Two political appointees of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria are indirectly linked to a lawsuit challenging the campaign of one of the four candidates seeking to deny him a second four-year term.
A lawsuit filed earlier this month alleged that mayoral candidate Larry Turner did not meet the residency requirements of running for mayor and argued that any votes for him should not be counted.
The merits of the case have yet to be settled; a San Diego Superior Court judge last week pushed the matter to late March — after the primary election — without deciding whether Turner legally resided in the city when he filed campaign papers last year.
A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Turner works as a San Diego police community resource officer and said he has lived in Ocean Beach for months. The top two finishers in the March 5 primary will move forward to the November general election.
The lawsuit was brought by the mother of Shawn VanDiver, a San Diego Convention Center board member who also was appointed to the mayor’s military advisory council.
Evidence in the suit was collected by a private investigator paid for by New San Diego, an independent political committee set up by Guillermo “Gil” Cabrera. Cabrera was appointed to the regional airport board by Gloria and also runs a charity that solicits donations to support the mayor.
The mayor, Cabrera and VanDiver say there was no coordination between Gloria’s re-election campaign and the lawsuit. Under state and federal election rules, candidates cannot legally coordinate with independent political committees, in part because they are not subject to contribution limits.
The relationship between Gloria allies and the legal challenge to Turner’s campaign was called into question last week by lawyers representing the candidate in his long-shot bid to become San Diego’s next mayor.
Turner attorneys Michael Aguirre and Maria Severson said the connections between Gloria, Cabrera and VanDiver are too deep for them to believe that the mayor was not consulted about the legal claim before it was filed.
“The law makes no distinction between direct and indirect evidence, and there is no doubt that Cabrera and VanDiver work with the mayor,” said Aguirre, who served as the elected San Diego city attorney between 2004 and 2008.
VanDiver said he had nothing to do with the lawsuit filed by his mother, Helen Michelle VanDiver, which names the city of San Diego, the city clerk and the county registrar as defendants.
“I haven’t talked to the mayor about this,” he said Friday. “I didn’t even know it was coming.”
Cabrera said he would not discuss the activities of the political committee he organized last year.
But “at no time have I discussed New San Diego’s strategies, decision-making or plans with the mayor or anyone on his team. Nor do I discuss his re-election strategy, decisions or plans with him or anyone on his team.”
Committee filings show New San Diego raised more than $400,000 since it was set up in July, much of it from labor unions and developers. More than $140,000 of that was spent to support Jane Glasson, the only Republican in the field of candidates for San Diego mayor.
Attorney Robert Ottilie, who represents Helen VanDiver, also said the plaintiff’s son is not involved in the litigation.
“The client is the petitioner in the case,” he said. “She calls all the shots. To suggest that somehow the lawsuit is political is misplaced, and it’s being put up by somebody who has yet to present any evidence.”
Gloria’s re-election campaign said the mayor was not involved.
“In order to maintain the separation that is required between candidates and independent expenditure committees, the mayor will not comment on the strategic decisions of an IE, other than to say they do not involve him in any way,” campaign spokesperson Sarah Moga-Alemany said.
The lawsuit was filed Feb. 13, just three weeks ahead of primary day and after tens of thousands of ballots had been mailed to voters.
It asked the court to reject any ballots cast for Turner, arguing that city and county voting officials failed to make sure that he was legally eligible to run for mayor at the time he submitted his campaign paperwork.
Election rules requires mayoral candidates to have lived within the city limits for 30 days prior to filing a campaign disclosure.
Turner voted from an El Cajon address in 2020 and 2022, the lawsuit says, but switched his registration to a downtown San Diego address in July 2023. The condominium is owned by Turner’s campaign manager, it adds.
The suit alleges that in December, Turner filed other documents saying under oath he lived in an Ocean Beach bungalow even though it had not been his principal domicile for the required 30 days.
However, the lawsuit alleges that voter-registration and utility records indicate that Turner lives in an El Cajon-area property he bought with his wife in 2019. It also cites an interview Turner gave earlier this month in which he acknowledged he “stayed there” in the East County house.
“Turner has been registered in three separate locations in the last seven months, each of which is relevant to the issue as to his qualifications to run for mayor in the city of San Diego,” the complaint says.
Mesa College political science professor Carl Luna said the mayor’s re-election supporters appear worried enough about Turner’s campaign to challenge his residency and invest money boosting the only Republican in the race.
“What the mayor needs is a clear, strong message for why he deserves four more years,” he said. “Until he really hammers that home, he’s vulnerable to a candidate like Mr. Turner.”
There is at least one more connection between city political appointees and the lawsuit challenging Turner’s eligibility.
According to a New San Diego campaign disclosure, the private investigator who surveilled Turner was paid for by the committee but hired by Ryan Clumpner, a political consultant who also serves as vice chair of the San Diego Housing Commission.
Clumpner, who was first named to the city housing panel by former Mayor Kevin Faulconer, said he never coordinated his work for New San Diego with the current mayor. He said the news media should have disclosed where Turner lives.
“This circus would have been avoided if Larry Turner hadn’t lied to the people of San Diego and elections officials,” he said. “I make no apology for catching him in that lie, but would prefer a journalist had done the work instead.”
Ottilie said last week that he was grateful for the ruling pushing back the lawsuit because it meant there will be a trial.
Aguirre said he has begun issuing subpoenas to a slew of mayoral appointees and aides in order to collect records and communications that may relate to the case.
