Holds Contractors Accountable and Recovers Taxpayer Funds Due To Alleged Over-Billing by City Contractors Today I announced a major settlement agreement that recovers $900,000 for taxpayers stemming from alleged over-billing by city contractors for debris removal after the 2007 Wildfires. Today’s settlement not only recovers taxpayer funds, but it sends a message that we will hold city contractors accountable for …
Grand Jury Report Validates Flaws in Case for New City Hall Project
I applaud the San Diego Grand Jury report released yesterday for questioning the renovation and leasing estimates used by the City to push for a new City Hall. This report validates our concerns that the project would cost millions of dollars we simply do not have. I call on city leaders to abandon this project. There are plenty of common …
What did they know, when did they know it?
The events around Carlos Marquez should give labor and the left a moment of pause in their quest to gerrymander the City of San Diego. It’s fairly clear from a number of conversations I’ve been privy to that the failure of the judges to do due diligence in selecting committee members is a likely winner in court and a reason …
SAN DIEGO REPUBLICANS TO CALL ON COMMISSIONER MARQUEZ TO RESIGN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, MAY 19th CONTACT: TONY KRVARIC (858) 699-3000 SAN DIEGO — In light of the recent revelations about commissioner Marquez’ residency – on top of his already documented partisan leanings – Chairman Tony Krvaric will call on Mr. Marquez to resign at the commission hearing this afternoon. “After learning about Mr. Marquez taking a job in Los …
“I am not sure why someone would hire a private investigator to follow someone,” said chief of staff Midori Wong.
Then let me suggest, Ms. Wong, that you might not have the background for the job you now hold. The ‘gentleman’ in question, if the news is correct, probably does not live in the city. This violates the law. That’s the priority here.
You want to decide on the council districts, but you live where?
One is reminded of the local political phrase from a couple of decades ago, “The Los Angelization of San Diego,” used to oppose land use proposals that would apparently lead us all to hell in a handbasket. The news is rippling through the polisphere that one of the City of San Diego Redistricting Commissioners, of the clearly partisan variety, has …
Supporting San Diego’s Small Businesses with Better Policies
May 16 to May 20 marks National Small Business Week. This is a time to honor small businesses in our community and the vital role that they play in our local economy. It is also an opportunity for city leaders to examine ways to better support small businesses and remove impediments to their success. I have proposed a number of …
Redistricting Proposal — A Power Grab by Democrats and Labor in the City of San Diego
Let’s put aside for the moment the well-debated controversies over the partisan backgrounds of some of those holding the reins of the City of San Diego Redistricting Commission. After all, it still comes down to the maps the Commission is to consider, whether pulled out of their hats, drawn by a consultant, proposed by the community, or some combination thereof. …
$1.8 Billion Retiree Health Care Giveaway
The public deserves to know exactly what is in this deal how the numbers were reached. Once again, the labor unions and politicians are telling the public to trust them to give public employees an enormous benefit in a backroom deal. If this was really the good news it’s being sold as, then the public should have been given more …
SD County Taxpayers Association: City Redistricting group should reconsider controversial computer contract
The S.D. County Taxpayers Association is the latest civic group to weigh-in on the troubled SD Redistricting Commission, raising concerns today about a disputed contract for vital computer services. The organization’s statement says in part, “Lani Lutar, President & CEO, said SDCTA is concerned that such a decision would further compromise the perception the Commission is politically biased. ‘Whether or …
“Impartial” Redistricting Staffer Blocks Important Question on Partisanship of Commissioners
According to the San Diego Charter, members of the Independent Redistricting Commission have to demonstrate that they can operate in a nonpartisan fashion in drawing the lines. So of course you’d think that the judges who selected the commissioners would ask about previous partisan affiliation. Nope. Not at all. Not one question in the public written forms or the oral …
SDNR: The best thing Wong can do is resign
The real redistricting scandal by David King at San Diego News Room Republished with permission Link to the original content at SDNR Many have asked the simple question: “What is wrong with our government today?” Although the list is long, for years I have been of the mind that manipulation of our legislative districts is the prime culprit—the reason “safe” …
New Report Shows Fire Department Compensation 137% to 325% Higher than Private Sector Benchmarks
Councilmembers DeMaio and Zapf Call for Critical Review of Fire Department Labor Costs Councilmembers Carl DeMaio and Lorie Zapf today released a troubling report showing extreme differences between Fire Department employees and similarly qualified employees of private sector ambulance companies. The analysis showed the Fire Department is paying salaries that are 137% to 325% higher for comparable work in the …
Councilman pitches bright idea for street lights
From 760KFMB: Posted: Apr 21, 2011 1:45 PM PDT SAN DIEGO (CNS) – The City of San Diego could save taxpayer money by installing solar panels on as many as 33,000 street lights due to be replaced, a councilman said Thursday. The panels would provide enough electricity to run the lights, and any excess could be sold to San Diego …
FlashReport: Controversy Swirls Around Partisan Staffer of San Diego Redistricting Commission, Assemblywoman’s Daughter
From today’s FlashReport by Jon Fleischman (linked here)… What is Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) doing in Otay Mesa on a Wednesday night? Touring the border? Offering Northern California’s help on water issues? Nope, she was here to support her embattled daughter Midori Wong, the Executive Director to the San Diego Redistricting Commission. For the FlashReport readers around the state not …
Dual Profiles for Redistricting Chief Midori Wong
KUSI’s story about the liberal partisans on the “independent” Redistricting Commission has reverberated throughout San Diego. KUSI sat down with Redistricting Commission Chief of Staff Midori Wong. The Redistricting Commission website’s profile of Wong does not mention her being a 2010 fellow of the liberal New Leaders Council. It also omitted her campaigning for Democrat Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, her mother, …
Stirling: Dumanis would be a tool of the public employee unions
Submitted as a comment by Retired State Senator and Judge Larry Stirling… D.A. Dumanis betrays her lack of experience in any public-policy arena besides the narrow one of politics and the criminal-justice system with her position on the retirement issue. Because of the magic of compounding and the time-value of money, the entirely portable, front loaded, and privately managed defined-payment …
KUSI-TV investigates possible political Bias in Redrawing of SD City Council Districts — A New map would apply for a Decade.
“It’s Deja Vu all over again” baseball’s Yogi Berra once said, and tonight KUSI-TV news hints that could be happening with redrawing of San Diego City Council districts. You can see KUSI’s lengthy story here. Political bias in the process was supposed to have ended in 1992 when voters approved an “independent” commission to do the job, but KUSI asks whether …
KUSI Drops Bombsell on Redistricting
I hope someone else saw KUSI’s segment tonight on labor’s infiltration of the City of San Diego’s redistricting commission because I missed the first few minutes. What I did see was KUSI rip the “non-partisan” redistricting commission apart. It appears that a good number of the board members have significant ties to labor and that the commission’s lead staffer is …
Dumanis Announcement Heard Round the City
Andrew Donohue at Voice of San Diego has the story… Bonnie Dumanis comes out against the Sanders/DeMaio/Faulconer pension reform measure in the City of San Diego. She tells Voice, “…it is my core belief that those who put their lives at risk daily in the line of duty should have a secure pension … I can’t support a measure that …
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