Hey hey! So Ernesto has been specifically working to cultivate friendly relationships with the people of Godsblood (specifically to get people to overlook some of the more suspect things about him). He hasn't gotten directly involved in any politics himself, but he's been making connections that could potentially help Ryu on this particular quest. Either by knowing a guy who knows a guy who might be able to get Ryu in contact with a politician, or being able to help Ryu test the waters with some of his ideas amongst the people of the city