SAN DIEGO — Petitions containing more than 133,000 signatures were turned-in to the San Diego City Clerk for verification Friday during a news conference in support of the San Diego Unified School District Accountability and Student Performance Initiative. The measure requires at least 93,085 valid signatures to qualify for the next citywide election. The City Clerk contracts with the San …
Faulconer: ‘Now it’s the Council’s turn’
Good and bad news in Mayor’s budget Faulconer commits to protecting core services, furthering reform San Diego City Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer issued the following statement today in response to Mayor Jerry Sanders’ budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2012, which begins July 1: There’s clearly some good news in the Mayor’s budget proposal, and there’s clearly some bad …
DeMaio Urges Rejection of “Meat Cleaver” Cuts to City Services
Millions in Wasteful Spending Should be Reformed Before Services are Cut Councilmember DeMaio today urged his Council colleagues to reject large elements of the Mayor’s budget plan citing negative impacts on local neighborhoods and the failure to finish the job of implementing budget reforms. “After years of severe cuts and wasteful spending San Diegans deserve a budget plan that will …
Report Reveals 71% Increase in Six-Figure City Pensions in One Year
Report Reveals Public Safety Accounts for Disproportionate Share of Excessive Pensions City Councilmember Carl DeMaio today released his seventh annual report disclosing pension payouts to individual city employees. This year’s report used additional methodologies and data sets to bring even greater clarity to outrageous city pension payouts. “Just when you thought the number of excessive pension payouts could not get …
Applause for Mayor Sanders
I have been a harsh critic of Mayor Sanders at times. But I need to give credit where it is due; he worked with purveyors of competing reform plans to come up with a single ballot measure. This increases the odds that a measure will pass, because there will be a unified reform effort. Yesterday’s U-T has the news: The …
Is Fletcher In or Out?
Is Nathan Fletcher in or out for Mayor? This is the question it seems everyone is asking downtown, and the view is growing (downtown) that Fletcher may not take the risk. But over and over again, Fletcher insists that in fact he is running. He’s told numerous people that he will declare for the Mayor’s race in March. According to …
Faulconer, Sanders propose sweeping pension and payroll changes
The following is from San Diego City Council President Pro Tem Kevin Faulconer: Faulconer on KUSI discussing 401(k) ballot measure Hello: Mayor Jerry Sanders and I announced the details of our groundbreaking pension reform ballot measure today at a news conference. I sincerely hope you will join us in support of these very important and necessary changes. Below are my …
In San Diego: Employees vote; taxpayers don’t
Starting today, an important election involving city finances is taking place in San Diego, but taxpayers won’t be casting the votes. Nope, this election rests with city employees, who have a week to vote on whether to eliminate a controversial and costly employee benefit – the Deferred Retirement Option Plan (DROP). Yes, in San Diego, employees have the final say …
On Fiscal Issues, Where Art Thou Mayoral Candidate Bonnie Dumanis?
Maybe mayoral candidates should approach the 2012 election as if they were running for Homecoming King or Queen of San Diego. This seems to be Bonnie Dumanis’ tactic so far. She is willing to put herself out there… in the sense that she is willing to have folks voice their opinion about her at the ballot box. Of course, nominees …
The Opponent Bonnie Dumanis Fears Most – And It’s Not Who You Think
San Diego political insiders have been all a-Twitter today (literally) with the filing of candidacy papers for the City of San Diego Mayoral Race by District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. Ongoing speculation including a bet between Rostra blogger Barry Jantz and San Diego County Taxpayers Association senior director Chris Cate on whether Dumanis would actually enter the race ran rampant and …
Mayor’s Race
As noted in the post below it looks like District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is in. The emails swirling around town this morning also mentioned that she hired GOP consultant Kevin Spillane from Sacramento to run her race. In the past Dumanis used Democrat consultant Jennifer Tierney, who is also the consultant for the Firefighter’s Union. Does this mean that the …
Dumanis is In
From Bonnie Dumanis (original is linked here)… Greetings! I want you to be among the first to know that I’ve made an important decision about our future. For some time, I’ve been talking with San Diegans about how my experience can be of value as the city continues its struggle back to financial health. As your District Attorney, I see …
DeMaio Unveils Major Policy Proposals in 2011 State of the District Speech
In case you missed it here is a full copy of my State of the District speech. Below, we laid out the speech in broad form for your review. Each initiative will be laid out in greater detail in the coming months. — Carl Pension Reform, Solar Energy, and Water Rate Reductions Top List of Priorities Councilmember Carl DeMaio …
DeMaio Celebrates Another Victory for Taxpayers; CCDC To Assume Payments on Petco Park Debt
On the heels of the City Council action today to transfer debt service for Petco Park from the City’s General Fund to the Redevelopment Agency, City Councilmember Carl DeMaio released the following statement: “Five years ago, I proposed that the City protect the General Fund by transferring annual debt service payments for Petco Park to the Redevelopment Agency and Centre City Development …
Lead, don’t follow
The San Diego City Council yesterday adopted a resolution in opposition to Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to get rid of local redevelopment agencies. A real shocker of a news story there, that San Diego, or any city would be opposed to such a move by the State. The only surprise is that Councilmember Sherri Lightner opposed the resolution, apparently needing …
San Diego Mayor’s Race Part 3
Normally I feel somewhat obligated to fact check posts by “mouth of the local gop” Mr. Murphy. So I did some calling around about the San Diego Mayor’s race. Turns out Murphy is correct: it sounds like Dumanis and Filner are in the race. To Filner first: if he runs, and he is the only Democrat, he is pretty much …
Update on 2012 San Diego Mayor’s Race
Looks like DA Bonnie Dumanis and Congressman Bob Filner are both exploring entering the San Diego Mayor’s race. How does this play? With the DA in there are at least two “establishment” candidates in the race, Dumanis and Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher. Presumably Fletcher will be able to access Republican donor monies from his term in Sacramento and his and his …
What About Bob?
At lunch with a well-connected San Diegan this week, I heard a fascinating rumor about the Mayor’s race in the City of San Diego. It was the notion that a sizable majority of San Diego’s Jewish community does not want Congressman Bob Filner to run for Mayor, because it would lose “the highest ranking Jewish member of Congress and a …
Zapf, Sanders and a Shiny New City Hall
The question of whether to put a new civic center on the ballot is beyond premature. We should not even be asking the question of council versus ballot for a new city hall, instead the Council and Mayor should be focusing on fixing our budget and pension problems.
Gettin’ Hot in the 2012 Kitchen
So, it’s only January 2011 and already, we’re seeing some folks filing papers to run for office. Good thing, ’cause some of us just can’t stand a breather. [See full list of candidates who have filed so far at the County Registrar of Voters for 2012] Of course, tongues were wagging last week when Republican San Diego City Councilman Carl …
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