Sean Elo-Rivera

The Insiders: What the Money Machine Buys Once It Wins Published

**A MathPolitics Investigation -- The Council Files, Part 2**

The Meter Play: How a $17 Million Contract, a Rigged RFP, and a Punished Whistleblower Built San Diegos Parking Meter Empire Published

Mayor Gloria expanded IPS Groups $17M parking meter empire into residential neighborhoods to backfill a $258M budget deficit. IPS Group (owned by Windjammer Capital PE) benefits from every expansion while communities lose both free parking and their share of revenue. A MathPolitics Special Investigation.

The Money Machine: How a Lincoln Club-Founded PAC Buys Democratic Votes on San Diego's City Council Published

**A MathPolitics Investigation -- The Council Files, Part 1**

The Council President's Silence Published

The Progressive Brand Published

Part 2 of The Elo-Rivera Files. Examines the gap between Sean Elo-Rivera's progressive brand and his governing record — 1,637 votes with zero NOs on development, a dark money reform that exempts labor IE, and the contractor-to-campaign money chain.

The SDMEA Machine Published

How a Union PAC Built a Council Bloc and Protected Its Investment

The Gatekeeper's Ledger Published

The Measure B Machine Published

The Price of No Published

Raul Campillo took $14,779 in post-election donations from lobbyists and developers — then voted against their interests on the biggest deals in San Diego. Three weeks after his dissenting votes, the Council President removed him from the committee where those votes were cast.

The Cheapest Yes Published

Sempra Energy distributed $75K across four intermediary PACs before the 2021 SDG&E franchise vote. Those PACs channeled $392K+ to the mayor and five of six YES-voting council members. All three NO voters received $0.

On Saturday The Library Is Closed: How San Diego Chose The Budget Crisis Published

The Council Published

Your one vote is also four votes you didn't cast. The 6-of-9 override almost never comes.

The Gloria Machine Published

The machine changes party but not behavior: the same lobbyists and developers, now operating through Democratic officeholders.

The Madaffer Axis: Two Firms, One City Hall Published

The Permanent Money: Who Funds Every Side Published

Five unelected institutions — Sempra and its monopoly utility SDG&E, the Sycuan gaming tribe, the Building Industry Association, and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council AFL-CIO — supply the money behind San Diego politics, funding both parties through party-committee conduits and sponsored independent-expenditure committees. SDG&E's signature outcome: the 2021 6-3 renewal of the gas-and-electric franchise it has held since 1920. The labor left wing is as structurally unelected as the utility/developer/gaming right wing.

The System: How San Diego's Rules Were Written to Keep You From Seeing What Your Money Buys Published

**A MathPolitics Investigation -- The Council Files, Part 4**

The Airbnb Play Published

One disclosed $100,000 behested payment to build a skate plaza in Encanto sits inside a $3.8 million Airbnb campaign to defeat a San Diego vacation-rental tax that would have raised up to $133 million per year. The payment was legal, the disclosure proper — the math is the scandal.

The Question Nobody Had to Ask Published

Henry Foster III was fired from the City of San Diego in 2016. Nine years later, as Budget Chair, he co-architected the elimination of his former supervisor's position. The city's ethics framework had no mechanism to surface the connection.