 4 candidate Matthew Leyba-Gonzalez, a union representative and recent transplant to Imperial Beach, has received approximately $85,000 from out of town unions. Not one of them based in IB much less in District 4, so this really makes no sense.
Imperial Beach has seen this before, however. In 2014, a New York City-based union political action committee spent tens of thousands of dollars to influence the race for mayor and city council. Their Democrat candidate for mayor, Serge Dedina, won by a very slim margin that required careful review of the ballots. The union money proved decisive in replacing a Republican mayor of this small beach community. Paid precinct walkers mailed and dropped union-funded campaign literature, making it nearly impossible for the locally funded mayor to compete.
This 2020 campaign is a repeat of 2014, except only two council seats are on the ballot. Democrat endorsed Leyba-Gonzalez is a union representative for Local 89 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America. He has never voted in an Imperial Beach election, but thinks he should serve on the city council. His linkage to Imperial Beach was youthful summer visits to the beach from San Diego. His current city involvement is serving a few months on Mayor Dedina’s COVID-19 task force. For Imperial Beach, that is not much.
Will Nimmo, a lifelong resident of Imperial Beach, is making his first foray into politics. He has lived most of his life in District 4. The Republican Party of San Diego County has endorsed him. Nimmo’s focus is to stand up to SANDAG, which has mandated that Imperial Beach increase its housing density that requires building big block multi-family buildings that will need to exceed the current city height limit. Projects that will completely change the character of the city and add to government costs and overcrowding.
Stressing the need for limited local government, Nimmo is struggling to compete with big dollar union contributions.
Leyba-Gonzalez started his labor career pouring concrete and became a foreman responsible for multimillion-dollar jobs. His campaign statements call for building houses in Imperial Beach, but also for infrastructure and other tax-funded projects.
There is speculation that holding a seat on SANDAG is the primary focus of the union effort. Currently, union-supported Mayor Dedina represents Imperial Beach on SANDAG. He initially supported the housing density numbers, but faced strong pushback from the city residents and has changed his mind.
SANDAG oversees billions of taxpayer-funded construction that unions want to get. Pushing for union-backed Project Labor Agreements would mean higher price tags on those projects—funded by tax dollars. That becomes a regional problem.
So, why are big outside unions interested in Imperial Beach? Ask the candidates.
