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San Bernardino Democratic Luncheon Club Official Do-Not-Support Position

The San Bernardino Democratic Luncheon Club UNANIMOUSLY opposes Benito Barrios for City Council, Ward 2. Do-Not-Support declarations have been rare in our club’s history. However, Barrios’ record is so disturbing, so unethical, and so incompatible with Democratic values that we feel compelled to advise fellow Democrats.

Abuse of Power: As a councilman, Barrios was caught by the media calling the police chief in the middle of the night seeking special treatment after being stopped for driving on a suspended license, while he was actively a fugitive from the law. He has been a fugitive twice. This is not leadership; it’s entitlement.”

Pro-Trump Actions and Endorsing Trump: Barrios signed a pro-Trump letter praising Donald Trump and inviting his federal law enforcement into San Bernardino despite Trump conditioning it on extra ICE and immigration enforcement, even as Trump attacked immigrants, destroyed unions, arrested union leaders, and targeted working families. The San Bernardino County Young Democrats and immigrant-rights groups condemned the letter and him at the time. We condemn Benito Barrios now. Benito Barrios also outright endorsed Donald Trump for President in 2016.

Toxic MAGA Alliances: He is a close ally of disgraced MAGA mayor John Valdivia, who was censured and embroiled in corruption and sexual harassment scandals. Barrios publicly endorsed him and benefited from that political machine. Dangerous Judgment: Barrios attempted to sell guns from the dais during a council meeting in a city struggling with some of California’s worst gun-violence rates. Rejected by Voters: He is now on his fifth run for office. He lost re-election in his primary with only 29.7% of the vote, failed to qualify a write-in attempt, and failed to qualify for the ballot again when he ran against Jan 6 hero Representative Pete Aguilar. Democrats must ask themselves: Why would any Democratic leader in San Bernardino or beyond support a failed councilman with a pro-Trump record, a history of abusing power, and ties to MAGA corruption within the city? Ward 2 deserves stability, competence, and real Democratic values, not a return to the chaos of Barrios, Valdivia, Elliot and Ibarra. The City of San Bernardino and Ward 2 cannot have our heart broken again in a city that has run out of hearts to give.

We urge all Democrats: DO NOT SUPPORT Benito Barrios for City Council, Ward 2 and join us in actively campaigning against him with time and money. UNANIMOUSLY resolved by the San Bernardino Democratic Luncheon Club on December 5, 2025.

Sources, References, and Quotes can be found at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bR5xi7Js9iGiQvLcxmLGvo9Htcmjxtfl/view?usp=sharing  (Copy and paste this link into your browser.)

Meetings are Fridays at 12:15 PM at Juan Pollo Restaurant, 1258 West 5th Street, San Bernardino, California. NOTE: THE JAN 30 MEETING WILL START AT 11:45 AM

JAN 30 – SENATOR BEN ALLEN, State senator and Candidate for California Insurance Commissioner

Please arrive by 11:45 AM. The senator must leave by 12:30.

Ben is running for California Insurance Commissioner to continue fighting for the public good — protecting consumers, safeguarding the environment, and making government accountable to the people it serves.

California State Senator Ben Allen represents the 24th Senate District, covering the Westside, Hollywood, South Bay, and Santa Monica Mountains communities of Los Angeles County. Ben was first elected in 2014 and is now serving his third term in the State Senate.

Ben chairs the Senate’s Budget Subcommittee #2 (Resources, Environmental Protection, and Energy) and co-chairs the Legislature’s Environmental Caucus, is a member of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, chairs the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Arts, and the Senate Select Committee on Aerospace and Defense. He previously served as Chair of the Environmental Quality Committee (2019-2024), Chair of the Education Committee (2017-2019) and Chair of the Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee (2015-2016).

Ben has thrown himself into the important work of state government, focusing on wise decision-making and pushing for reforms that address systemic inadequacies in our state. He has authored nearly 60 new laws in various areas, from environmental protection to electoral reform.

During his first two terms in the Senate, fighting the climate crisis and protecting our state’s precious natural resources have been among Ben’s top priorities. CalMatters recently recognized him as one of the Legislature’s foremost leaders in the field of environmental protection. He authored SB 54, groundbreaking legislation to address plastic pollution, which Governor Newsom signed into law to international acclaim. The New York Times called SB 54 “the most sweeping restrictions on plastics in the nation” and suggested the legislation is “another route for curbing carbon emissions and trying to sidestep the worst consequences of global warming” after the Supreme Court gutted the federal government’s power to regulate carbon emissions. As Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, Ben worked with his colleagues to pass a powerful climate package requiring the state to become carbon-neutral by 2045 and produce 90% of its electricity from clean sources by 2035, among other measures. A member of the Ocean Protection Council and Coastal Conservancy, he has led a successful effort to phase out a dangerous carcinogen in firefighting foam, crafted a compromise to phase out destructive trawling gear, and brokered a major bipartisan compromise that lessened the environmental impact of off-highway vehicle use at state facilities. “If only Congress could work out such compromises,” wrote the Sacramento Bee editorial board about the bill.

Among his efforts to reform California campaign finance and elections laws, Ben authored the landmark Voter’s Choice Act of 2016 to implement more flexibility in how and where to vote, creating the vote center model used in the 2020 elections, which resulted in significantly increased voter turnout. Ben also has been a leader for campaign transparency, and was a leader in passing the Disclose Act and Petition Disclose Act and other transparency measures that have dramatically improved the disclosure of donors to political causes for the public. The California Clean Money Campaign has routinely ranked him top in the Legislature for his commitment to clean money political reform.

An advocate for the Golden State’s continued leadership in arts and entertainment, Ben is a member of the California Film Commission. He was part of a legislative effort to extend the Film & TV Tax Credit Program to further support and invest in California’s unrivaled film industry. Ben also authored the law that reinstated teaching credentials for theatre and dance educators, and he continues to fight for expanded access to the arts in schools and underserved communities. Ben has been a champion for science and was a joint author of the state’s groundbreaking law that increased vaccination rates among school children.

Prior to his election to the Senate, Ben served as President of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, lecturer at UCLA Law School, and worked as an attorney at the law firms of Bryan Cave LLP and Richardson & Patel and at the nonprofit Spark Program. While at law school, Ben served as the voting student member of the University of California Board of Regents and was a summer judicial clerk with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Prior to law school, Ben worked in Washington DC for the Latin American team of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and then as Communications Director for Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY).

Ben grew up in the 24th Senate District and attended public schools, graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1996. His father, Michael, spent his career on the English Department faculty at UCLA and mother, Elena, was a public-school teacher and artist who served as Chair of the Santa Monica Arts Commission. Ben has a bachelor of arts degree magna cum laude in History from Harvard University; a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge; and a Juris Doctor degree from UC Berkeley. Fluent in Spanish, Ben is a Senior Fellow with the international human rights organization Humanity in Action, an Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellow, a Truman National Security Project Fellow, and a graduate of the Jewish Federation’s New Leaders Project. He and his wife Melanie, an attorney, have a young son, Ezra, and a little daughter, Ena.

FEB 6 – LUZ PEREZ Candidate for Fontana City Council

FEB 13 – TBA