The campaign of Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre has filed a public records lawsuit against the city of Chula Vista for allegedly failing to turn over a letter.
Aguirre is running against Chula Vista Mayor John McCann for the open San Diego County Board of Supervisors seat. He authored the missive in support of a Chula Vista woman imprisoned for fraud.
Aguirre’s campaign alleges that Chula Vista violated the California Public Records Act for not fulfilling their request to obtain the letter, written in support of Adriana Camberos, who was convicted of running a scheme that involved illegally re-labeling energy drink bottles and fraudulently selling knockoff versions of the drinks.
McCann’s letter requested commutation of Camberos’ 26-month prison sentence and President Donald Trump did so near the end of his first term. Camberos was released after she had served just over half of her sentence.
McCann has said he wrote the letter at the request of her brother, Andres, who attended the same high school he had.
Camberos and her brother later contributed funds towards McCann’s mayoral campaign.
Federal prosecutors said that shortly after her release from prison, Camberos and her brother started up a new scheme, resulting in another prosecution and their convictions last year. Camberos was sentenced in April to 14 months behind bars.
Voting ahead of the July 1 special election has begun and a debate is planned for Tuesday night between the candidates, whose campaigns have traded cutting accusations over the past few months.
The Aguirre campaign has pointed to campaign donations made in the wake of Camberos’ commutation, while McCann’s campaign says Aguirre owes property taxes related to an Imperial Beach condominium. McCann wrote in a social media post that this indicated Aguirre’s ability to manage the county’s budget should be called into question.
Aguirre’s campaign has said she has been diligent in repaying the funds owed.
She said in a statement following the lawsuit’s announcement, “McCann helped get a convicted fraudster out of prison, she bankrolled his campaign, and now he’s hiding the paper trail. That’s not just unethical – it’s a betrayal of the public’s trust.”
The Chula Vista City Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the lawsuit, stating “it is the city’s policy not to comment on pending legal matters.”
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