It looks like the SANDAG Board of Directors will vote to approve the SANDAG Sky Gondola Tax for a public vote today. The anticipated scorecard should look like this:
City of San Diego: Faulconer (R) NO, Gloria (D) YES
County of San Diego: Roberts (T&SR) YES, Jacob (R) NO – Horn voted NO, with Jacob absent.
That cancels out the big dogs in SANDAG and leaves the vote to the cities:
Carlsbad: Hall (T&SR) YES
Chula Vista: Salas (D) YES
Del Mar: Sinnott (T&SR) YES
Coronado: Downey (D) YES
El Cajon: Wells (R) YES – Wells ended up voting NO.
Encinitas: Shaffer (D) YES
Escondido: Abed (R) NO
Imperial Beach: Dedina (D) YES
La Mesa: Alessio (R) NO
Lemon Grove: Sessom (D) YES
National City: Ron Morrison (R) NO
Oceanside: Wood (T&SR) YES
Poway: Vaus (R) NO
San Marcos: (T&SR) YES
Santee: Dale (T&SR) YES
Solana Beach: Heebner (D) YES
Vista: Ritter (T&SR) YES
In those cities, it looks like four Republicans oppose the measure and that it will pass with support from seven Tax & Spend Republicans and six Democrats. If the vote hewed to party platforms, the measure would be soundly defeated but the Tax & Spend Republicans are joining with the Democrats to recommend the SANDAG Sky Gondola Tax for the ballot.
Take special note of the fact that three of the four “no” votes are coming from Republicans who faced the pressure of a public Council vote. Light certainly is a powerful disinfectant.
N.B.–Updated 9:20AM April 29, 2016– The following information stems from an article written by UT Reporter Joshua Stewart. He wrote…
“Should the SANDAG board approve the measure, it would be up to county supervisors to formally decide whether or not to place it on the ballot.”
At this point, it is unclear whether Mr. Stewart’s claim is in error. The County Board of Supervisors may not be needed to place this on the November ballot. If Mr. Stewart’s claim is in error, the post will be updated later.
SECOND UPDATE: The County Board of Supervisors only authorizes the Registrar of Voters to perform the election and allocates the money required to vote on the issue. The rest of this post is irrelevant now. If the SANDAG Board approves (as expected), this has to be defeated at the ballot box.
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P.S. With 13 Republican Mayors and a 4-1 majority on the County Board of Supervisors, how is a proposal for new taxes even possible?
P.P.S. With so many Republicans breaking with the most basic plank of the Republican Party of San Diego County platform, why do they even solicit the RPSDC endorsement? More importantly, why does RPSDC endorse these people?
Comments 6
El Cajon voted NO.
Thanks for the correction, Kristine.
Let the record show that the Republican Liberty Caucus Torchbearer, Mayor Bill Wells, voted “nay”. Proud of you Councilwoman Alessio. Thank you.
This tax increase gives little to the East County and lasts for forty years. Opposed by both Conservatives and the Hard Left I see little chance of it passing by the needed 2/3 majority vote in November. Today I did vote No for the City of El Cajon. The El Cajon City Council was fully involved in the decision making process.
Dianne Jacob was in the store earlier. She emphatically agrees with Mayor Wells.
Me: “So, Dianne, think it’ll pass?”
Supervisor Jacob: “No-no-no-no-nooooo.”
Author
I was out of the office, making money this afternoon so I couldn’t update the post (but will this weekend).
Firstly, that was quite a principled stand you made Mayor Wells. I”m sure it wasn’t easy for you to do but it’s appreciated.
Council Member Alessio, your transparent deliberation on SDRostra was admirable and a fine example for public officials. Your arguments were cogent, persuasive, and principled– I”m thrilled we saw eye-to-eye on this one but I don’t doubt that you bring a thoughtful approach to your job.
Supervisor Horn should be praised for his decades of principled stands and votes.
Mayor Abed is deserving of praise for taking swift action.
None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Mayor Vaus’ great leadership.
We have some 20 elected officials, out of some 100 in the County, who officially oppose this measure. I expect we will be at thrice that amount in a month or so. We will need your public disapproval to signal to the voters that the SANDAG Sky Gondola Tax should be rejected soundly this November.
Thanks again to those of you who chose to swim upstream