Latest Fletcher Political Game: Rich Downtown Insiders Handpick Their Choice for Mayor
Today State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher’s masterful gamesmanship continued as he attempted to use his millionaire campaign backers to make the case for his independence. Ironically, the wealthy downtown insiders featured at the press conference are the same people who have contributed tens of thousands of dollars to his Super PAC.
“I think the question is not why are a bunch of millionaire backers joining their hand-picked Mayoral candidate in an election year ploy. Didn’t we all see that coming? But will Democrat voters be fooled by a politician who just last month proudly said he ‘voted for an all-cuts budget, not one that reduced welfare but one that eliminated it,’” said DeMaio.
Instead of creating front groups to back his campaign, Nathan Fletcher should focus on doing the job he was elected to do and talking about real solutions for San Diego.
Carl DeMaio formed broad coalitions of Democrats, Republicans and Independents to qualify Propositions A & B – Fair and Open Competition for City Contracting, and Comprehensive Pension Reform. He has a demonstrated track record of bringing San Diegans together to uncover the dysfunction at City Hall and enact real reforms to protect taxpayers.
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DeMaio going hard negative, under his own name, instead of letting Krvaric be the attack dog (maybe Krvaric finally figured out how badly he was hurting himself and his party). An attack like this sounds like DeMaio is getting scared fast.
And if I were DeMaio, I wouldn’t be criticizing soft money running through Fletcher’s Super PAC in a year when the media (VoSD specifically) will be scrutinizing the Party’s member comm soft money. Just sayin…unless he’s having trouble raising those dollars…
DeMaio throws stones from glass house. DeMaio’s campaign has received over $100,000 from developers and city hall insiders, he won’t say whether he’s met with them behind closed doors, and now he’s criticizing Nathan Fletcher because San Diego business leaders have chosen to leave the Republican Party?
The money doesn’t stop there; Carl DeMaio committees have over a quarter million from moneyed interest. If you include his own it jumps, obviously.
Carl must be having a Panic Attack in response to the polls.
It will be interesting to see the next poll – can anyone tell me if any independent has been elected mayor as an independent in their first race in the top 10 cities recently (last 10 years)?
Anyone notice Carl DeMaio’s income tax return reported in the U-T story? His TOTAL income, including his $75K city council salary, comes to $92K. Enough with the “rich Carl DeMaio” nonsense!
The Fletcher and Dumanis couples have reported FAR higher incomes — each in excess of a quarter million dollars — though between them they can’t seem to save two nickels to rub together.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/apr/24/mayoral-candidates-joust-over-tax-returns/?print&page=all
Amy- why won’t you accept my friend request?
Richard – Carl dumped $500,000 of his own money into his campaign. Not sure about you, but most “non-rich” people I know don’t have a half mil lying around to spend on a political campaign. They also don’t own multiple rental properties that they use as tax shelters. What Carl doesn’t disclose is how many millions of dollars he made as a government contractor. Maybe we’ll find out in September. When reading the story you linked, I did notice that Nathan’s wife is the only one who isn’t on the government dole at the moment.
Agreed. Nathan Fletcher stole from the poor and Homeless in downtown by the elimination of the former Redevelopmemt Agency (RDA) and CCDC Cap. After shown his error in believing Mayor Sanders, assembly member Fletcher ignored the solution for an automatic ministerial approval for the required 10% increase to Affordable Housing set asides from 20 to 30 percent minimum.
Chevy, Carl DeMaio is not your normal Big Government champion. He really IS in it for the good of the people.
Yeah, that sounds trite, I’m sure. But Carl’s is one of those rare souls who puts his (meaningful) money where his mouth is. He is risking pretty the bulk of his nest egg from the sale of his business to win the mayor’s race. His actions speak louder than the other candidates’ words.
For you Progressives, Democrats and Socialists (yeah, yeah — redundant, I realize that), that’s a selfless concept you simply can’t grasp. Carl’s sacrifice and commitment is certainly one you’ll want to continue to vehemently deny and denigrate — facts notwithstanding.
And in truth, it’s quite rare for ANYONE in politics to take such incredible personal financial risks for an office that pays a rather modest salary compared to alternatives.
But that is what Carl has done. He’s “all in” to straighten out San Diego. And frankly I’ve never seen that done to this degree by a candidate in the 30+ years I’ve been involved in politics.
Chevy Sam, in hopes of having an honest discussion, Can you fill me in on how you’ve decided his particular rental properties are tax shelters?
I’m dying to know.
Please, enlighten us all.
Richard,
What do you think about the DeMaio supported increase to the TOT and the fact that it was done without a vote of the people?
Beau – Because Carl is a smart man and he’d be an idiot not to rent out his investment properties to get tax breaks. Why else do you hold onto properties that reported $25,000 in losses last year? Sentimental value?
Richard – I would argue that Filner and Fletcher have both gone “all in” as well. Filner will loose his cushy congressional seat and nathan will effectively end his political career if he doesn’t win. Bonnie however is pretty safe no matter what happens.
My dear Chevy Sam-
I think you’re just throwing terms at the wall to see what sticks.
What tax are you concerned he is “sheltering”? Have you heard of passive activity loss?
Do you know his mortgage payment? Do you know his electricity bills? His water payment? His rental tax? Management fees? Advertising? Maintenance? Repairs? Vacancy rate? Property tax? Insurance cost?
Come on buddy… do me a solid and help me understand.
Good point, Alger. Like you labor folks, I DO oppose DeMaio’s vote in this matter. But there is a HUGE difference in my position and labor’s in this matter.
Labor will very likely contest in court the lack of a public vote on raising the T.O.T. tax — simply as a blackmail tool to bully the city and the hotels into labor union contracts. If they agree to the labor contract requirement, labor’s concern about the lack of a vote will disappear — with labor dropping their blackmail lawsuit. You and I both know I speak the truth on this.
But my opposition is based on the quaint idea that it really IS wrong to allow businesses to establish taxes on people without a vote OF the people. This point, of course, is of absolutely no real interest to the labor unions. Indeed, if labor had it’s way, people would NEVER be able to vote on tax increases — all such increases would be done by politicians, giving labor a “home field” advantage.
Am I unhappy DeMaio made this decision? You bet. I’m no mindless drone when it comes to supporting a politician. Indeed, I doubt there’s a politician I can think of that I always agree with. Perhaps such is not the same for you.
Does it in any way diminish my overall support for him in his race for mayor? Nope. It’s one unwise decision in a SEA of correct decisions Carl has made.
Do people really buy this line dismissing these folks as the “Downtown establishment”?
We’re talking about 44 (yes, the number has gone up) incredibly successful executives from the companies we’re most proud to call our hometown players: Qualcomm, Life Technologies, Ace Parking, Competitor Group. When you think “Downtown insiders,” do you really think of folks like Life Technologies’ Greg Lucier, Qualcomm’s Peggy Johnson, the Burnham Institute CEO John Reed or Gateway founder Ted Waitt?
If anything, Movement to the Middle’s founding group is heavy on people from the north city innovation sector. They’re entrepreneurial types who turn ideas into reality — at the very companies that provide all those great jobs all the candidates claim they’re trying to create more of.
More important than the founders is who’s signed up to support Movement to the Middle. Not just the “millionaire backers” of Nathan Fletcher but “regular citizens” are excited about the prospect of giving centrists and moderates a stronger voice. I’ve been on the phone and answering excited emails from them since the day we announced. This groundswell couldn’t be more real.
Ignore it at your peril.
As for my investment property:
I let it sit there and I don’t rent it out, because I don’t want any benefit from it on an ongoing basis, just choosing to pay the mortgage without any income to offset that payment. Doesn’t everyone do it that way?
Not.
DOH!
Ms. Laing, please add proper disclosure: “I am being paid to write this.”
Rachel,
Wow. 44 people in San Diego out of over 3 million county wide. So between verses of Kumbaya I was hoping you could tell us where everyone in “Movement to the Middle” stands on:
Income tax?
Balanced budgets?
Foreign policy?
Environmentalism?
Preemptive strikes?
Labor unions?
Freedom of religion?
The death penalty?
Corporate taxes?
Gay marriage?
Abortion?
The city’s, state’s, and nation’s deficit?
Gun control?
Tort reform?
Assisted suicide?
Global warming?
Medicare?
China? Russia? Israel? Iran? Pakistan?
AIDs?
The 1%?
The 99%
Pot holes?
Pot smoking?
A chicken in every pot?
Because it is easy to talk about a “movement” and everyone coming together as Americans. Those are great buzzwords that allow voters to project their feelings back onto a candidate without the candidate having to actually talk about issues. But eventually without some pretty good answers to most of the above questions nobody is going to give a “movement” about this group.
Watch it, Barry.
Chevy Sam is going to turn his attention to you next – sheltering your taxes and everything.
Tony,
I think you need to provide the same disclosure you asked of Ms. Laing.
Michael,
The point is that “everyone” in the middle will not be in complete agreement about any of the issues you asked about. That’s actually the whole point – no mindless lockstep adherence to any dogma, just an opportunity to intelligently discuss any issue and act upon good ideas no matter who proposes them.
Beau wins. I’ll concede that I don’t know why Carl lost $25,000 last year from his rental property. I made an assumption because personally, I would avoid such things unless there was some kind of benefit, like tax breaks that help my bottom line. I’m sure he will explain this in September when he releases the details of how much he sold his government contracting company for. I am interested to know what Passive Activity Loss is though.
Barry – If you’re losing money, you might want to hire Beau since he really knows his way around the matter.
This horse is dead. Lets move on.
Tony Krvaric in the “Volunteer” Chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego…..and of course Volunteer means Unpaid.
Please read this letter from our founders at http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/letters/article_9ffda390-90bf-11e1-a5cb-001a4bcf887a.html.
Jim,
I didn’t know that Tony was a volunteer. I stand corrected.
“I think you need to provide the same disclosure you asked of Ms. Laing.”
Please do Mr Krvaric.. In the interest of financial disclosure, itemize how many hours you worked last year, to chair the SDGOP, and the exact amount of money you received from said organization last year, as compensation for your work.
Alger, I’ll bet the numbers look like this for 2011: 1000 hours and $0
Alger, so a group of rich people with no principles and philosophical foundation on which to base their opinions?
Sounds great.
This makes me want to take back everything bad I said about the Occupy people. Where do I go to protest?
Wow, we make as much as Krvaric does. For the privilege of providing a forum for all of you to debate. Damn good work if you can get it.
And you earn every penny of it, TA.
Me too !
Hi Rachel,
“The Declaration of Independents” is a nifty title, but the Libertarians beat your group to the punch.
(BTW, it’s a great book. Those tired of Democratic and Republican politics should read it).
Michael,
I am quite sure that every member of this group has core principles and beliefs. What they don’t have is the need to agree 100% on each and everyone of them in order to work together and have respect for each other.
And, loving every minute of it!
That’s great, Alger.
Totally meaningless, but great.
Michael,
Why do you think the number of Decline to State’s goes up every election?