Stephen Whitburn

The Trolley Question, Part 2: Paying to Say No Published

Two SANDAG board members vote against the trolley extension. One has $14,100 in donations from her board's vendors. One has zero. The bought chair and the unbought suburban mayor both keep the trolley off the beach. The board geometry is the rot — and it is older than any check.

The Budget Chose Who Could Afford To Be Cut Published

Mayor Gloria's FY2027 budget closes a $118M deficit by cutting arts (-85%), libraries, recreation, and homelessness services while raising police ($718.6M) and fire ($401.5M) spending. Every category cut is populated by institutions legally prohibited from donating to campaigns. Every category protected has donor capacity. The hotel industry funding Gloria's $91,940 campaign war chest is the industry whose tax rate was ruled off the table. First public hearing: Tuesday, April 21, 2026, 2pm.

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 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 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.

The D8 Machine Published

As Moreno is termed out in 2026, the same seven donors who funded her rise have already written checks for her successor. The candidate changed. The money didn't.

The Reliable Vote Published

$903,000 from developer-aligned donors. A 100% YES voting record on every major developer-friendly item. A chief of staff convicted of felony fraud. A PAC chair who simultaneously sits on the Housing Commission. These are the receipts.

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.

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

The Gatekeeper's Ledger Published

The SDMEA Machine Published

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

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.