Thanks to some vigilent citizen watchdogs spreading the word, we learned that Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood called a special meeting of the Oceanside City Council today at 4 p.m. The meeting just barely met the minimum public notice required. Ask yourself dear Rostra reader why the council would be in such a big hurry to have an unscheduled meeting on …
DeMaio Urges San Diego Residents to Reject Another Water Rate Hike
65% Increase in Water Bills Since 2007 – Yet City Failed to Deliver on Promised Reforms from 2007 Rate Increase Councilmember Carl DeMaio expressed disappointment that the City Council voted to forward another water rate hike on hard working San Diego families instead of fixing the wasteful spending within the Water Department. At the urging of the Mayor the City …
City Of San Diego Serves Up Turkey to Taxpayers A Bit Early
For anyone still wondering why voters are so skeptical of political promises, look no further than the latest failure to enact reform by the City of San Diego. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association pointed out in a news release issued today that one of the ten reforms taxpayers were led to believe had been enacted prior to the November …
Three Types of Lies
Pollster John Nienstedt’s discussion on polling and the reasons polls fail to accurately gauge voter behavior (and what polls can and CANNOT do) has been a hit on the post-election poliwonk social circuit. Among the topics on tap, Nienstedt has provided his insight on the variance in results among the polls conducted over the past few months on Prop D, …
TONIGHT: Post-Election Analysis with Consultant Hoy, Pollster Nienstedt
I’m not exactly the most devoted GOP meeting attendee. But I’ll be there tonight to hear the recap of the wildly dead-on pollster John Nienstedt and Nov. 2 success-story consultant John Hoy. I had the honor of working with both men on Proposition A – which crossed the finish line easily with more than 70 percent of the vote. Conversely …
HJTA: Harkey, Hollingsworth are San Diego’s Top Taxpayer Advocates for 2010
How taxpayer-friendly is your local representative in Sacramento? The results are in from the 2010 Legislative Report Card issued by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), one of California’s oldest and most respected taxpayer advocacy organizations, and San Diego Assemblymember Diane Harkey and Senator Dennis Hollingsworth received the highest “A” grades (94.7% and 96.9%, respectively) within the San Diego delegation! The Report Card, …
Got No Campaign Dough? Go Viral! (And Win Swell Prizes)
Everyone in politics knows the importance of money. Big campaign war chests scare off competitors, get you lots of TV time to say whatever you want, and fund the fees of every consultant in the universe which means your opponent can’t hire the big talent. So if you’re an underfunded campaign, you’ve got to rely on creativity. Thank God for …
Mayor willing to let some die to get his tax increase
Here is a detailed story concerning the “town hall meetings” currently being staged by San Diego’s Mayor Jerry Sanders. These show trials would bring a smile to the face of any veteran commie reeducation camp commandant. Who is on trial, you ask? The taxpayers of San Diego, that’s who! The message is simple — if you simpletons don’t vote for …
Volunteer Saturday to Defeat Prop D
Please join Councilmember Carl DeMaio and our grassroots team this Saturday, Sept 25 for a few hours to help defeat Prop D — the blank check sales tax increase in the City of San Diego. Volunteers Needed To Deliver LawnSigns Saturday, September 25 (9:30am to 4:30pm) 5703 Oberlin Drive, Suite 107 San Diego, CA 92121 Prop D gives city politicians …
Art, Schmart
A robust public discussion (my favorite kind!) is taking place over the issue of public arts funding. Reporter Lynn Stewart of San Diego 6 aired a story last week pointing out that the City of San Diego had budgeted $300,000 for art at two fire stations, while at the same time fire stations were being shuttered in rolling “brownouts” to …
If We Say It Enough, They’ll Believe It
The Yes on D campaign in support of the proposed half-cent sales tax increase in the City of San Diego has finally ginned up its efforts, less than eight weeks before election day. I suppose it took that long for the public labor union checks funding the campaign to clear. Its first news release announced the campaign’s team members. It …
DeMaio Offers Alternative to Proposed Water Rate Increase
Releases White Paper Documenting Wasteful Spending in City Utilities Department and Related Water Agencies On the same day that the Mayor proposed yet another increase to San Diego’s water rates (for a total increase of 65% since 2007) Councilmember DeMaio released a white paper highlighting numerous examples of increased spending in the city’s Utilities Department and outlined several steps to …
Second Lawsuit Filed Challenging Proposition D
This just in to Rostra: the “fiscal impact analysis” prepared for Proposition D, the City of San Diego’s half-cent sales tax initiative is being challenged under California Elections Code §9295 in a lawsuit which alleges that the required analysis provided by the City of San Diego is “not impartial, not accurate, and misleads the public.” “It’s time the voters are …
SD U-T Article Listing Top Pension Expenses By Name And Position
As most SD UT readers have probably seen, this morning had another great piece highlighting opulent retirement compensation by the city. Example: a retired librarian pulls down a pension of $143,577.
No on Prop D Campaign Announces Website Launch and Kickoff Event
The No on Prop D campaign has officially launched its website – and has announced a campaign kickoff event for August 25. The website is at www.StopTheSalesTax.com. In addition to providing information on why San Diegans should vote against Prop D, the website asks San Diegans to sign a “petition against higher taxes.” On August 25th, the campaign will formally …
Despite Deceptive Editorial, SD CityBeat Supports Sales Tax Increase
In a recent editorial, San Diego CityBeat’s staff claimed to oppose Proposition D, the sales tax increase on the November ballot. But the purported opposition is just a convenient fig-leaf for the tax-and-spend CityBeat “liberals”, as they prepare to endorse the sales tax hike. The “liberals” (I don’t like calling them liberals, as they’re not – they are leftists) rule …
Alert the Media: San Diego County Taxpayers Association Opposes Proposition D
In a move that didn’t catch much of anyone by surprise, the San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s Board of Directors overwhelmingly voted to oppose Proposition D, the City of San Diego’s half-cent sales tax increase which will come before San Diego voters on the November 3, 2010 ballot. Proposition D imposes a half-cent sales tax increase on all eligible purchases …
Evidence the SD sales tax is doomed
When the San Diego city sales tax was first agreed to this week by the city council, there was a short “Breaking News” piece on the U-T website. The next day there were over 200 comments. But what struck me was the OVERWHELMING rejection of the tax by commenters. Normally there is a hyperactive cadre of government employees commenting away …
Our Own Microcosm of Freedom vs. Tyranny: The City Hall Machine vs. The Rest of Us
Kudos to Rostra blogger Bradley J. Fikes for this post calling out the thinly-veiled message in the U-T that actually precluded the sales tax proponents’ simple message: “Agree to a sales tax increase or you will die.” May I suggest we haven’t even begun to be spoon-fed this message. The coming months will be filled with it. This is the …
Jerry Sanders: Complete Failure?
First, a very important tenet for me. I do not use the term “RINO” or take shots at someone’s conservative credentials lightly, I cannot stress that enough. Now that we have that out of the way… Seriously? Jerry Sanders. Seriously, dude? At this point it isn’t “what have you done for us lately”, it is what have you done for …
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