INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
By Arturo Castañares
Editor-at-Large
A local nonprofit created by a political consultant convicted of felony grand theft last year and run by his former workers claims to be a community group but is actually connected directly to the owners of a controversial development project in North County the group publicly supports.
The "San Diego Housing Coalition" is the only community group supporting the proposed 453-home Harmony Grove Village South project in the unincorporated area west of Escondido, but state and federal documents show the group is connected to political consultant Jesús Cárdenas who has been paid by the developer behind the project since at least 2021.
Although the group's website promotes it as “a collective of community voices and organizations, educators, experts, non-profits, lifelong advocates," the group does not list the names of its staff, boardmembers, or collaborators, and lists no phone number, address, or contact information besides an Admin email address.
The group’s Facebook page has only 180 followers and shows just one post of a news article in October 2021 and an announcement of a forum held in Chula Vista in July 2021. There is no social media profile for the group on X.com.
San Diego County records show the group is only a fictitious business name for the California Housing Coalition, a nonprofit filed with the state in 2021 using the address of Cardenas' consulting firm while he was already working as a paid consultant for the developer.
The group filed an application with the IRS for tax-exempt status when it was formed and requested to be a public charity under Section 906(a)(2) which requires entities to derive at least two-thirds of their income from grants, sponsorships, memberships, or admissions. Museums and zoos are usually formed as 906(a)(2) entities.
California Housing Coalition's IRS application
The California Housing Coalition failed to file any annual 990 income forms after it was formed so the IRS revoked its tax-exempt charity status last year.
The Coalition is not registered with the California Attorney General’s office as a charity which is required to “protect charitable assets for their intended use and ensure that the charitable donations contributed by Californians are not misapplied and squandered through fraud or other means.”
When the California Housing Coalition filed its IRS nonprofit application and its Articles of Incorporation as a nonprofit corporation with the California Secretary of State in 2021, the group listed its address as “401 B Street, Suite 305, San Diego, CA, 92101.”
California Housing Coalition Article of Incorporation, 2021
CARDENAS CONNECTIONS
The 401 B Street address used by the coalition is the office of Grassroots Resources, a political consulting firm owned by Jesús Cárdenas, a longtime Democratic operative who pleaded guilty last year to two felony charges of fraudulently receiving a COVID-era federal loan meant to help businesses keep employees during the pandemic and for improperly claiming unemployment benefits while he was still working.
Jesús Cárdenas
Grassroots Resources, a corporation wholly owned by Cárdenas, has been a hired consultant for RCS Harmony Partners, the parent company behind the Harmony Grove Village South project, since at least 2021.
In May 2021, Grassroots Resources secured a $174,000 federal Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) loan by claiming it had 34 workers but his firm had no paid employees. Cárdenas fraudulently used the names of workers at Harbor Collective, a San Diego cannabis dispensary Cárdenas also represented at the time, to qualify for the loan. Only two types of businesses were disqualified from PPP loans; marijuana businesses and political consultants.
Cárdenas was serving as Chief of Staff to San Diego City Councilman Stephen Whitburn at the time of the fraud.
In March 2024, Cárdenas was sentenced to 45 days in a live-in residential facility and 135 days in an alternative probation program, 2 years of felony probation, and ordered to pay more than $200,000 in restitution to the state and federal governments.
Two weeks ago, Cárdenas was fined $5,000 by the San Diego Ethics Commission for meeting as Whitburn's Chief of Staff with a marijuana industry lobbyist who was also a client of Grassroots Resources. The company, Blue Water Government Affairs LLC, was seeking to amend the City's cannabis licensing ordinance and Cárdenas helped draft the proposal by Councilman Whitburn. State law and the City's Ethics Ordinance restrict public officials and staff from participating in a matter that involves a person or company that had paid that official within the past 12 months.
When the Coalition filed its first Statement of Information with the California Secretary of State in June 2021, the form listed Jehoan Espinoza as the CEO, Malik Thornton as Secretary, and Victoria Herrera as CFO, all with the same address of 401 B Street, Suite 340.
CA Housing Coalition, Initial Statement of Information, 2021
Espinoza worked as a field organizer for Grassroots Resources, Thornton was an intern for Cárdenas, and Herrera was the firm’s Project Manager. Thornton later went to work for Councilman Whitburn under Cárdenas and is currently Whitburn’s Director of Community Engagement and Digital Content manager at the City.
There were no annual statements of information filed from June 2021 until July 1st of this year.
Espinoza now owns a political consulting company named JE Strategies and also operates under the name of Margin Victories. Espinoza has continued to work on campaigns with Cárdenas and has used Grassroots Resources to place online ads for his political campaigns clients.
The California Housing Coalition’s most recent filing with the California Secretary of State on July 1, 2025, listed three other people as the officers of the nonprofit: Roberto Alcantar as CEO, Michael Najera as Secretary, and Alonso Gonzalez as CFO, and listed the group's mailing address at the same 401 B Street office as Cárdenas' office.
CA Housing Coalition, July 1, 2025 Statement of Information
Gonzalez, a local real estate broker who previously worked as a consultant for Grassroots Resources, signed and submitted the form, affirming that the information is “true and correct.”
Alonso Gonzalez
Alcantar, who currently works as a Senior Public Affairs Manager for San Diego Gas & Electric, previously worked as a consultant for Grassroots Resources.
Roberto Alcantar
When contacted by La Prensa San Diego last week, Alcantar said that he never served as CEO of the group and did not know he was listed on the state filing.
Alcantar said Gonzalez asked him a few months ago if he would help with the group but never attended any board meetings or public meetings for the group, and had no idea about the group’s current support for the Harmony Grove Village South project.
Najera, a local political lobbyist, served on the San Diego Unified Port District for two years before resigning after shuttering his construction business and filing for bankruptcy in 2009.
CONSULTING FOR HARMONY GROVE
During the time Cárdenas worked for Councilman Whitburn, he was required to report all of his income on official Statement of Economic Interests forms filed with the City.
Cárdenas reported income to his Grassroots Resources company and itemized clients that paid the firm over $10,000 per year, including “RCS Harmony Partners, Inc” the owners of the Harmony Grove Village South project.
Jesús Cárdenas, Statement of Economic Interests, 2021
RCS Harmony was also reported on Cárdenas’ economic interests forms in 2022 and 2023 until he resigned his position at the City of San Diego after being indicted. Cárdenas has not had to file income disclosures since leaving the City.
In 2021, Cárdenas also worked behind the scenes to kill a proposal by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors which would have charged developers, including Harmony Grove Village South, a development fee based on the number of trips created by sprawl developments.
Cárdenas has not been registered as a lobbyist at the County of San Diego.
CHAIR OF COALITION DID NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS
Local real estate lawyer Melinda Vasquez serves on the San Diego Housing Commission, the City’s public housing agency, and was appointed by Mayor Todd Gloria in November 2021, citing her service as “Chair of the San Diego Housing Coalition” where she “represents a collective of community voices, organizations, lifelong advocates, and those who have been directly impacted by the housing crisis in San Diego.”
Melinda Vasquez
The San Diego Housing Commission’s official website lists Vasquez as a Commissioner, and includes her biography which states she “is a member of the San Diego Housing Coalition.”
On August 22, 2025, Vasquez testified at the San Diego County Planning Commission where she introduced herself as “an attorney and I also am a resident of Rancho Penasquitos, and I have other connections, I’m a former planning group member."
Vasquez did not mention her connection to the San Diego Housing Coalition.
Melinda Vasquez testifying before the San Diego County Planning Commission
The speaker before Vasquez was Alonso Gonzalez who identified himself as the “acting Director of the San Diego Housing Coalition,” saying “we’re a broad coalition of community-based organizations and civic leaders.”
Alonso Gonzalez testifying before the San Diego County Planning Commission
Gonzalez did not disclose the group’s connection to Cárdenas and his paid consulting for the owners of the project.
The County Planning Commission unanimously approved the project during the contentious meeting where local residents warned of high fire hazards because there is only one road leading to and from the community and an increase in traffic with the new project would delay evacuations.
Last week, La Prensa San Diego left messages for Vasquez and Gonzalez asking for information about the group.
Vasquez returned the call but claimed that asking her questions about her involvement with the group was “illegal”, “against the Rules of Professional Conduct”, and seemed like “entrapment”, but later sent an email asking to “provide me your questions and I will answer them if I deem them appropriate.”
The Rules of Professional Conduct regulate lawyers, not journalists. There are no rules or laws restricting a reporter from asking questions to someone involved with a nonprofit organization.
La Prensa San Diego submitted written questions to Vasquez, including to confirm her position as Chair, the names of board members, officers, staff, and paid consultants, among other questions.
La Prensa San Diego email to Melinda Vasquez
Vasquez did not respond to the email requesting information about the group.
Online sources show Vasquez has been a member of the Rancho Peñasquitos Democratic Club, a delegate to the CA Democratic Party, and currently serves as the Controller of the San Diego County Democratic Party’s Executive Committee.
Gonzalez responded in writing to messages left for him seeking comment and information about the group.
"Thanks for asking about my role with this nonprofit. I just recently began volunteering to get this coalition active again," Gonzalez wrote. "Working quickly to get certified and getting stakeholders interested."
Since the group has failed to file its IRS 990 income forms, there is no record of its sources of income used to promote the project.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
The project is expected to be up for consideration before the entire San Diego County Board of Supervisors on October 1st.
The project was first approved by the Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors in 2018 but the Board rescinded its approval in 2022 after a lawsuit invalidated components of the project's greenhouse gas mitigation plan.
During the past two weeks, residents of the area around the proposed Harmony Grove Village South project have received text messages supporting the project, with a disclaimer that the outreach is "Paid for by San Diego Housing Coalition."
Text messages supporting Harmony Grove Village South project
The link in the text message jumps to a website promoting the project, with the same graphics as the ones used in the mass text blasts.
The website is paid for by "Harmony Grove Housing Advocates” but lists no phone number, address, email, or names of anyone associated with the group. The promotional website allows visitors to add their contact information to "Let the County Board of Supervisors know I support Harmony Grove Village South!" and to sign up to "receive text messages about Harmony Grove Village South."
There is no fictitious business name filed with the County of San Diego and no entity is registered with the California Secretary of State using that name.
The company listing for RCS Harmony Partners, LLC, in San Diego is located at a shared office space at Liberty Station in Point Loma.
The company was registered in Colorado in 2013 and lists an address in Louisville, Colorado.
The main owner behind the project is Marcel Arsenault, a billionaire developer based in Louisville, Colorado. Arsenault is the founder of Real Capital Solutions, a real estate company that "invests smart capital and provides practical solutions for real estate opportunities."
The letters RCS in RCS Harmony Partners is the abbreviation for Arsenault's Real Capital Solutions.
POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Principals of RCS Harmony Partners donated $170,000 to political campaign committees during the 2024 and 2025 election cycles, including helping fund both sides of the race for County Supervisor in 2024 and again in this year's Special Election to replace County Supervisor Nora Vargas in the South Bay.
RCS Harmony Partners principal David Kovach donated $25,000 this year to a campaign committee created by the Building Industry Association (BIA) of San Diego which supported Chula Vista Mayor John McCann in the Special Election for District 1 that would determine the political make-up of the the Board of Supervisors.
The Building Industry Association now supports the Harmony Grove Village South project.
David Kovach's political campaign contribution in 2025.
McCann, a Republican, was facing Democrats Paloma Aguirre and Vivian Moreno in an April 17th Primary Election to replace Vargas who had resigned her seat in January. Aguirre later won the July 1st run-off election to claim the seat and keep Democratic control of the Board.
But Kovach also donated $10,000 to the San Diego County Democratic Party during the Special Election when the Party had already endorsed Imperial Beach Mayor Paloma Aguirre in the Special Election.
David Kovach's contribution to the SD County Democratic Party
Last year, Kovach donated $30,000 to the BIA's campaign committee when it was supporting former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer's challenge to incumbent County Supervisor Terrra Lawson-Remer who represents the area where the Harmony Grove Village South project is proposed to be built.
During the same period, RCS Harmony Partners donated $35,000 to another independent campaign committee supporting Faulconer, known as the Homelessness Crisis Response Committee, controlled by former San Diego City Councilman Chris Cate.
But Kovach and another RCS Harmony principal, Ryan Atkins, also donated a combined $40,000 to the San Diego County Democratic Party which was supporting Lawson-Remer against Faulconer.
Another RCS Harmony Partners principal, Judy Lawson, donated $40,000 to an independent campaign committee called the San Diego Labor Coalition, sponsored by the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local 89, the San Diego office of a powerful national union, known as LiUNA.
The Laborers’ International Local 89, is now supporting the Harmony Grove Village South project.
LiUNA has become a powerful political force in the region after spending more than $600,000 in the 2024 Primary Election to support candidates for the San Diego County Democratic Party’s Central Committee which decides candidate endorsements and directs the expenditure of millions of dollars in campaign spending each election cycle.
Both the San Diego County Democratic Party and the Laborers' International Local 89 have used both Cárdenas and Jehoan Espinoza to run their political campaigns during several election cycles.
Grassroots Resources has been suspended by the State Franchise Tax Board since 2023. The company's last Statement of Information filed in 2023 lists Cárdenas at the same 401 B Street address.
Espinoza's JE Strategies Inc. was suspended by the Franchise Tax Board last year and he filed a new company, Margin Victories LLC in December 2024 with an address in Panorama City, CA. Espinoza also registered Margin Victories Inc. in January of this year with his residential address in San Diego as his location as the company's Agent of Service.
