Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Nora Vargas, a proud fronteriza born in Tijuana, touted the county’s border initiatives Feb. 21 in her State of the County address.
The next day, her chief of staff quit.
But Vargas was happy to see Denice Garcia, her top aide, move on. Vargas had paved the way for Garcia’s job change by proposing — and getting OK’d by a 4-0 vote — a new San Diego County office.
On Feb. 23, Garcia began work under interim Chief Administrative Officer Sarah Aghassi as chief binational affairs officer, a position Vargas pitched last August.
The job perfectly fits Garcia’s skill set. Herself a Mexican immigrant (at age 6 in 1984), Garcia was San Diego’s director of international affairs for seven years, including under Mayor Kevin Faulconer.
“She led the Welcoming San Diego Initiative with a steering committee, and through this initiative she secured the first Immigrant Affairs position for the City of San Diego,” says her biography.
As director of community outreach and economic development for Councilman Mark Kersey, Garcia helped establish a binational focus. Earlier, she worked for Mayor Jerry Sanders as director of boards and commissions and protocol/binational affairs.
Garcia took a pay cut to become CBAO, according to the county. She’ll make $187,000 a year, down from her District 1 chief-of-staff salary of $205,000.
(The opening wasn’t advertised publicly per county policy. A spokesman said: “If an individual has expertise for the position, recruitment may be waived.”)
But Vargas didn’t reveal the new Garcia gig until Wednesday, when responding to Times of San Diego inquiries about Garcia missing from her staff page.
“As I announced in my State of the County,” Vargas said in a statement, “one of my most important goals in the upcoming year is to uplift our binational region and create a world-class business destination so that all communities in our region have the opportunity to thrive.”
She went on:
“That’s why I’m thrilled to announce that my chief of staff, Denice Garcia, is moving on to become the chief of binational affairs for San Diego County. I’m so grateful for her hard work and dedication over the past three years as my chief of staff, and I am excited to continue working with her in this new role. Together, with local leaders and community members, we’re going to continue to build on the progress we have made in creating a better county for all.”
Unsaid was a legal wrinkle.
Garcia, and the county, are being sued by a man who alleges Garcia, in a phone call to him, muttered “fucking Asians and yellow people, always so fucking slow, these chinks” because of his supposed slowness in moving from Los Angeles to San Diego for a job in Vargas’ office.
Jeff Liu, the plaintiff, said in his suit that on Sept. 11, 2023, he had been extended a conditional job offer as Vargas’ director of policy and legislative affairs.
Liu’s job offer — which came from Garcia — included a promised $95,000 a year.
He also took a pay cut.
He worked for March for Our Lives from May 2018 until Sept. 15, 2023, with his most recent position being director of public and government affairs for $158,000 a year, says the suit first filed Dec. 12, 2023.
Attorney Zak Franklin of Santa Monica, who represents Liu, said in an amended complaint that on Sept. 26, the Vargas’ staff emailed Liu and rescinded the job offer.
During a phone call to Liu, who also lived in Sacramento, Garcia “falsely told Plaintiff that he never informed her that he would be relocating to San Diego to accept Defendants’ offer of employment,” the suit says. “Defendants’ rescinding their offer of employment to plaintiff, and Denice Garcia’s racist statements, has caused [Liu] to suffer emotional distress.”
The suit doesn’t name Vargas as a defendant, but says Vargas “is aware that Denice Garcia uses racist language towards people of Asian descent, and yet Chairwoman Nora Vargas does nothing about Denice Garcia’s use of racist language.”
The suit alleges that in another conversation, shared by an unnamed employee, Garcia said: “We have a new yellow person possibly joining shortly. A chink, though he is talented. We are currently working through logistics and I’ll let everyone know.”
Garcia now faces a jury trial on a still-unspecified date in which Liu is seeking more than $25,000 (after incurring about that much in lost wages and moving expenses).
The suit says Liu was “personally humiliated and has become mentally upset, distressed and aggravated” by Garcia and others in the county.
He’s suing for race discrimination and “Breach of the Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing,” among other things.
“The acts of Defendants … were carried out by … supervisors, managers, officers and/or directors of Defendants, and were directed and ratified by Defendants, with a conscious disregard of Plaintiff’s rights, such as to constitute oppression, fraud or malice under California Civil Code section 3294, entitling Plaintiff to punitive damages from defendants other than San Diego County in an amount appropriate to punish and set an example of said Defendants,” the suit says.
Judge Richard S. Whitney, handling the case, has set a case management conference for 9:30 a.m. May 31 in downtown Superior Court.
Before I knew about Garcia landing the CBAO job, I asked the county if her leaving as chief of staff had anything to do with the Liu suit.
“Absolutely NOT,” replied county spokesman Michael Workman via email. “The successful launch of our binational affairs is essential, and the CAO tapped Denice to move the effort forward.”
In a statement to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Workman said: “The allegations in the complaint are absolutely false. Mr. Liu’s conditional employment offer was rescinded after he demonstrated unprofessional conduct. The county looks forward to vigorously fighting the matter in court where the full facts of the case will be presented.”
Vargas wasn’t made available for an interview, but she emailed the Union-Tribune in late January: “The county will be addressing this matter in the courts. As chairwoman and a lifelong community leader, I have always had a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and racism.”
Three weeks before Garcia left as chief of staff, Vargas’ office told the Union-Tribune that Vargas was unable to answer further questions “but said Garcia will remain chief of staff.”
Updated at 4:48 p.m. March 15, 2024
