The very strange campaign against Ensen Mason

It's pretty unusual for a county treasurer's race to be this contentious. But the race for the San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector's seat is where the action is at in 2026.

In 2018, Certified Public Accountant Ensen Mason was narrowly elected to the post with 51.2% of the vote. Four years later, he evidently did such a good job he was elected with 76.6% of the vote.

Suddenly, however, the tide has turned. Rancho Cucamonga Councilman Ryan Hutchison is challenging Mason with the support of virtually everyone in county government. Why? It's not clear.

The most I've gathered is that Mason doesn't get along with members of the Board of Supervisors. It's a point raised by Hutchison and Mason himself concedes that he doesn't go along to get along. But … who cares, really? Especially if the job of the office is getting done, which no one claims isn't the case.

As reported by this newspaper earlier this month, "At the board of supervisors' Tuesday, May 5 meeting, the auditor-controller/treasurer/tax collector's office was honored for what Mason's office called the ‘triple crown of financial reporting awards' from the California State Controller's Office and the Government Finance Officers Association."

"San Bernardino County won the Government Finance Officers Association's Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Annual Financial Reporting on June 30, 2024. The county also won an award for county financial transactions reporting on Oct. 22, 2025."

So, if Ensen is actually doing the job and doing it well, what's the problem?

Hutchison leveled a pretty weak argument in my interview with him, pointing to $40,000 spent on out-of-county travel. Mason countered that this went toward mandatory conferences and official duties. Hutchison insisted he wouldn't travel as much if elected-which is fine, I suppose, but who actually cares? Fixating on a justifiable travel budget seems like political desperation.

Similarly weak attacks on Mason are also appearing in mailers, including attempts to make a big deal out of minor campaign finance hiccups from years ago. As anyone who knows anything about political campaigns understands, candidates get dinged all the time for even the most trivial of offenses like filing reports slightly late.

Meanwhile, just in time for the election season, the Board of Supervisors decided February 2026 was a time for the county to investigate Mason for conflict-of-interest because he owns Mason Financial Services, a business he's owned since 1998. "There's never been a time when one of my clients have held anything in the county portfolio," Mason told this newspaper in February.

Given the timing of the investigations, it all seems like political gamesmanship. All voters know right now is that an investigation is ongoing against an incumbent. Is he guilty of something? If so, that would've been great to know ahead of ballots going out. But the most serious things I've heard from anyone in county government is that he's difficult to work with and he's not in his government office all the time.

Mason, for his part, launched a website in which he alleges corruption is the real issue: "For seven years, I served as the San Bernardino County Auditor. During that time, I witnessed how corruption quietly operates behind policy, budgeting, contracts, and political influence."

He also addresses the county employees who have heard claims he has been, as Hutchison at one point put it, "fighting to deny healthcare for first responders."

"You may have heard that I voted against your post-retirement healthcare trust, or that I opposed it. Neither is true. I don't have a vote on matters like this - that's the Board of Supervisors. I don't have a say in your benefits either," he wrote, continuing, "What I did have a problem with was how this benefit was structured and reported. The way it's set up is harmful to both the county and to county employees. No other government that I could find does it this way, it's a novel approach that no other county has done."

There seem to be some legitimate disagreements about this. But again, it doesn't obviously seem like something that should merit the intensity attacks on Mason.

If there are more serious things out there about Mason, I'm not aware of them and neither are the voters. No one who might know is saying anything. If such things come out, well, that would explain the crusade against him. But what we have now is a pile of sad nothingburgers.

In the closing days of the campaign, voters should view all the attacks on Mason skeptically. If politicians, unions and other special interests are this mad at the county's fiscal watchdog for so little, he's probably doing the right thing.

Sal Rodriguez can be reached at salrodriguez@scng.com

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