Six years ago, fired union organizer Sandy Naranjo sued her boss — labor kingpin Mickey Kasparian — saying she was being punished for her husband’s support of a Kasparian rival. She eventually settled.
Now Naranjo faces retaliation allegations of her own.
At a special meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday, the 36-year-old vice chair of the San Diego Port Commission faces censure by the board, accused of “self-interested, reckless and potentially malicious behavior” in her dealings with an unnamed San Diego Unified Port District employee.
A 5-page resolution says Naranjo breached her duty of care by making serious allegations against a district employee that, “upon prudent or even minimal inquiry, would have readily been discredited as false.”
Her behavior exposed the district to legal liability and has the potential to compromise the integrity of the district, it said. She also allegedly “acted with an absence of transparency by withholding information from the Board regarding the bases and sources of her allegations” against the employee.
And the resolution says Naranjo has taken part in a “pattern of ongoing retaliatory actions” against the employee, which “decreased productivity, morale and potential attrition, which in turn harms the District’s operational capabilities, and impacts the public and District employees.”
It added that none of the explanations Naranjo provided were found “credible, sincere, legitimate or exculpatory.”
A confidential personnel investigation led to the resolution and Tuesday’s meeting, which will be live-streamed here.
Sonia R. Carvalho, an attorney spokeswoman for the Port District, wouldn’t respond to specific questions but released a statement Monday: “The agenda sheet speaks for itself. Out of respect for this process, representatives of the Port of San Diego will not be providing comments prior to the scheduled meeting.”
Naranjo, a National City resident, said via Facebook that she was going to connect me with her attorney, Cory Briggs, “to provide comments on my behalf.”
In a statement, Briggs said: “The port is clearly fabricating charges against my client and not providing evidence to back them up, all in hopes of marginalizing my client and dissuading the press from looking into the legitimate legal and ethical concerns she raised about a member of the port’s leadership team.”
A censure would result in Naranjo — unpaid for her board role — losing her vice chair office and committee assignments as well as bar her from holding any future board office or committee role. She wouldn’t lose her board seat.
National City Mayor Ron Morrison and the City Council have the power to remove Naranjo as port commissioner. They didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But Morrison told The San Diego Union-Tribune: “We didn’t find out about this until this morning. This is an internal issue (for the port). We’re going to have to wait and see what they do.”
She also would be prohibited from speaking alone with any district employee in her scope as commissioner.
If the resolution prepared by Best Best & Krieger attorneys is approved, the seven-member board will move to pick another vice chair. This apparently is the first censure move in port history.
Naranjo on Sept. 25 posted to her Facebook account: “I am absolutely thrilled to serve as the Chairwoman of the 2023 Port of San Diego Audit Oversight Committee, dedicated to upholding accountability and transparency!”
A former local Organizer of the Year, Naranjo was fired by San Diego labor council leader and UFCW Local 135 president Kasparian in December 2016, and she sued him in 2017. In June 2022, the openly bisexual Naranjo sued her husband, Andrew McKercher, for divorce.
Naranjo was sworn in to the Board of Port Commissioners on Jan. 3, 2021, after appointment by the National City City Council.
Her official biography calls her “a mother (of two), environmental justice activist, community organizer, labor advocate, and political economist.”
“Naranjo worked for a national climate justice organization, Mothers Out Front, where she organized thousands of mothers, grandmothers, and others to advocate for a swift, complete, and just transition to clean, renewable energy,” the bio said.
“She has served on multiple community advisory boards, both regional and statewide. She was elected as the first chair of the Sweetwater Authority Citizens Advisory Committee; appointed a member of the AB 617 steering committee to advise the San Diego Air Pollution Control District on the best ways to mitigate exposure to toxic air pollution; and served as a member for the California Energy Commission’s Advisory Committee for the Clean Transportation Program Investment Plan.
“Commissioner Naranjo has three bachelors’ degrees with honors in political science, political economy, and economics, along with a minor in women’s studies from California State University, San Bernardino.”
