From County Republican Chairman Tony Krvaric’s email to “San Diego Leadership Team” members yesterday. Reprinted with permission.
The week started out great for Republicans, as we emerged united behind Kevin Faulconer for San Diego mayor, and continued all week as impressive endorsements started rolling in for Kevin.
By contrast, the campaign of Nathan Fletcher AKA “The Magic Democrat” had a VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD week.
Let’s look at it day by day…
TUESDAY
Chief in the Fletcher camp’s calculations was the assumption that Carl DeMaio would run for Mayor. When he didn’t and Kevin Faulconer emerged as the consensus candidate, that took a LOT of wind out their sails. Now they are scrambling to find mean things to say about Kevin. Good luck!
WEDNESDAY
With much fanfare, the Fletcher campaign invited media to witness him filing his candidacy papers, only to get turned away at the City Clerk because they they hadn’t set an appointment. What was meant to be a good media hit turned into a disaster, coming across arrogant – and incompetent.
THURSDAY
The Fletcher campaign counted on the Labor Council’s former head Lorena Gonzalez to keep other Democrats out of the race. Democrats aren’t buying what he is selling and Councilman David Alvarez entered the race for mayor – announcing 15 minutes before Gonzalez’ awkward press conference.
FRIDAY DISASTER #1 (a TRIPLE whammy)
10News exposed Fletcher’s Qualcomm position for what it is; a placeholder while he awaits his next pursuit. He collects $400,000 per year to “sit on boards and give speeches.” Give me a break. Oh, and he hasn’t showed up for work in weeks – just like he skipped work in the State Assembly. “Nathan Fletcher Confronts Questions And Concerns On His Qualcomm Job”
FRIDAY DISASTER #2
Gonzalez being so aggressive about pushing Fletcher on local unions, progressives and Democrats blew up in her face and Jim Mahler, the Teachers Union boss took her to task in an open letter which is a must read in and of itself. “Fletcher Endorsement Reveals Labor Rift”
FRIDAY DISASTER #3
Finally, around 9 p.m. on Friday, the Labor Council announced their endorsement of Councilman David Alvarez for Mayor. Fletcher had been working it all week, but in the end they realized that he is completely vapid and just cannot be trusted. “Alvarez Gets Labor Council Nod”
IN SUMMARY
This race has completely flipped this week. Political chameleon Nathan Fletcher is about to get squeezed from the right (San Diego GOP) but also from the left (San Diego Labor Council) and what seemed unlikely a week ago now seems quite possible; that he doesn’t even make the runoff.
The U-T’s Mark Walker captures it well in his article “A Sudden Reversal In Mayor’s Race.”
The Party will take up the endorsement of Kevin Faulconer on Monday at the Town & Country Hotel at 6 p.m. Come join us as we officially get behind Kevin. Everyone is welcome.
Note: This morning Nathan Fletcher sent out an email to his supporters with the Subject “Great week” seemingly in an attempt to respond. I find it weak. Read it for yourself.
Comments 19
It was a very, very, very, very, very bad week for Lorena Gonzalez. She managed to finally split the labor movement between the public and private sectors, north of 8 vs. south of 8, blue collar vs. white collar. It was inevitable. The pampered city employee unions have little in common with blue collar workers in Encanto.
This will turn out to be a political battle between downtown and the rest of the city. Lorena had become what we Irish used to call “lace curtain”. She, Vargas, Hueso are the “Lace Curtain” Latinos. The Latinos are the Irish of the 19th Century. Beacon Hill watch out.
Where have we seen this before? The Republican Party is obsessed with Nathan Fletcher and does everything it can to keep him out of the General Election. At the same time they ignore his more Liberal challenger because that candidate will be much easier to defeat.
I think I already saw this movie.
Mr. Alvarez isn’t as easy to pick apart because he is not phony. Nathan Fletcher was given a job that requires him to do nothing, but get a $400k a year check (which isn’t a great resume for mayor of a huge city like San Diego).
There are policy and direction differences between Alvarez and Kevin Faulconer, but Alvarez at least believes in what he does and says. His story is far more sincere than Nathan. I am positive the policy differences will come out between Alvarez and Faulconer, but for now, pick the low-hanging fruit and that’s Nathan’s lack of honesty and ethics combined with the unusual $400k salary to do nothing.
I agree with Michael Schwartz. I am a Republican and will be voting for Faulconer. If Faulconer doesn’t make it through and Fletcher does, I’ll vote for whoever is running against Fletcher — Alvarez, Saldana, Aguirre, Filner. At least I’ll know where they stand because they know where they stand.
Think like ordinary San Diegans. A 9-to-5, honest day’s work, I-provide-a-genuine-service San Diegan. Resist the temptation to think like a political junkie who actually follows the play-by-play at City Hall. That is not the average voter. Average voters aren’t sure whether they’ll have time to vote on election day. Average voters are too busy with bill paying and family logistics that they don’t live and breathe this stuff like SD Rostra readers. Average voters tend to have a visceral reaction to candidates that rotate 180 degrees in such a short amount of time. Fletcher’s folks seem to be relying on the lazy argument that lots of high profile political figures have changed their party affiliations. Unlike Fletcher’s change to Independent, few side-switchers have done so as a Hail Mary in the midst of a mayoral campaign after so brazenly brandishing that they stand for the ideals of the abandoned party. Unlike Fletcher’s change to Dem, few side-switchers have done so having aspirations for a specific and definite office (the mayor’s office) in a city whose electorate skews Dem. Ordinary San Diegans are better than political insiders at sniffing out a fraud, because they actually work for a living and jobs that require them to recognize the genuine from the artificial. Fletcher’s downfall won’t be money or advisors or messaging or election machinery. It will be the good old-fashioned sniff test by ordinary San Diegans. As Alvarez and Falconer work to define their own platforms in a short amount of time, each should briefly raise the political arithmetic that coincided with Fletcher’s flip. Campaigns play numbers games. Ordinary San Diegans are really sick of games.
FASCINATED to see if anyone is up tonight during the Chargers game. Probably one of the best opportunities to make a good first impression with probably the most eyeballs you will have all fall.
Upper Crusty,
Actually quite a few politicians have switched parties due to aspirations for a specific political office. Alaskan Senator Murkowski is probably the most recent.
David Alvarez and Lorena Gonzalez both jump in the race and the party is still focused on…wait for it…Fletcher. All this despite that, per Krvaric’s own statement, he’s pinched out of the race.
At this point, the party is acting like a jaded, bitter ex. In college (many moons ago), I witnessed alcohol/drug-fueled ejections of frat/sorority members conducted with more dignity. What a sorry excuse for leadership.
Lorena Gonzalez? Do you mean Lori Saldana?
Is there a practical difference?
And yes, thank you.
The two first names have a different number of syllables.
“At this point, the party is acting like a jaded, bitter ex” said the guy whose only reason to exist seems to be to post on Rostra about how much he dislikes Tony.
Shortsightedness can be defined as an inability to see past what ‘seems’ to be true on the a superficial level.
Snarkiness can be defined as my mood today.
Was that haiku?
I think it’s pretty easy to see that Nathan is the only Republican opponent polling in the double-digits last week, hence the attention. Until Alvarez actually announced, why would anyone attack him? Same with Loriena Gonzalez-Saldana.
The other clear point is that with Saldana and Alvarez there are pretty clear policy differences that will be covered, no doubt. With Fletcher there are a plethora of problems with his character and competence before we even get to his platform-de-jure.
But miraculously you’ve found a way to criticize the Chairman of the Republican Party for pointing out weaknesses in a Democrat opponent. I mean, one of the bullet points was a Channel 10 News Story. It’s not like Tony had to dig or stretch here.
So is Fletcher still a viable threat or now? Krvaric says he’s done, but here you are contradicting him. And if Fletcher is done, then why continue to harp on him like a bitter ex? To much contradiction…
Also, attacking isn’t always the right strategy. Unless the strategy is self-promotion.
Accurately, I said last week when all this happened he was a viable threat, hence the write-up.
It will be very, very, very, very hard to defend Nathan by complaining that it is his opponents that are the ones who contradict.
Oh, there’s plenty to go around.