National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, a leading candidate for mayor, did not earn the San Diego State University bachelor\u2019s degree he listed on two signed city applications, his campaign acknowledged Monday. One of those applications led to his first appointment on a city advisory board.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez did not speak with The San Diego Union-Tribune. He instead referred questions to campaign adviser Dan Rottenstreich, who sent an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cJose was one assignment short of the full graduation requirements because he had to help take care of two new-born twins and a toddler all while supporting his extended family after his father\u2019s sudden death from cancer,\u201d Rottenstreich wrote.<\/p>\n
In the statement, Rottenstreich said Rodriguez worked full time through four years of college and walked in his SDSU commencement.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe always hoped to finish that final class, which is why he listed a B.A. years ago,\u201d Rottenstreich said.<\/p>\n
Rottenstreich did not say whether Rodriguez has since completed the requirements.<\/p>\n
City records show that Rodriguez signed an application in February 2016 seeking appointment to the Planning Commission, the Community & Police Relations Commission and the Parks, Recreation & Senior Citizens Advisory Board. Under \u201cEducational Background,\u201d he handwrote \u201cB.A. History from SDSU 2014\u201d and \u201cA.A. History from SD City College 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n
The council appointed him to the parks board that April. He ran unsuccessfully for council later that year.<\/p>\n
In January 2019, Rodriguez applied to fill a vacant City Council seat. He again listed \u201cBA History San Diego State University\u201d alongside his associate degree. A motion to appoint him failed on a 2-2 vote. He won a council seat in 2020.<\/p>\n
A college degree is not required to serve on city boards and commissions or to run for office.<\/p>\n
La Prensa San Diego was the first to report the educational degree discrepancy.<\/p>\n
Last week, The San Diego Union-Tribune sent candidates a questionnaire. In his response, Rodriguez listed his education as \u201cAA History, San Diego City College, San Diego State University,\u201d and did not name a degree from SDSU.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what desperate campaigns with nothing to say resort to,\u201d Rottenstreich wrote. \u201cJose\u2019s opponents can attack that if they want, but National City families know Jose\u2019s story because it\u2019s theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rodriguez faces fellow Councilmember Marcus Bush, former Councilmember and City Treasurer Mitchel Beauchamp and environmental activist Jacobb Castrejon in the Nov. 3 election to succeed retiring Mayor Ron Morrison. Mail ballots began arriving this month.<\/p>\n
Rodriguez lost the 2022 mayoral race to Morrison by roughly 68 votes. He has the endorsements of the Democratic Party and the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council. Morrison has endorsed Bush and said in August that Rodriguez is \u201cnot fit for office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both candidates have framed the race around their own credibility. Rodriguez has called his political consistency evidence that voters can trust him.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy values don\u2019t change and I think his have,\u201d Rodriguez said of Bush in August.<\/p>\n
Bush responded at the time: \u201cThis election is about trust, integrity, it\u2019s about accountability and transparency \u2014 I\u2019ve always been that way. That hasn\u2019t been the same for Jose.\u201d<\/p>\n
The race is playing out as the city faces a budget crisis. City Manager Doug Schulze has warned that the roughly $13 million general fund deficit could grow to $30 million by 2029, with insolvency possible by 2030 without intervention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez, a leading candidate for mayor, did not earn the San Diego State University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1400,7,181,23,5119,100,74,84,76,75,3055,1696],"class_list":["post-486684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-2026-elections","tag-california","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-national-city","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-south-county","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}