Newly surfaced invoices shed light on allegations of underhanded tactics within the Democratic Party.
In a scandal that puts the spotlight squarely on Andrea and Jesus Cardenas, political consultants and operators of Grassroots Resources LLC, allegations of deceitful practices have surfaced. Marcus Bush, a Democratic City Council member in National City, has lodged an official investigation request with the San Diego Democratic Party. He accuses the Cardenas siblings of duplicitous behavior, claiming they were employed to support his 2020 City Council campaign while simultaneously working to undermine it.
Bush alleges that while Grassroots Resources was contracted by the San Diego Democratic Party to back his campaign, the Cardenas siblings simultaneously orchestrated negative mailers against him. The invoices from 2020, tied to Grassroots Resources, reveal that the Cardenases were indeed engaged in sending out these negative campaign materials against Bush. Payments for these mailers were not processed until months after the election, muddying the financial paper trail.
Andrea Cardenas recently sought the San Diego County Democratic Party’s endorsement for her re-election campaign. Despite the cloud of allegations, she secured it by the bare minimum, winning 31 of 46 votes at a meeting of the Party’s Central Committee. Bush points out this not only violates the Democratic Party’s bylaws that prohibit working against endorsed candidates but also raises questions about the ethical conduct of consultants.
Marcus Bush expressed his concerns, stating, “I’m deeply concerned about evidence I’ve seen that in the 2020 election the same consultants the Democratic Party paid to support me as an endorsed candidate were also getting paid to attack me – all while using racist, anti-Black messaging in the process.” The councilman has called on party leadership to take action to prevent such underhanded tactics in the future.
In stark contrast, the Chairwoman of the San Diego County Republican Party, Paula Whitsell, outlined her party’s uncompromising stance on such issues. “If a consultant working for our Party backstabbed us by attacking our own endorsed candidate it would not only be a violation of trust but we would demand the return of money we paid and never work with that vendor again,” she said.
The allegations are complicated further by the discovery that two other companies, both connected to Cardenas, were paid large sums by the local Democratic Party for campaign-related activities. The money trail makes it evident that all companies involved had knowledge of the simultaneous promotion and defamation of Bush, raising concerns about widespread collusion.
The case also brings to light the hypocrisy of Andrea Cardenas, who criticized Bush for a tax filing error that caused a local Rotary Club to lose its tax-exempt status when she was at the helm. Ironically, Grassroots Resources was suspended twice—once in March 2020 and again in January 2022—for failing to file tax reports and its annual Statement of Information.
Andrea and Jesus Cardenas have yet to publicly comment on the scandal. As it stands, this unfolding scandal raises serious questions about the ethics of political consulting within the Democratic Party.
