National City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Jose Rodriguez this week accused his opponent in the race, City Councilmember Marcus Bush, of being unfit to steward the city. He said Bush has mismanaged his own personal finances and sought to “line his pockets with public funds” following two city-financed trips to conferences.
Rodriguez and his campaign team shared public records that include a recent foreclosure on Bush’s National City house, a year-old unpaid traffic ticket and Bush’s continued failure to reimburse the city for travel costs it paid on his behalf.
The $4,015 in unreimbursed travel costs stem from two trips Bush took to public transportation conferences in 2024 and 2025, as part of his role as National City’s representative on the governing board of the Metropolitan Transportation System.
Screenshots of emails from city finance officials show National City initially covered Bush’s travel costs for the conferences with the expectation MTS would reimburse them. The emails show MTS did reimburse Bush $4,015 for the costs — but Bush did not pay back the city.
Months’ worth of emails show city officials going back and forth with Bush over repaying the costs. City Manager Doug Schulze said Bush eventually offered to repay the funds on an installment plan and as of this week he had made two payments: one for $250 in January and another for $250 in March of this year.
Schulze said Bush still owes roughly $3,500 to repay the travel costs.
“It’s deeply hypocritical for someone to run on transparency and accountability and then to line his pockets with public money,” Rodriguez said of Bush.
Bush denounced his opponent for delving into his personal finances and said the move “shows how desperate” Rodriguez has become in the mayoral race’s final days.
However, Bush acknowledged he had struggled financially over the past year and said his financial difficulties had contributed to the series of events Rodriguez highlighted.
Bush said he fully intended to repay National City for the MTS travel costs it incurred on his behalf. He said he had failed to reimburse the city earlier due to an oversight.
Bush said MTS did in fact deposit a total of $4,015 in his bank account last year, which he said he should have passed along to the city. But he said he didn’t turn over the money right away because he didn’t realize the deposits were related to costs the city had covered. Bush said he assumed they were for other MTS-related travel costs he had covered himself.
“I just thought, oh, it was for the trip and forgot about it,” he said. “Then the city contacted me and I will make a payment plan and fix it.”
Bush also readily acknowledged a bank foreclosed on his house last year after he and his wife fell behind on roughly $17,000 in mortgage payments and other fees.
Bush said he arranged a payment plan and the bank withdrew the foreclosure. Documents from the San Diego County Recorder’s office confirm Bush’s house is no longer in foreclosure.
As for the $391 traffic ticket Bush incurred on Sept. 25 last year in Chula Vista for running a stop sign and talking on his cell phone while driving, Bush said, “That’s my bad, that’s legit.”
The ticket, which Bush said he intends to pay on an installment plan, was twice referred to a collections agency after Bush failed to appear in court and then failed to complete court-ordered traffic school.
Bush said his financial difficulties began in 2024, when he quit his job as a project manager for an affordable home builder. Bush said he found it impossible to balance full-time work with his duties as a councilmember and his responsibilities at home.
National City pays its councilmembers a monthly stipend of $1,701. Bush said his wife also earns a modest salary, and the two of them soon ran up against the challenge of making ends meet in San Diego at a time of rising costs.
Bush said he had been open with constituents about his financial setbacks and even disclosed during a City Council meeting that his family had been on food stamps. He said he recently found a new job doing property management for a different affordable housing company and his finances are stabilizing
“My lived experience is a part of my qualification for mayor,” he said. “My family, like many families in National City, has struggled financially for years… Getting away from the shame of financial struggle, it’s real.”
Rodriguez said he “empathize[d] with anyone going through financial difficulties.” But he said a financial rough patch is not an excuse for failing to demonstrate the basic financial acumen and ethical integrity needed to run a city.
“How can the public trust someone running for public office if they themselves are not accountable for a traffic ticket?” he said. “If you get a ticket, you have to pay it. To have it go to collections is not a demonstration of someone responsible enough to run a city.”
Rodriguez said he also found it “deeply upsetting… that [the unreimbursed MTS costs] was happening for a year and a half. Multiple city managers and the city attorney and city staff knew, and the mayor knew, and none of this came to light at the City Council. There needs to be transparency and accountability for everybody.”
Mayor Ron Morrison said that, as head of the City Council, he had been told of Bush’s request for an advance from the city to cover the two MTS conferences and of Bush’s later failure to reimburse the advance.
He said he had opposed granting Bush’s initial request because “I thought it could get messy.“ But then-City Manager Ben Martinez and then-City Attorney Barry Schultz overruled him, Morrison said, and agreed to advance Bush the funds.
Morrison, who routinely clashes with Rodriguez at city meetings and endorsed Bush’s mayoral bid, said he did not feel Bush’s financial troubles disqualified him from city leadership.
“This is just a new desperation on Jose’s part,” Morrison said. “We haven’t had a lot of mudslinging until Jose came along. Whoever his opponents were, he goes after them.”
Rodriguez said he believes it’s entirely appropriate for candidates to spotlight their opponents’ possible ethical lapses.
“Our records are fair game,” he said.
Bush said Rodriguez has his own list of ethical issues and should address them before pointing his finger at others.
“Jose’s campaign strategy is to lie and to distract,” Bush said. “I’m honest and open and transparent with my struggles.”