Ruptured Friendship<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\nEvents surrounding Escarsega\u2019s funeral arrangements and the Sweetwater Road proposal soon converged.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark said shortly after she signed the funeral contracts for her nephew, an EDCO executive called and told her it was company policy to pay for employees\u2019 funerals. The company asked Flores Clark to send them the La Vista bill so they could pay it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
John Snyder, vice president of EDCO, confirmed to Voice of San Diego that it is EDCO company policy to pay for employees\u2019 funerals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark said she called Polanco on Nov. 18 to tell her about EDCO\u2019s offer \u2013 and was immediately bombarded by questions about the Brikhos\u2019 development, which was on the cusp of appearing at an upcoming city Planning Commission meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell us?\u201d Flores Clark said Polanco asked. \u201cYou are our friend. You should have told us about it. And you should have helped us stop it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark said she didn\u2019t understand what Polanco was talking about. When she realized Polanco was asking her to use her influence to stop the Brikhos\u2019 project, she said, \u201cI can\u2019t do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy own family members wouldn\u2019t ask me to do something against my job,\u201d Flores Clark said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark said Polanco then demanded to meet with the Brikhos. Flores Clark said she could arrange that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for the funeral costs, Flores Clark said Polanco told her that, if Escarsega\u2019s employer was paying, the discount La Vista had given Flores Clark was off. Flores Clark would have to come to La Vista to sign new, full-priced contracts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minute I refused to help them stop the project, their whole attitude to me changed,\u201d Flores Clark said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco and McCarthy disputed almost every aspect of Flores Clark\u2019s recollection of the Nov. 18 phone call.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For one thing, Polanco said, she would never discuss funeral arrangements while talking about a development project. Discussions about Sweetwater Road and Escarsega\u2019s funeral took place during two separate phone calls, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For another, she said, Flores Clark did not say EDCO offered to pay for Escarsega\u2019s funeral. Instead, Polanco said, Flores Clark said she badgered the company into paying as recompense for failing to alert her that Escarsega had not shown up for work before his death.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Worst of all, Polanco said, Flores Clark proposed a novel arrangement to get some of the funeral money herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why not draw up full-price contracts, Polanco said Flores Clark suggested, then split the proceeds, giving both La Vista and Flores Clark roughly $7,000? Polanco said Flores Clark told her she needed $7,000 to pay off a car loan owed by Escarsega.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, I have to look into this,\u201d Polanco said she immediately replied. \u201cI\u2019ve never done that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said she relented a few days later and arranged for two La Vista employees to meet with Flores Clark to sign new contracts totaling $15,000. But Polanco said she subsequently thought better of the arrangement and didn\u2019t sign the contracts herself, rendering them invalid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a gut feeling something was fishy,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As for Flores Clark\u2019s claim that Polanco and McCarthy urged her to intervene to stop the Sweetwater Road project, Polanco said that idea actually came from Ron Morrison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said when she called Flores Clark to ask her about the Sweetwater Road project, Flores Clark immediately put Morrison on the phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said Morrison assured her the Sweetwater Road project was still going through the city\u2019s planning process and had not yet received final approval.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Josie,\u201d Polanco said Morrison said to Flores Clark. \u201cDo me a favor and make a meeting with Mica and Luisa and make sure they don\u2019t oppose the project because the Brikhos want this project done before the end of December.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said she was \u201cdumbfounded\u201d by Morrison\u2019s comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both Morrison and Flores Clark denied urging Polanco to support the Brikhos\u2019 project. In fact, they said, it was their refusal to stop the project that caused Polanco and McCarthy to turn against them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just said we can\u2019t take sides on this issue,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cThat\u2019s not our place.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brokering a Deal<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vito-distefano-9-2-25-2-1024x684.jpg\")
A man walks into City Hall in National City on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. \/ Vito Di Stefano for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n
Whatever transpired during those phone conversations, Flores Clark did schedule a meeting between Polanco, McCarthy and the Brikhos. The meeting took place Nov. 25 at a local Starbucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Text messages exchanged after the meeting show the Brikhos did, in fact, offer financial rewards in exchange for support for their project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But those rewards were not offered to Flores Clark and Morrison.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They were offered to Polanco and McCarthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Dec. 1, a few days after the Starbucks meeting, Polanco texted Eddy Brikho.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my recollection as to what we agreed upon,\u201d she wrote. \u201c1. Signage for La Vista Cemetery. 2. Gas\/Diesel Discount for La Vista Cemetery. 3. Liquor at his [Brikho\u2019s] cost for La Vista Cemetery events. 4. Three-way stop sign at corner of Orange and Sweetwater Rd.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with all your request[s],\u201d Brikho replied the following morning. \u201cAs long as you are at today\u2019s [Planning Commission] meeting in full support of our project like we talked about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco wrote back with one more request. \u201cI forgot the no-competition clause,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brikho\u2019s cousin, Robert Zakar, owned a mortuary in El Cajon that recently had expanded by buying a crematory in National City. Polanco acknowledged in an interview with Voice of San Diego she was concerned about the potential for competition with Zakar when she met with Eddy Brikho at Starbucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the idea of a quid-pro-quo, she said, came not from her and McCarthy but from Eddy Brikho.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is it going to take to get your support for the project?\u201d Polanco said Brikho asked at the meeting. \u201cWe can give you gas discounts, the same discounts I give to Josie [Flores Clark] and the mayor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said she was startled to hear Morrison and Flores Clark received discounts from a prominent local developer. But she said she went along with the agreement at first because Brikho was so insistent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark and Morrison denied receiving discounted gasoline or any other product from the Brikhos. \u201cThere is absolutely nothing to that,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cThey\u2019re just making up anything they want to.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A few days after the Starbucks meeting, Polanco said she changed her mind about the arrangement with the Brikhos. \u201cI started thinking, no, this is not good for the citizens and our neighborhood and businesses around there,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the Dec. 2 Planning Commission meeting, Polanco and McCarthy joined the crowd of community members opposed to the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Told of Polanco\u2019s recounting of the Nov. 25 meeting, Flores Clark said it was false.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was there at the meeting when they made their request,\u201d Flores Clark said. \u201cWhen [Eddy Brikho] got there and they started attacking him, he looked at me and said, \u2018I didn\u2019t know I was coming here for this. I feel ambushed.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Dec. 3, Flores Clark chimed in to the text thread between Polanco, McCarthy and Eddy Brikho about the Nov. 25 meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHi Eddy and Mica,\u201d she wrote, \u201cmy apologies for not responding yesterday as I was on a flight. Please know that I facilitated this meeting as a request from Mica. As a City Employee and as a project that is going through the process, I cannot side with one or the other. This is a situation that you both need to either compromise or not. I wish you both nothing but the best.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Funeral Complications<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\nMorrison and Flores Clark said as soon as Polanco and McCarthy realized the mayor and his assistant were not going to help them stop the Brikhos\u2019 project, they launched a wide-ranging campaign of revenge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To start, Flores Clark said La Vista began throwing up roadblocks to cremating and burying Escarsega.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark said mortuary employees began emailing her asking for more signatures authorizing Escarsega\u2019s cremation and burial. She said Polanco and McCarthy hired a private investigator to track down Escarsega\u2019s estranged extended family in Sacramento.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though Flores Clark said she explained to La Vista employees that she was the closest living relative able to authorize the funeral procedures, the delays and demands for more signatures kept coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were stonewalling,\u201d Flores Clark said. \u201cIt was purely retaliatory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fearing La Vista might never cremate and bury her nephew, Flores Clark said she called the Brikhos\u2019 cousin, Robert Zakar. Zakar immediately agreed to pick up Escarsega\u2019s body from La Vista and carry out the cremation at his own facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Dec. 11, one month after Escarsega was found dead, representatives from Zakar\u2019s funeral business retrieved Escarsega\u2019s body and cremated it. Flores Clark said the urn with Escarsega\u2019s ashes \u2013 decorated with an image of an American flag \u2013 currently sits atop a mantelpiece in her house in Bonita.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A copy of a cashed check provided by Flores Clark\u2019s attorney shows that on Jan. 30 of this year, EDCO paid Robert Zakar\u2019s cremation company $1,856 for the cremation of Escarsega\u2019s body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey used Javier\u2019s death against me and refused to bury him with his mother to get me back for what they said was my betrayal,\u201d Flores Clark said of Polanco and McCarthy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco and McCarthy vigorously disputed Flores Clark\u2019s claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been in this industry for over 35 years, and I would never, ever\u201d mistreat human remains, Polanco said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rather, Polanco said, it was Flores Clark who delayed Escarsega\u2019s funeral by repeatedly lying about who he was.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy said Flores Clark at first claimed Escarsega was her son, going so far as to identify herself as \u201cJosie Flores Clark, mother\u201d on the \u201crespondent\u201d line of Escarsega\u2019s death certificate. (The certificate, however, lists Flores Clark\u2019s sister as Escarsega\u2019s biological mother in the appropriate box.)\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy said Flores Clark lied again when she initially told La Vista staff Escarsega had no living relatives. Then she reversed herself and said Escarsega actually had a son \u2013 but the son had been adopted by another family, McCarthy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got hesitant,\u201d McCarthy said. Flores Clark had asked for Escarsega to be buried in his mother\u2019s burial plot. That would require permission from the plot\u2019s owner or someone else with legal authority to open the plot and add an urn to it, McCarthy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Escarsega\u2019s father had bought the plot when Escarsega\u2019s mother died, McCarthy said. \u201c[Think of] the liability you could have if you cremate someone without authorization or open a grave that doesn\u2019t belong to you,\u201d McCarthy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said La Vista hired a private investigator to sort it all out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Probate court documents show Flores Clark is now engaged in a legal dispute with Escarsega\u2019s extended family over his $278,000 estate. Flores Clark said she did not contact Escarsega\u2019s relatives after his death because she didn\u2019t know how to reach them. They had kicked Escarsega out of the house after his father died and cut off all contact with him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark said she intends to give the money from Escarsega\u2019s estate to his son, Daniel Lopez, with whom Flores Clark said Escarsega reunited three months before he died.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark \u201cjust lied to us,\u201d McCarthy said. \u201cWe are a formal, serious establishment. We are a mortuary, cemetery and crematory. One thing is being a friend. But also being truthful.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
No End in Sight<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vito-distefano-9-2-25-23-1024x684.jpg\")
Mike Aguirre at City Hall in National City on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. \/ Vito Di Stefano for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n
As the one-year anniversary of the Dec. 2 Planning Commission meeting approaches, it has become difficult to discern just what participants in the debate over Sweetwater Road are fighting about.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Brikhos withdrew their project from formal consideration eight days after the Planning Commission meeting. In a Dec. 10 email, Joseph Brikho told a city planning employee he and his family had placed the project \u201con hold for now to revise the project and come back to meet with the city staff to see how we can find a project that will work for that intersection.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the community doesn\u2019t like the project, we pulled out,\u201d Eddy Brikho said in brief remarks to Voice in January. \u201cAt the end of the day, we walked away\u2026We wish everybody the best.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
To date, the Brikhos have not submitted a new application for the Sweetwater Road property. For nearly a year, National City Hall has been at war over a project that doesn\u2019t officially exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That has not stopped participants from finding fresh reasons to argue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aguirre has taken depositions of Morrison, Flores Clark, City Clerk Shelly Chapel and employees in the city\u2019s planning and information technology departments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aguirre said the depositions generated fresh public records requests because they contained so many instances when top-ranking city officials contradicted themselves or outright lied about meetings with the Brikhos, records they had turned over and even when Morrison found out about certain details of the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked whether the depositions or any other documents produced so far provide conclusive proof that Morrison and Flores Clark received financial favors in exchange for helping the Brikhos, Aguirre said no.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But he pointed to the many turkeys and hams the Brikhos have donated for holiday giveaways as evidence that the brothers already had bought the mayor\u2019s good will by helping to burnish his reputation with voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe turkeys is all I know about so far,\u201d Aguirre said. \u201cThe end goal is to find out what happened.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In March, a female city employee filed a complaint with the city\u2019s Human Resources Department alleging that, at a birthday celebration for city staff members in February, Flores Clark called the employee \u201cJ. Lo\u201d and slapped her on the rear end.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The city hired an outside investigator, who, in a report filed in May, determined that evidence showed Flores Clark had indeed called the employee \u201cJ. Lo\u201d and \u201cpatted her on the butt twice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lydia Flores-Hernandez, the city\u2019s former human resources director, suspended Flores Clark for a week \u2013 then abruptly resigned in July, alleging that Morrison and Flores Clark had pressured her to give Flores Clark a raise and a new job title, even though Flores Clark didn\u2019t meet the minimum qualifications for her new role.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morrison and Flores Clark denied pressuring Flores-Hernandez and said the sexual harassment allegations against Flores Clark were false and reflected efforts by what Flores Clark called a \u201cclique\u201d of hostile city employees to tarnish her reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark\u2019s lawyer, Dan Gilleon, said the investigation\u2019s conclusions are invalid because the investigator did not consult all the available evidence, including video footage of the interaction with the city employee.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Voice of San Diego reviewed security camera footage of a city birthday celebration included as supporting evidence in Flores Clark\u2019s claim against National City. The footage shows what appears to be Flores Clark giving a female city employee a brief side hug from a sitting position.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Word of the harassment investigation soon leaked and Polanco and McCarthy added it to their list of corruption allegations at City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Councilmembers promptly accused one another of leaking the investigation and argued over whether some councilmembers were siding with Morrison by refusing to discipline Flores Clark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Debate shifted again when Polanco and McCarthy urged the City Council to rezone the Sweetwater Road property for residential use. Under questioning from Councilmember Bush in June, Aguirre acknowledged that, in fact, Polanco and McCarthy had sought to buy the property a few months earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Real estate documents show that, on Jan. 18, a little more than a month after the Dec. 2 Planning Commission meeting, Polanco offered to buy the Sweetwater Road property from the family that owned it for $2.25 million. The family declined the offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said she made the offer and sought to rezone the property to protect it from any future development that might \u201churt the community and the businesses around there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark\u2019s Aug. 26 claim against the city alleges that Polanco and McCarthy\u2019s campaign against her, along with the city\u2019s handling of the sexual harassment allegations, were part of a wider pattern of retaliation and hostile behavior from city employees allied with Polanco and McCarthy that had inflicted ongoing emotional distress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gilleon said Flores Clark plans to sue the city if officials reject her claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were good friends, or so I thought,\u201d Flores Clark said of Polanco and McCarthy. \u201cThey want that [Sweetwater Road] property at whatever cost. They don\u2019t care who they take down or who they\u2019re hurting\u2026Look at what they have done to me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
McCarthy said she feels exactly the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark, she said, \u201cputs on an award-winning performance\u2026She really does a number on you. She\u2019s a great actress of being distraught and a victim. But she is calculating and driven. That\u2019s what I\u2019ve uncovered in all of this. She\u2019s a person who wants to profit off of the city.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morrison said he remains baffled why Polanco and McCarthy continue to pursue what he called their vendetta against him and Flores Clark.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just got violently mad\u201d when he and Flores Clark refused to intervene in the Sweetwater Road project, he said. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, a friendship is not worth us selling our souls.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Polanco said she just wants the city to clean up its act.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe agree that the city has an obligation and a duty to help people process their [development] permits,\u201d she said. \u201cAs long as it\u2019s done not at the expense of others and with transparency and with proper procedures and no undue influence\u2026They should not be involved in conflicts of interest.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morrison is up for re-election next year. The dispute between the four onetime friends is sure to feature in what observers expect to be a bruising campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Flores Clark, in a reflective moment, summed up the situation aptly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPolitics,\u201d she said, \u201cis brutal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month, the executive assistant to the mayor of National City filed a claim against the city where…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":248648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3549,7264,34159,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-248647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-san-diego","12":"tag-sandiego","13":"tag-south-county","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115253069031216388","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vito-distefano-9-2-25-21-1024x684.jpg\")
Mike Aguirre, former City Attorney of San Diego, addresses the National City Council meeting at City Hall in National City on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. \/ Vito Di Stefano for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vito-distefano-9-2-25-14-1024x684.jpg\")
National City Mayor Ron Morrison listens to constituents at the National City Council meeting at City Hall in National City on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. \/ Vito Di Stefano for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/vito-distefano-9-2-25-26-1024x684.jpg\")
Josie Flores-Clark point to a family photo on her computer in National City on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. \/ Vito Di Stefano for Voice of San Diego<\/p>\n