The head of the 2013 effort to recall San Diego Mayor Bob Filner is calling on County Supervisor Dave Roberts to resign from office, in the wake of several allegations of impropriety against him by former staff members. Michael Pallamary, who started the effort to remove Filner from office prior to the then-Mayor ultimately resigning in August 2013, today sent …
June 3 Voter Turnout: One Prediction Getting Plenty of Attention
Voter turnout for the June 2014 California primary will be low. Not a “Stop The Presses” kind of statement. How about this: “San Diego is on the cusp of experiencing record low voter turnout. I’m talking about turnout potentially so weak it could damage the city’s psyche.” Competitive Edge Research & Communication President and CEO John Nienstedt made this assertion …
Government Gangsterism in San Diego
The news of indictments involving associates of Mexican businessman Susumo Azano makes for entertaining reading. There is a trail of illegal campaign donations to various mayoral candidates funneled through a straw-donor and a social media guru. The U-T is all over the story, with the best overall description of the case published in Sunday’s paper. I also want to give …
Big Win for Rostra at the 2013 San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards
Thor is very happy with all of us tonight at San Diego Rostra. Our humble political blog won first place in the Best News and Opinion Blog category at the San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards. The Libertarian Lass and Barry Jantz graciously accepted on behalf of everyone in the Rostra blogpen. Visual aid shown here. To put this into …
Is the Filner settlement a good deal?
by Barry Jantz This was published at FlashReport on Sunday. Is the City of San Diego agreement with Bob Filner a good deal for taxpayers? Maybe we can start by agreeing on something. It really chaps the common hide to think the city would enter into any settlement whatsoever with the soon-to-be former but already disgraced mayor. If it were …
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner showing signs of dementia?
Disclaimer: The author is not a medical professional and does not represent herself as a medical expert, merely an observer asking a question worth considering in light of recent events. Increasingly disturbing accounts from women reporting sexual harassment by San Diego Mayor Bob Filner have left observers scratching their heads for a possible explanation. It seems inconceivable for an elected …
Why Recalling Filner Matters
Some Republicans have privately told me that they are sitting out the effort to recall Mayor Filner, saying it makes little difference to governing San Diego and that the GOP might be better off if Filner drags down Democrats. I wholeheartedly disagree. Exhibit A is the July 30 ordinance requiring a “prevailing wage” for city contracts for public works and …
Filner WILL Resign – Some Questions for the Next Mayor
There is no doubt that Bob Filner is on his way out as Mayor. I predicted he might not make it, but this is fast. Today both the U-T and KPBS reported that prominent Democrats, including Donna Frye, are urging the mayor to resign over sexual harassment allegations. There is also the little matter of an FBI investigation into a …
Did Filner and Peters Break Up?
Late last night Red State reported on the interesting dynamic between Scott Peters and the Filner scandals. The point is after weeks of silence, Peters responded to criticism by removing almost every reference to Bob Filner from his website. Yikes! I don’t know if that’s more embarrassing for Peters or Filner but the entire incident certainly reflects poorly on the …
Filner Unplugged
Mayor Bob Filner’s Friday press conference should be studied in political science classes for years to come. It was excellent political theater and probably could have gone another 2 hours if his staff hadn’t cut it off. More important than the presser however is what happens next in each of these Mayoral melodramas he’s created. Let’s take each in turn. …
You wanna win? Be present
[captionpix imgsrc=”http://sdrostra.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/IMG_1965.jpg” captiontext=”Dwayne Crenshaw and me”] Most people know nothing about local politicians and just about everyone else knows one or two things about them. So if the one thing a politician is known for is charm, he or she is probably winning on Election Day. I haven’t seen any research that tells me this but it’s a theory that makes …
Filner and Marijuana
I should have known. First, let me say that I am in favor of all forms of legalizing marijuana, so of course, I am not opposed to medical marijuana. I followed the link on this tweet from Craig Gustafson to read about Bob Filner’s medical marijuana proposal: Story on @bobfilnermayor ‘s med pot ordinance now with docs — executive summary …
Poll Released Today: Bob Filner’s Dysfunction
Survey USA released a poll today on the local opinion of Bob Filner… They show he’s underwater on approval, and by 56-37% San Diegans call his behavior “inappropriate.” By 55-30% margin, people say Filner’s behavior could “impact city business a lot.” See full survey here. Also, in case you missed it, the UT Editorial Board released a piece discussing the …
Recall time for Filner? No. Not yet.
Recall time, anyone? Well, no. Not yet. Legally and politically, it’s premature to start the effort to remove the screwball we’ve elected mayor of San Diego. That being said, 2014 seems a reasonable year to look forward to. IF Filner continues to alienate folks with his bizarre behavior and awesome arrogance without bounds, HE will be the one making the …
Will Filner Finish His Term?
Bob Filner appears a little unhinged, and frankly unprofessional in a video from local news station NBC 7. He hijacks a news conference by City Attorney Jan Goldsmith to make accusations of unprofessional conduct. His view of the role of the City Attorney appears entirely unbalanced. The City Attorney can’t be fired by the mayor, because he is elected directly …
Filner Should Speak Up
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner has been keeping silent about his views on the 2 percent hotel tax. I previously argued that I thought the tax violated Proposition 26. City Attorney Jan Goldsmith pointed out that the city was taking a risk in the comments section on sdrostra. City Attorney Goldsmith cited his office’s legal opinion which finished with this …
Port Commissioner Veto: Filner Win or Gloria’s Failure of Leadership?
This morning’s UT had a scathing editorial which proclaimed: “That scream you heard just after 3 p.m. Monday was the San Diego City Council slitting its own throat.” The editorial noted the Council’s failure to override Filner’s veto was a “huge political victory in his (Filner’s) first tug-of-war with the council.” Read the entire editorial here: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/feb/11/port-commission-filner-veto-gloria-council/ What the editorial …
A Fine Mess – The Hotel Tax
I find myself partially agreeing with Mayor Filner on the subject of San Diego’s hotel tax. He has stalled on signing the contract that would allow the hoteliers to start using the proceeds to promote tourism and the hotels of San Diego. In an earlier post, I noted that he wanted to use the revenue for “public safety,” but now …
Filner’s Start in Office
. . . is not that great. I was happy he is stopping medical marijuana outlet harassment by the city, but is that really a burning issue? Beyond that Filner’s start in office has not made me optimistic. He cancelled new managed competition actions, claiming that more study is needed and that service levels have suffered. The Miramar landfill competition …
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