Happy Birthday America! I felt the need to get that out there before the politically correct-police ban such speech as “divisive” or “extreme” or some other such beltway blather. Refreshingly, after reading this brilliant piece by Steven Greenhut today, I at least feel slightly less alone in my overall lack of confidence and enthusiasm – check that, my absolute disgust …
The New City Council President – It Can’t Be Worse, Can It?
So the new City Council has selected a new Council President: Tony Young. I had always assumed he was part of the union-beholden Democrat bloc on the City Council. But then the conservative Lincoln Club backed Young, a Democrat, in his re-election bid for City Council. Maybe this meant he was a bit to the left on social issues but …
Republican Mayor’s Office Full of Obama Supporters? – That Would Explain A Lot
The usage of Twitter by political folks is one of the most interesting developments of the past few years, if you ask me. It would appear that one of the Mayor’s PR folks may have provided us with a politically and philosophically revealing photo today. In a Twitter message, a Mayoral spokesperson talks about receiving a gift from outgoing Councilwoman …
More on the Rider/Mayor Debate
Kudos to Richard Rider for taking on the Mayoral spokesperson. She seems to be beside herself at how he could have the audacity to call out the pro-sales tax side for threatening voters by trotting out the police and fire chief as political pawns and telling people that their lives are at risk if they don’t capitulate to increasing taxes. …
Republicans United Against Public Employee Unions? For Our Sake, They Better Be
I am of the opinion that the Republican Party has suffered mightily in recent years for maintaining its low tax mantra (a good thing!), but at the same time not adhering to its purported fiscal conservatism on the expenditure side of the government ledger. A personal example: In 2008, I found nothing more detestable and downright frightening than the thinly-disguised …
Tax Hungry Firefighters Called Out for Desk Job Bonus
As this blog has mentioned on several occasions, sales tax proponents have consistently stuck to their “increase taxes or you will die” mantra. Channel 10 called out a “Desk Job Bonus” that is given to City of San Diego firefighters today. For anyone still wondering if they should support a sales tax, I highly suggest watching this segment immediately.
Downtown Dishonesty – Did This Really Just Happen?
The Mayor’s downtown redevelopment scandal burst wide-open yesterday when he, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher and downtown redevelopment leader Fred Maas held what the Voice of San Diego called a “mea culpa.” They call the cigar smoke-filled backroom”process” they undertook “flawed,” and pledge to make everything better by holding meetings about a DONE DEAL to increase the spending cap for downtown redevelopment …
MAYOR LOSING CREDIBILITY BY THE MINUTE
Since joining with labor union owned City Councilmembers to push a sales tax increase, the Mayor appears to be losing credibility at lightning speed in an attempt to somehow justify increasing taxes by $100 million per year. In just the past week, he’s been continually called out in the media for peddling falsehoods about the sales tax proposal. First, the …
Our Own Microcosm of Freedom vs. Tyranny: The City Hall Machine vs. The Rest of Us
Kudos to Rostra blogger Bradley J. Fikes for this post calling out the thinly-veiled message in the U-T that actually precluded the sales tax proponents’ simple message: “Agree to a sales tax increase or you will die.” May I suggest we haven’t even begun to be spoon-fed this message. The coming months will be filled with it. This is the …
Public Vote on a New City Hall in SD – Can Downtown Power Brokers Flip One of the Four Councilmembers?
The political drama surrounding the effort to move forward with building a new City Hall building never seems to stop. Back in February, four members of the City Council announced that they wouldn’t support moving the project forward without it going to a public vote, presumably in the November 2010 election. The four on the Council to take this stand …
Kudos to U-T: Fire Union Goon Called Out for Politicizing Public Safety
In reaction to a tragic fire death in Golden Hill last week, the President of the San Diego City Fire Fighters Local 145 has come out swinging against the “brown-outs” of some fire stations used to curb overtime costs to help with the City’s budget problems. Thankfully, yesterday’s Union-Tribune contained a column that calls out the union leader for politicizing …
City Official: San Diego Fee Hikes Needed to Cover Salary and Pension Costs; Mayor: “It’s a Part of Life”
Yesterday, the Union-Tribune published a story about the City of San Diego recently increasing it’s solar permit fees by a multiple of six. You may recall the across-the-board fee increases implemented by the City of San Diego in 2009. From the April 2, 2009 Union-Tribune story about that fee increase: Mary Lewis, the city’s chief financial officer, said the mayor’s …
Did Marti Emerald Let the Cat Out of the Bag on Funding Scheme for New City Hall?
UPDATE: Comments reveal that this isn’t as under the radar as I thought. Add commenter Jefferson to the hat-tip list. Hat tip to Mr. Murphy’s post on Marti Emerald advocating for new city revenues and Thor’s Assistant’s posting of the link to the transcript. This interview is filled with marvelous insight from Marti. The hidden gem: her disclosure of funding …
Union-Tribune Headline Misses Big Story – Should Read: “Pension System Exec Ends Tenure With Deceptive Mudslinging”
The Union-Tribune has a story today about a battle over the value of future pension payments between recently departed San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System (SDCERS) Administrator David Wescoe and Councilman Carl DeMaio. The story’s headline says that DeMaio was “flagged” on pension payment data and that on his way out the door, Wescoe called DeMaio “misleading.” Very well, my …
E-mail Prominently Displays Labor’s Thug Tactics
To add more specific info on the previous post on this, check out an e-mail sent from the labor leader herself: Subj: Bobby Glaser to be placed on Labor’s Do Not Patronize List Bobby Glaser is going to have the unique distinction of being the first consultant to be placed on our official do not patronize list. Although the vote …
Mayor’s Spokesman Compares Republican Party to Mass Suicide Group
The voiceofsandiego.org has reported the following Twitter message from Alex Roth, a spokesperson for Mayor Jerry Sanders: “I’m beginning to see more and more similarities between the Heaven’s Gate cult and today’s Republican Party.” The spokesperson issued a clarification and apology after receiving media attention. Seems like a bizarre statement for a PR person to issue publicly. Your thoughts?
Todd Gloria: Out of Touch With City Finances
From Gay and Lesbian Times, March 26, 2009 http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/?id=14290 The city will end 2009 with a small surplus of about $2 million. But out of a $3 billion budget, “that doesn’t give a lot of wiggle room, but it’s important to note that we are living within our means,” the District 3 councilmember said. GL Times states that Pension payments …
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