As Nora Vargas was running for a second term on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, she was also running a consulting firm out of her Chula Vista house and representing clients, newly filed public records show.
According to a state-mandated disclosure filed with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, Vargas set up the consultancy bearing her own name last year and began accepting clients.
Nora Vargas LLC collected up to $10,000 in consulting fees between July and December, she notes in the statement of economic interest, or state Form 700, filed last week. She reported the value of her new business as being worth up to $1,999.
There is nothing unlawful about an elected official running a for-profit business on the side. But the potential for conflict in such dual roles is highlighted by her original campaign manager, Jesus Cardenas, who ran a political consulting business while serving as the top adviser to an elected San Diego council member.
Vargas easily won re-election with more than 60 percent of the vote last November. But she stepped away from her District 1 seat weeks after her victory, citing concerns for her personal safety.
The subsequent board vacancy has put a number of important policy decisions on hold for months.
A special election between seven candidates is now set for April 8, and will cost San Diego County taxpayers more than $6 million. A runoff election will be held July 1 if no one gets more than 50 percent of the votes.
Vargas, the first immigrant and Latina to be elected county supervisor, declined to discuss her consulting work when reached by The San Diego Union-Tribune last week. She said she did not have time to talk about the new company.
“I really need to leave, but thank you so much,” Vargas said before ending the telephone call. She did not respond to a more detailed follow-up text message.
Secretary of State’s Office records show that Nora Vargas LLC was created last July. Its address is listed as the home Vargas owns in Chula Vista, just south of Telegraph Canyon Road.
The consulting venture was first reported by the news organization iNewsource.
San Diego County supervisors set policy for a sprawling bureaucracy that provides a wide range of public services — everything from law enforcement and land-use planning to public health and libraries.
The five-member board oversees more than $8.5 billion a year in public spending. The elected position, which pays about $220,000 a year not including a host of fringe benefits and other perquisites, is generally considered a full-time job.
Supervisors typically meet twice a week to consider policies and proposals, and to debate real estate, personnel and civil lawsuits filed against the county. They also serve on regional boards like the San Diego Association of Governments and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.
Vargas, 53, was born in Tijuana but grew up in Chula Vista. She rose to political prominence after then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her to the state employees’ pension board in 2015, and she served on the Southwestern College board of trustees.
She was elected county supervisor in 2020, defeating former state Sen. Ben Hueso.
In the same election that elevated Vargas to the Board of Supervisors, Cardenas also managed Stephen Whitburn’s winning campaign for San Diego City Council and his own sister’s successful run for Chula Vista City Council. Cardenas then accepted a job as Whitburn’s chief of staff while running Grassroots Resources, which also employed his sister, Andrea Cardenas.
Whitburn defended Cardenas when the Union-Tribune reported in 2022 that his chief of staff was running an outside consulting firm. At the time, public records showed that Cardenas was helping to set city policies that directly benefited his clients.
Cardenas resigned his San Diego job in 2023, before later being charged and pleading guilty to unrelated felonies.
Unlike Jesus Cardenas, Vargas was an elected official — and campaigning for a fresh term — when she opened her consulting firm.
Campaign finance disclosures show Vargas solicited and accepted campaign contributions while she was building her side business. But it’s not clear from disclosures whether she consulted professionally before the election — or before Dec. 20, when she announced her intention to resign at the end of her first term.
Campaign reports filed with the Registrar of Voters show that Vargas collected just over $41,000 in contributions to her supervisor’s campaign since July, when she launched Nora Vargas LLC.
Other records show her campaign spent more than $120,000 donated to the same committee over the same time period, including thousands of dollars for election victory and holiday celebrations.
The Nora Vargas For County Supervisor 2024 committee was formally terminated Feb. 1, records show.
