Myths vs. Facts

Setting the Record Straight on Paloma Aguirre

MYTH #1: Paloma Aguirre wants to raise your taxes.

Fact: Paloma Aguirre opposes raising taxes because working people are struggling and reducing costs is her first priority. She's said repeatedly she opposes new taxes at the County. She'll fight to ensure South County starts getting its fair share of existing resources.

Bonus Fact: In addition to being a liar, John McCann is a hypocrite. McCann supported not one, but two ballot initiatives for supplemental sales taxes in Chula Vista.

MYTH #2: Paloma Aguirre dramatically increased her own pay.

Fact: Chula Vista Mayor John McCann makes $161,000 a year in taxpayer money, plus a $1,000 monthly car allowance, which is 13 times the amount that Paloma Aguirre makes as Mayor of Imperial Beach. As Mayor of Imperial Beach, Paloma Aguirre earns a stipend of just $1,109 a month. The Imperial Beach City Council unanimously approved a small pay increase last year to bring the pay into accordance with recently-passed state legislation.

Bonus Fact: McCann also voted to raise his own pay in 2022 and 2024!

MYTH #3: Paloma Aguirre doesn’t pay her property taxes.

Fact: Paloma Aguirre is current on her property taxes and all other financial obligations. John McCann’s attacks are an insult to every taxpayer in the county, particularly those who choose to pay in installments due to the rising cost of living. 

Bonus Fact: John McCann should spend more time worrying about his own financial obligations, like the money he raised from corporate donors with interests before the council to pay his legal bills after he sued constituents and lost. 

MYTH #4: Paloma Aguirre hasn’t addressed the Tijuana River sewage crisis.

Fact: Paloma has been the leader in fighting to fix the sewage crisis while other politicians neglected the crisis. She helped secure $600 million in federal funding to address the pollution from the Tijuana River, working with federal, state, and international partners. Under her leadership, Imperial Beach has made more progress on this issue than in the past two decades combined.

MYTH #5: Paloma Aguirre hasn’t protected renters.

Fact: Paloma Aguirre authored and passed Imperial Beach’s first-ever tenant protection ordinance, which stopped greedy landlords from the practice known as “renovictions.” This prevents landlords from claiming extensive repairs and evicting all tenants, while actually doing very minimal repairs, just to increase the rent. Paloma has worked directly with tenants and housing advocates to make sure residents aren't displaced from the community they call home.

MYTH #6: Paloma Aguirre is lying about John McCann.

Fact: Paloma Aguirre has accurately criticized Republican John McCann on his corrupt real estate dealings, association with criminals, and for supporting Trump’s militaristic ICE raids. 

• McCann wrote a letter to Donald Trump to commute the sentence of a convicted felon, Adriana Camberos, who then gave thousands to elect him as mayor. After she was released, she committed even more felonies where she defrauded victims of $58 million, and is now headed back to prison. 

• McCann was at the center of the Sweetwater corruption scandal, where he took $16,000 from corrupt contractors who were sentenced for bribery. 

• McCann got caught by the media making “apparent preparations” to sell condos that he voted to approve, and then he deleted evidence when the media asked him about it. 

• McCann threw a projectile at a constituent’s vehicle and then lied to the media about it after he was caught on video.