The San Diego Mayor’s Office is holding a backpack giveaway later this month to benefit military children — and the event is in Imperial Beach.

Darnisha Hunter, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s veterans and active duty liaison since 2014, happens to be running for City Council in Imperial Beach, but city officials said the event is a routine part of her job.

On July 25, Hunter promoted the Facebook page “Military Youth School Bash” and an event of the same name, on her personal Facebook account.

The bash is billed as a “backpack giveaway” for K-12 students. It advertises food, games and prizes and says veteran and active duty community services will be available.


A graphic advertising the event features the logos of corporate and community sponsors, such as the American Legion, Palm West Real Estate and Mental Health Systems.

Featured most prominently is the logo for the city of San Diego, and the line “Sponsored by Darnisha Hunter, Active Duty & Veteran Liaison.”

Hunter, a Republican like Faulconer, said she is doing her job for the city of San Diego. Other politicians in Imperial Beach said the timing of the event raised questions about whether the candidate was using her position with the city of San Diego to boost her profile in Imperial Beach.

Serge Dedina, the Democratic mayor of Imperial Beach, said he was surprised the city of San Diego would sponsor an event in another city, and only learned about it when The San Diego Union-Tribune reached him for comment.


“Are we a line item on their budget?” he said. “I thought cities had boundaries.”

Dedina said it was “unprecedented” for a city to sponsor events outside its own borders.

“Normally, you organize events in your own city,” he said. “My residents don’t want me organizing events in San Diego.”

A statement from Faulconer’s office said the city supports a variety of programs and organizations each year and that some of them, such as those supporting the military and veterans, are regional.


“The city, through the Mayor’s Veteran’s Advocate, regularly supports and participates in events at Camp Pendleton, in Oceanside, in Imperial Beach, MCRD, Miramar, North Island and aboard Navy vessels,” said Francis Barraza, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff for community engagement.

Barraza cited specific events such as a Thanksgiving dinner give-away at Camp Pendleton, a ship commissioning on North Island and change of command ceremonies at facilities around the county.

However, according to Dedina, this is the first time the city of San Diego has organized anything like this in Imperial Beach.

“I think it’s unusual that — for the first time ever — the city of San Diego is hosting an event in (another) city where the person organizing is running for City Council.”


Stacy Fulhorst, executive director of the San Diego Ethics Commission, said the city-sponsored event did not violate city code.

“There is nothing in the city’s ethics ordinance that prohibits Ms. Hunter from properly performing her job as a city employee while also running for elective office,” she said in an email. “Because this is in fact a city-sponsored event, it is appropriate for her to promote (it) using her position and title.”

Ed Spriggs, a Democrat, has been on the City Council in Imperial Beach since 2010 and is running for re-election this year. He said he had also never seen a San Diego-sponsored community event in Imperial Beach.


“It may be good for our youth, but the timing is especially interesting so close to the election,” he said in an email. “I just hope this isn’t diverting resources from the San Diego kids for whom Mayor Faulconer’s program was apparently intended.”

Paloma Aguirre, another Democratic candidate for City Council in Imperial Beach, said the veteran and military events only started after Hunter decided to run for council.

“She had (another) one in July,” she said. “I’ve never seen that happen.”

The July event, also on Hunter’s Facebook page, was a Veterans Affairs benefits presentation by the San Diego VA, held at the Fleet Reserve on the Silver Strand. Like the backpack giveaway, the city of San Diego logo featured prominently, as did Hunter’s title and position at the Mayor’s Office.


In an email, Hunter addressed questions about the event (describing it in the past tense, although it won’t happen until Aug. 25).

“I am proud of the work I do as a military and veterans advocate for Mayor Faulconer,” she said. “The backpack giveaway helped 300 plus children of military families get the supplies they need to be successful in school. I will continue to do my job and help as many people as I can throughout the region. My campaign is separate from that work and I have taken every precaution to adhere to all ethical obligations.”

The event is at Veterans Park in Imperial Beach at 10 a.m. on Aug. 25.


Contact Andrew Dyer via email or Twitter.