Escondido’s conservative city council majority apparently intends to govern the same as they campaigned for office! What a concept! Already they have (a) required use of E-Verify in hiring City employees, and insisted City vendors do the same (b) secured a balanced budget and (c) moved toward a Home Rule City Charter, to save big money on future projects by banning PLAs and Previling Wage.
Section 501 of the proposed City Charter has “anti-Bell” language, shepherded by Marie Waldron, to forever ban the notorious council salary grabs made infamous in that LA County municipality.
As Rostra reported at the time, the “sweep” last Fall by Mayor Sam Abed, Rostra’s own Marie Waldron, and Ed Gallo, figured to mean big changes in the town nicknamed, “The Heart of San Diego’s North.” (Please see http://sdrostra.com/?p=9522, and http://sdrostra.com/?p=9898 ) Here is the SD Rostra summary of their already impressive achievements:
City Charter — Paycheck Protection, no PLAs, no Prevailing Wage
In a Good Government Trifecta, the draft City Charter bans three costly labor union practices in Escondido City business, including Prevailing Wage (Section 302) , Project Labor Agreements (Section 303) , and involuntary collection of political donations from city employees (section 305). Escondido voters will be asked to approve the proposed charter, likely in a 2012 election. The City forsees future savings in the Tens of Millions of Dollars on planned construction projects.
Paycheck Protection Provision
The wording of that “paycheck protection” provision is worth quoting in detail, as an example for all of San Diego county’s 18 independent cities to consider:
“(Section 305) Neither the City nor its agents shall deduct from the wages of any City employee any political contributions unless the employee has first provided a written authorization of such deductions, which must be renewed annually and may be revoked by the employee at any time by giving written notice to the City.”
…… and First in San Diego County to Require E-Verify for Hiring
On March 23rd the Council adopted Sam Abed and Marie Waldron’s proposal mandating use of the free, easy and fast on-line E-Verify system to assure new hires are legally in the USA. On a 4-1 vote, the Council also told firms wishing to do business with Escondido that they too must use E-Verify. Last week, the City of Oceanside followed suit, requiring use of E-Verify in that community as well.
……. Summing up the Escondido Experience
As you can see, they have not avoided the tough issues … to Say the Least! Instead, Ed Gallo, Marie Waldron and Sam Abed are taking a countywide lead in reducing city costs and upholding the rule of Law. Sometimes, it only takes one courageous example to inspire others to follow. Let’s hope Oceanside is just the first to respond.
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Jim Sills is a San Diego political consultant. If you have questions about your future in San Diego and California elections, you can contact Jim at this e-mail address: YourElectionVictory@Hotmail.com
He has aided the campaigns of Rep. Darrell Issa, Assemblywoman Shirley Horton, Senators Joel Anderson and Tony Strickland, Representatives Devin Nunes and J.D. Hayworth, County Assessor & Recorder Greg Smith, among many others in California and beyond.