Summary — what happened
In November 2019, the CEO of the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, Borre Winckel, texted Supervisor Jim Desmond proposed ballot language for the Newland Sierra development referendum; BIA board member Jeff O'Connor emailed the same request to Desmond's personal account; and the attorney for the building-industry-funded "No on A" campaign drafted the revision. SDUT-2019-12 Desmond proposed the wording to the Board of Supervisors and told reporters his staff wrote it; texts and emails obtained by the Union-Tribune showed otherwise. SDUT-2019-12 The Board adopted the developer-preferred language 3-2 — Greg Cox, Kristin Gaspar, and Desmond in favor; Dianne Jacob and Nathan Fletcher opposed — over 70+ public comments after more than 100,000 residents had signed the petition that put the referendum on the ballot. SDUT-2019-11 ECM-2019-12-07 Newland Communities had threatened legal action, and Newland had donated $2,100 to Desmond — 8.4 times the then-$250 Levine Act threshold — with no conflict disclosure located in public filings. SDUT-2019-11 DB Desmond withdrew the proposal only after County Counsel determined the deadline to change the language had already passed. ECM-2019-12-10
Two further developer-vote sequences follow the same shape. In November 2016, Desmond (then mayor of San Marcos) voted to approve a 189-home project by Farouk Kubba's Vista San Marcos LLC; seven months later Kubba donated $800, a complaint followed, and outside counsel cleared Desmond on a no-probable-cause finding and an expired statute of limitations. ToSD-2018-05 SDUT-2018-05 In 2024, after Desmond's 4-0 vote for operating reserves at Affirmed Housing's Windsor Pointe complex, Affirmed CEO James Silverwood donated $5,000; Barbara Campbell filed an FPPC complaint in September 2024 and the FPPC opened a formal investigation in October 2024. ToSD-2024-04 DB During that open investigation, the Silverwood family contributed $4,000 to Desmond's federal congressional campaign ($3,500 from James Silverwood in June 2025, $500 from Jean Silverwood in October 2025). FEC-Silverwood Separately, two of Desmond's key land-use staff came from Planning and Development Services — the county department that processes developer applications — and Desmond has filed zero Form 803 behested-payment disclosures across his county tenure (Fletcher filed 4; Jordan Marks filed 13). DB SDUT-2016-12 SD-COB No single layer is alleged to be illegal; the convergence is the point.
Timeline
PDS to the supervisor's office (Gretler). Darren Gretler serves as Assistant Director of Planning and Development Services (PDS) — the county department that processes developer project applications — then becomes chief of staff to Supervisor Bill Horn, and remains as chief of staff when Desmond succeeds Horn.
The San Marcos Highlands vote. Desmond, then mayor of San Marcos, votes to approve a 189-home development by Farouk Kubba's Vista San Marcos LLC.
Horn hires Gretler. The Union-Tribune documents Gretler's hire from the PDS land-use department as Horn's chief of staff, and Dustin Steiner's prior departure toward Supervisor Gaspar's office.
The Kubba donation. Farouk Kubba donates $800 to Desmond, exceeding the $250 Levine Act threshold.
The San Marcos complaint. A campaign-finance complaint is filed over the Kubba contribution. Outside counsel Best Best & Krieger is appointed and later concludes there was no probable cause and that the statute of limitations had expired.
The BIA text. BIA CEO Borre Winckel texts Desmond proposed ballot language for the Save Our San Diego Countryside / Newland Sierra referendum; BIA board member Jeff O'Connor emails the same request to Desmond's personal email account; the No-on-A campaign attorney drafts the revision.
The 3-2 vote. The Board of Supervisors votes 3-2 (Cox, Gaspar, Desmond in favor; Jacob, Fletcher opposed) to replace the neutral procedural ballot language with wording that mirrors what Newland sought. Fletcher: "we are clearly tipping the scales." Jacob: "never seen anything like this" in 27 years. Two prior unreported closed-session votes preceded the public vote, and Newland had indicated it would pursue legal action.
The petition scale. Reporting notes the change overrode language tied to a petition that more than 100,000 residents had signed; both Gaspar and Desmond had taken Newland contributions.
The withdrawal. Over 70 public comments oppose the change. Desmond withdraws the proposal after County Counsel determines the deadline to change the language has already passed.
$2,100, no disclosure found. Newland Communities donated $2,100 to Desmond — 8.4× the pre-2025 $250 Levine Act threshold. A systematic search of public filings located no Levine Act conflict disclosure by Desmond for this contribution.
The Windsor Pointe vote. The Board votes 4-0 for No Place Like Home (NPLH) operating reserves at Windsor Pointe, an Affirmed Housing complex; Desmond introduces a companion pilot program. This is the favorable vote later cited in the FPPC complaint.
The FPPC complaint. Barbara Campbell files an FPPC complaint alleging Affirmed Housing CEO James Silverwood donated $5,000 to Desmond after the favorable county vote.
Federal donation during investigation. FEC filings show James Silverwood contributes $3,500 to Desmond for Congress (committee C00895722) — roughly 8 months after the FPPC opened its investigation.
Second federal donation. Jean Silverwood contributes $500 to Desmond for Congress; total Silverwood family federal contributions during the active state investigation: $4,000. Federal contributions operate under different rules than the state Levine Act; this is a behavioral fact, not an alleged violation.
Investigation still open; zero Form 803 filings. The Silverwood FPPC investigation remains unresolved approximately 17 months after opening. County Clerk of the Board records show Desmond has filed zero Form 803 behested-payment disclosures across his county tenure; for comparison, Fletcher filed 4 and Jordan Marks filed 13.
The three layers (cross-cutting pattern)
The report groups its evidence into three independently documented layers of a single sequence. The factual events in each are cited above; the framing of them as one connected "system" is an inference.
- Layer 1 — Industry wrote the words. BIA CEO Winckel texted proposed ballot language; a BIA board member emailed the supervisor's personal account; the building-industry-funded No-on-A attorney drafted the revision; Desmond proposed it as his own and told reporters his staff wrote it. SDUT-2019-12
- Layer 2 — Industry's people staffed the office. Desmond's chief of staff (Gretler) and land-use advisor (Hunter McDonald) both came from PDS, the department that reviews developer applications; Dustin Steiner, a former chief of staff in the same supervisorial lineage, is a registered AGC lobbyist (#1212). DB SDUT-2016-12
- Layer 3 — Industry money arrived after the votes. Newland $2,100 (no disclosure found), Kubba $800 (complaint dismissed on the statute of limitations), Silverwood $5,000 (open FPPC investigation). DB ToSD-2018-05 ToSD-2024-04
Inferred: the report characterizes the convergence of these three layers in one office as "a system," and the vote-then-donation timing as a documented pattern "warranting regulatory attention." It does not claim a quid pro quo, a vote traded for a donation, or any law broken — the causal link is left to the reader, and no ethics or court body has ruled on the overall pattern. DB
Developer-vote sequences
| Developer | Project / vote | Vote | Donation | Threshold / status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newland Communities | Newland Sierra ballot language | 3-2 (discretionary) | $2,100 county DB | 8.4× $250 Levine threshold; no disclosure found DB |
| Vista San Marcos LLC (Kubba) | San Marcos Highlands, 189 homes (2016) | approved | $800, ~7 mo. later ToSD-2018-05 | exceeded $250; complaint dismissed on no-probable-cause + statute of limitations SDUT-2018-05 |
| Affirmed Housing (Silverwood) | Windsor Pointe NPLH reserves (2024) | 4-0 | $5,000 county + $4,000 federal FEC-Silverwood | open FPPC investigation (state $5K); federal $ under different rules DB |
Inferred: presenting these three sequences together as a single repeating pattern is a characterization; each is independently documented, but the "pattern" framing is not a legal finding. DB
Revolving-door staffing
| Person | Prior role | Role with / relation to Desmond |
|---|---|---|
| Darren Gretler | PDS Assistant Director (2012–2016) → Horn chief of staff | Desmond chief of staff SDUT-2016-12 DB |
| Hunter McDonald | PDS Land Use / Environmental Planner | Desmond Land Use Advisor DB |
| Dustin Steiner | Horn / Gaspar chief of staff | AGC San Diego VP, registered lobbyist #1212 DB |
Key players
- Jim Desmond — San Diego County D5 Supervisor (former San Marcos mayor); primary subject; proposed BIA-drafted ballot language, voted in the 3-2 Newland decision, the focus of all three developer-vote sequences; running for CA-48 Congress.
- Borre Winckel — BIA CEO who texted Desmond the proposed Newland Sierra ballot language. SDUT-2019-12
- Jeff O'Connor — BIA board member who emailed the ballot-language request to Desmond's personal account. SDUT-2019-12
- Newland Communities — Newland Sierra developer; donated $2,100 to Desmond and threatened legal action over the ballot language. SDUT-2019-11 DB
- Farouk Kubba / Vista San Marcos LLC — donated $800 about seven months after the 2016 San Marcos Highlands approval; complaint dismissed on the statute of limitations. ToSD-2018-05 SDUT-2018-05
- James Silverwood / Affirmed Housing — CEO whose $5,000 donation after the Windsor Pointe vote is the subject of the open FPPC investigation; family added $4,000 in federal donations during it. FEC-Silverwood DB
- Darren Gretler / Hunter McDonald — Desmond's chief of staff and land-use advisor, both formerly at PDS. SDUT-2016-12 DB
- Dustin Steiner — former Horn/Gaspar chief of staff, now AGC lobbyist #1212. DB
- Dianne Jacob (R) / Nathan Fletcher (D) — the two NO votes; Jacob said she had "never seen anything like this" in 27 years, Fletcher said "we are clearly tipping the scales." SDUT-2019-11
- Barbara Campbell — filed the September 2024 FPPC complaint over the Silverwood donation. DB
Caveats
- No finding of illegality. Nothing in this brief is a legal finding that Desmond violated any law. Stakeholders drafting language for officials, government employees changing jobs, and donors giving to politicians are each, individually, lawful.
- Levine Act theory is untested. Whether a referendum-suspended General Plan Amendment remains a "pending" proceeding under the Levine Act has not been tested; the brief reports a viable complaint (0.55 legal confidence, 0.75 complaint viability per the cited analysis), not a proven violation. DB
- "No disclosure found" is the limit of the search. The absence of a Levine Act disclosure reflects a systematic search of public filings located by MathPolitics; a filing could exist in records not located by that search.
- Supporting-tier material is qualified. The Silverwood/FPPC sequence, the federal donations, and the Form 803 gap are presented as a documented pattern "records show," not as adjudicated findings; the investigation is open, not resolved.
- Federal donations are a behavioral fact. The $4,000 in Silverwood-family federal contributions during the open state investigation is not itself an alleged violation; federal contributions operate under different rules than the state Levine Act.
- Pattern vs. proof. Characterizations such as "a system," "the words were not his own," and the vote-then-donation "pattern" are inferences about the convergence of independently documented facts, not claims of a quid pro quo. No quid pro quo is alleged.
- Vetoed claims. A separate $850,000 fire-district donation (RCS) was excluded at 0.35 confidence for direct Desmond involvement; "BIA directly funded Desmond's campaign" was not asserted (BIA support runs through endorsement, IE spending, and member donations, not direct PAC-to-candidate contributions). DB
Reference key
- SDUT-2019-12 San Diego Union-Tribune, "Texts and emails show Desmond worked with BIA to reword SOS ballot measure," 2019-12-17. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/story/2019-12-17/desmond-sos-story
- SDUT-2019-11 San Diego Union-Tribune, "Newland Sierra ballot measure wording altered by supervisors in 3-2 vote," 2019-11-19. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/story/2019-11-19/newland-sierra-ballot-measure-wording-altered-by-supervisors
- ECM-2019-12-07 East County Magazine, "Supervisors change Newland Sierra ballot language to developer-backed wording," 2019-12-07. https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/supervisors-change-language-ballot-measure-submitted-opponents-newland-sierra-adopt-developer%E2%80%99s
- ECM-2019-12-10 East County Magazine, "Desmond withdraws developer-friendly language change to SOS ballot measure after BIA coordination exposed," 2019-12-10. https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/desmond-withdraws-developer-friendly-language-change-%E2%80%9Csos%E2%80%9D-ballot-measure
- ToSD-2018-05 Times of San Diego, "San Marcos Mayor Desmond hit with campaign finance complaint over developer contributions," 2018-05-31. https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2018/05/31/san-marcos-mayor-campaign-finance-complaint/
- SDUT-2018-05 San Diego Union-Tribune, "San Marcos to investigate campaign finance complaint against Mayor Jim Desmond," 2018-05-31. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2018/05/31/san-marcos-to-investigate-campaign-finance-complaint-against-mayor-jim-desmond/
- ToSD-2024-04 Times of San Diego, "Supervisors OK improved mental health treatment, security for housing sites" (Windsor Pointe / Affirmed Housing 4-0 vote), 2024-04-10. https://timesofsandiego.com/health/2024/04/10/supervisors-ok-improved-mental-health-treatment-security-for-housing-sites/
- CNC-2022 San Diego County News Center, "100 affordable housing units coming to San Marcos" (Affirmed Housing funding), 2022-02-01. https://www.countynewscenter.com/100-affordable-housing-units-coming-to-san-marcos/
- FEC-Silverwood Federal Election Commission, receipts for Desmond for Congress (committee C00895722), Silverwood contributions. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00895722&contributor_name=silverwood
- KPBS-2024 KPBS Public Media / CalMatters, "'Notoriously slow': Lengthy investigations into California politicians leave voters in the dark," 2024-10-21. https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2024/10/21/notoriously-slow-lengthy-investigations-into-california-politicians-leave-voters-in-the-dark
- SDUT-2016-12 San Diego Union-Tribune, "Bill Horn hires land use department deputy as new chief of staff" (Gretler hire; Steiner departure), 2016-12-05. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2016/12/05/bill-horn-hires-land-use-department-deputy-as-new-chief-of-staff/
- SD-COB County of San Diego Clerk of the Board, disclosure list (Form 803 behested-payment filings). https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/cob/ocd/disclosurelist.html
- DB MathPolitics database connection/evidence IDs as cited in the full report
31-the-words-were-not-his-own.md(incl. C-3089, C-3091, C-3102, C-3103, C-3106, C-3107, C-3108, C-3146, C-3147, C-3149, C-3150, C-3152, C-3153; E-988, E-989, E-991, E-992, E-995, E-1001 — research syntheses and legal analysis with no standalone public URL). → view in evidence search
Report #31 · The Desmond Files (Part 3) · condensed AI fact sheet. Chronological; every claim cited; inferences flagged. Source: full report 31-the-words-were-not-his-own.md.
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