‘Dark money’ campaign donors are tied to top Imperial County officials

Anonymous "dark money" groups that were the largest donors in recent Imperial County elections have ties to two leaders of the powerful Imperial Irrigation District, public records and interviews show.

The revelations shed light on political power dynamics in a county that, despite its rural location and widespread poverty, plays a major role in water policy in the western United States and California's clean-energy future.

The companies that made the contributions have identical addresses to businesses headed by former IID President Erik Ortega, according to state, federal and county records obtained by The Desert Sun. Ortega did not respond to multiple phone calls or to emailed questions sent to multiple accounts.

And three people told The Desert Sun that current IID President Alex Cardenas, a close Ortega ally, delivered a $5,000 campaign donation check from one of the mystery organizations, The OTG Group, to IID Vice President JB Hamby.

Asked about the donation, Hamby confirmed the check was handed to him by Cardenas.

Hamby, who both Cardenas and Ortega feuded publicly with when he was first elected, said he had no idea who was behind the donation when he accepted it. Cardenas himself also received $8,800 in donations from OTG and two other dark money groups with the same addresses as Ortega's businesses for his successful 2022 re-election race, records show. Hamby had no additional comment about Ortega's involvement.

After asking for questions in writing, Cardenas did not answer most questions directly, but made general statements that he complied with all legal campaign finance reporting requirements. In response to a question about why he was delivering anonymous donations to certain candidates and accepting them himself, Cardenas wrote, "Did not accept any anonymous donations because they were all reported."

But campaign finance watchdogs said filtering donations through groups that don't have to disclose their funders is a classic "dark money" strategy to keep the voting public from knowing who is truly funding campaigns. Other such strategies include listing on campaign finance forms addresses for the groups with no apparent evidence they're located there, and listing hired campaign consultants as the organizations' executives.

Asked who funded three of the groups that gave him nearly $9,000, and why they supported him and others, Cardenas said, "I have no idea as pertains to me. Please inquiry (sic) other candidates for responses." He did not answer repeated questions about who gave him the $5,000 check from OTG to deliver to Hamby, writing only: "Contribution was reported and assisted fellow board member in fundraising."

It is unclear if Ortega, who unsuccessfully applied for unemployment benefits after he lost his IID re-election bid in 2020, personally provided any of the nearly $165,000 given by the dark money groups to support or oppose specific candidates in the March primary. While on the IID board, he earned about $50,000 annually and reported salary from and/or investments of between $100,000 and $1 million in two medical transport companies.

Widespread donations

In the March primaries this year, three organizations, Border Group and Value Auto Service, as well as OTG, did one or more of the following:

• tried to elect three candidates, including Cardenas's sister Martha Cardenas-Singh, Margarita "Peggy" Price and Raul Navarro, to the county’s five-member board of supervisors;

• donated to Hamby, a powerful IID incumbent;

• tried to oust Javier Gonzalez, an outspoken water district director who defeated Ortega in 2020.

The OTG Group, which gave $40,000, listed 9590 Chesapeake Drive, Suite 2, in San Diego as its address. Value Auto Service, which gave $60,000, listed 8334 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. as its address. There were no businesses by those names physically located at those addresses that The Desert Sun could find. But California business records for AMS Transportation Solutions, Inc. list Erik Ortega as CEO, secretary and chief financial officer, with 8334 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite 101, as its principal address, and 9590 Chesapeake Dr. #2 as its mailing address.

Border Group listed on required campaign finance forms an Escondido address matching that of Elite Transportation Solutions, which San Diego County records show is a related business name used by Ortega’s firm AMS Transportation. Elite’s president is listed in Medicare provider records as Ortega, and the company lists the same suite on Chesapeake Drive as AMS.

Cardenas' sister, former El Centro Mayor Martha Cardenas-Singh, received $50,000 directly and indirectly from the three groups, which donated both to her campaign and to an independent political action committee that ran ads and sent fliers praising her and attacking her opponents in her March primary bid for Imperial County supervisor. Her brother was and is heavily involved in her campaign. But she earlier told The Desert Sun she had no idea who was providing the funds. She did not respond to an additional request for comments on her brother's and Ortega's involvement with the groups and providing funds.

One of Cardenas-Singh's opponents, Diahna Garcia-Ruiz, told The Desert Sun that she was offered and turned down first $250,000, then up to $500,000, in exchange for not running. She declined to name the person who made the offer and said the county's district attorney is investigating. Garcia-Ruiz and Cardenas-Singh were the top two vote-getters in the primary and will face off again in November. No one has been charged with wrongdoing.

Political bedfellows

It's not just allies of Ortega and Alex Cardenas who've taken funds from the anonymous groups: Hamby said Cardenas offered him a $5,000 check over a cup of coffee last year and that he cashed it for his own re-election campaign. Hamby said he accepted the funds when he anticipated he might need to spend heavily against an opponent or opponents in the March 5 primary this year, though he ended up unopposed.

He and Cardenas were bitter foes when he was first elected, and Hamby led the new board's largely unsuccessful attempt to overturn a project labor agreement requiring unionized workers to be used on major jobs, an agreement that was approved 3-2 by Ortega, Cardenas and a third departing director days before Hamby and Gonzalez took office. Meetings early in Hamby's and Cardenas' tenure were often stormy and deeply divisive.

The Cardenases' cousin, Pete Rodriguez, also publicly taunted the youthful Hamby, who was 24 when he was elected. At one IID meeting he offered him a pink baby binky during public comments. Cardenas and Hamby have made peace in the past year, which Hamby credited to an outside professionalism consultant and a new governance plan that the board passed on Tuesday. Hamby also supported Cardenas' bid for the IID presidency in late 2022, who was visibly thrilled.

The IID director that the dark money groups tried to defeat, Gonzalez, beat Ortega in his re-election attempt. He was initially in the minority along with Hamby on many district votes. But as Hamby and Cardenas reached a truce, he became a lone and sometimes controversial voice, criticizing a transgender Calexico official, a company with possible foreign ties and others.

He was officially censured twice last year by fellow board members for unprofessional behavior. Ortega had excoriated Gonzalez in the past on his Facebook page, and the groups that share addresses with Ortega's businesses spent nearly $20,000 on attack ads and fliers against Gonzalez this March. The anonymous groups also donated to one of Gonzalez's opponents in the race, Michael Jeffers, who came in fourth. Gonzalez got the most votes in the primary, but because no one got over 50%, he will face off against Lewis Pacheco in a November runoff.

Gonzalez fended off the criticism in an email prior to the March 5 election, writing: "As for the censorships. I wear them as badges of honor, because I ran on a platform of transparency and to speak up. And I will speak up again if I see wrongdoing no matter the consequences."

He added, "My challengers will be what they have always been ... career politicians in Calexico, silent puppets who don’t speak up for anything or defend anything. Thank you."

Cardenas, meanwhile, publicly winked at the anonymous contributions after The Desert Sun ran a story about them last week, but before a reporter had confirmed or asked him about his connections.

Many of the donations in the March primary races were funneled through another mystery group called Economic Prosperity for Imperial County, or EPIC. On April 19, the day after The Desert Sun's story, Cardenas posted a photo of himself on Facebook with Hamby and three top IID managers with the caption, "Happy Friday. Breakfast was EPIC this morning."

Asked on Wednesday about the post, Cardenas said, "the meeting was productive and a form of expression."

Janet Wilson is senior environment reporter for The Desert Sun and co-authors USA Today Climate Point. She can be reached at jwilson@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: ‘Dark money’ donors linked to top Imperial County elected officials