DISTRICT 9: ELO-RIVERA

In San Diego City Council District 9, which includes City Heights, the College Area, Kensington and Mountain View, voters have the easiest choice of any on the fall ballot.

It’s not just that Democrat Sean Elo-rivera — a San Diego Community College trustee and executive director of Youth Will, a youth advocacy group — is knowledgeable about city issues and has a multi-ethnic, multi-religious background that is a perfect fit for the most diverse district in San Diego. It’s that his opponent, Democrat Kelvin Barrios, is simply not fit for public office.

Last year, Barrios admitted to using nearly $8,000 in political donations for his own benefit — buying food, clothing and other goods — and paid more than $4,000 in fines assessed by the California Fair Political Practices Commission. That would have sunk many candidates, but Barrios still seemed the favorite to replace District 9 Council member Georgette Gómez, his former boss, who is running for the U.S. House. Then came reports in the past two months that Barrios was under criminal investigation for other diversions of political funds for his own benefit — and that his official campaign filings omitted more than $85,000 in revenue he received in 2019. Highprofile supporters, including Gómez, backed away from his campaign.

Barrios also canceled a long-scheduled Zoom meeting with Elo-rivera and The San Diego Union-tribune Editorial Board on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, nine minutes before it began — a date Barrios himself had suggested and which Elo-rivera had agreed to even though he would be fasting because he didn’t want Barrios to have any excuse to skip out on a forum. Then Barrios announced he was “suspending” his campaign, but that he would serve on the council if elected. His finance scandal calls to mind disgraced former Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, and Barrios’ reactions to it are beyond dishonorable.

But enough about Barrios. Elo-rivera was a superior candidate before the scandal.

In his interviews with the editorial board, in a commentary on systemic racism and in his response to our emailed Q&A, he was passionate about addressing existing inequities in communities of color. He views complex issues holistically, saying local cities and the county need to coordinate their responses to homelessness and that governmentsubsidized shelter by itself would never solve the housing crisis. And his personal experience of being homeless — he at times slept in his car as a Cal Western School of Law student — gives him a powerful perspective from which to help San Diegans.

We recommend a vote for Elo-rivera.