A painless civics lesson

Take a break, friends and fellow voters.  We could all use a brief respite from campaign-season frenzy.  Soon enough San Diego's two heavyweight contenders for mayor will be climbing back into the ring for what’s guaranteed to be a nationally-publicized, brutal battle for the heart and destiny the 8^th largest city in the USA.  Our town.

So sniff the flowers while you can and begin preparing yourself for the Filner-DeMaio race for mayor.  It's no ordinary contest.  The stakes are at an all-time high, not just for San Diego but for cities across the nation.  If this sounds dramatic, you can bet it is.

That's why we ought to use this short time-out to reflect on how our city got to this political point.  To provide some context and fill in some of the blanks about San Diego’s quixotic and freighted mayorship history, here’s a quick and painless civics lesson.

We can start with a few questions: What’s the basic purpose of city government? The answer is simple: to provide services and protection to city residents.  Is there a magic formula, a best way to run a city?  The answer is, No.  What if our goal is to foster livable communities, good jobs, and a healthy quality of life?  Then we should choose politicians who (we hope and pray) place high value on public accountability, openness, and accessibility.  

Now for some history: Step back to 1930, when San Diego reformers focused on a very specific objective: to prevent the bossism and corruption plaguing many eastern and midwestern cities from spreading to our western shores.  Local voters agreed to create a new city charter and adopt a "progressive" city manager form of government for San Diego.

Over the ensuing 75 years the city was run and managed by an appointed, professionally-trained city manager -- think COO (chief operating officer) or CAO (chief administrative officer).   

Here’s how I recently described the job of San Diego city manager: he (it has always been a he) was responsible for organizing, coordinating, and overseeing city affairs.  Also for executing the policies, legislation, regulations, and directives of the mayor and council members.  Also for hiring and firing department directors.  Also for creating and managing the city budget.  Not a job description for amateurs or the faint of heart.

Under our city manager system, elected council members and the mayor were city legislators, sitting side by side at regularly-scheduled public meetings to establish city policies and laws.  Yet despite the numerous benefits of a well-run city under a competent city manager, the lure of a “strong mayor” system proved to be an irresistible siren call to San Diego's elected officials.  

Back in the old days, Mayor Frank Curran (who perspicaciously commented on a proposal to bring the 1972 Republican Party national convention to San Diego, “We need this like a hole in the head”) attempted to increase the clout of the mayor’s position but the public resisted.  

Four years later Mayor Pete Wilson attempted a switch to a “strong mayor” government and was also voted down.  

Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s subsequent attempts to strengthen the mayor’s office were thwarted by the city council.  

Then there was a petition drive in the early days of Mayor Susan Golding’s tenure to place a "strong mayor" charter change on the ballot.  It fizzled.  But come the millennium (2000) a familiar group of heavy-duty development, financial, and lobbying interests (mainly the major promoters of the downtown ballpark project -- Malin Burnham, Peter Q. Davis, John Moores, Scott Barnett, Scott Peters, George Mitrovich, Kris Michell, Richard Ledford…you get the picture) rallied once again in the cause of a “strong mayor” government.  Still, no one was biting…until…

Mayor Dick Murphy bit.  In 2004, public disclosure of gross financial malpractice by the city of San Diego hit the fan.  Fingers were pointed at a wide swath of past and present city officials.  Around the same time, three city councilmembers were indicted in legal action involving exotic dancers and the city's "no-touch" laws.  The chaotic confluence of humiliating notoriety, public resentment, and citizen consternation were artfully transformed into voter support for a change in San Diego’s form of government to a “strong mayor” system.  Mayor Murphy took the lead.

Here's the funny (as in ironic) part: the switch to a "strong mayor" system was triggered through the actions of a  politically strong mayor.  Mayor Golding was never hesitant to put her personal ambitions ahead of the public good by depleting public funds on politically-loaded projects (Convention Center expansion, downtown baseball stadium, Republican Party national convention, Naval Training Center giveaway, Charger’s ticket guarantee) and balancing the budget by underfunding the city pension system.  The witch's brew she and subsequent city leaders created by simultaneously hiking pension benefits for union leaders, city employees, and elected officials has brought San Diego to its financial knees.  And you oughtn't let our present lame-duck mayor fool you with happy-talk.  We are still in the throes of a severe budgetary and ethical crisis. 

Here’s another irony: Mayor Dick Murphy, after leading the successful charge for a “strong mayor” government, bit the dust before he could assume the "strong mayor" post.  

His replacement as San Diego’s first “strong mayor” was ex-police chief Jerry Sanders, a particularly weak and uninspired leader who spent close to eight years in office withholding vital public information from the city council, the city’s independent budget analyst, and the public at large, sweeping the truth under the rug, and neglecting to install a competent, experienced, well-trained, professional city manager to keep the city running efficiently, effectively, and in the public interest.

Which brings us to the battle for our next mayor.  Believe it or not, the story gets much more complex and convoluted.  So try to enjoy sniffing the flowers for just a little while longer.  While we can.

Parable of the little buggers

Confession: I get a daily dose of viruses, bacteria, parasites, protozoa, ticks... little buggers that like to lurk in raw milk, sexual escapades, other people’s sneezes.... Okay, I don’t get these infections, I get to talk about them (mostly with my infectious disease-expert husband).

But even he was stumped when I described a mysterious epidemic sweeping through San Diego.  I said it was targeting unsuspecting voters.  Very unusual...he said.

To me the diagnosis is clear: San Diegans have been exposed to a politically-motivated disease, spread along the campaign trail by a pair of genetically-modified-look-alike-mosquito-bots.  They're zeroing in for the big bite come the June 5 mayoral primary.

Who are these twin buggers? none other than candidates Nathan Fletcher and Carl DeMaio. They're the active agents transmitting perilous pathology, namely intimidation… manipulation… political sociopathy…

If you're concerned about the health and well-being of your loved ones, here’s what you need to watch out for:

The Peril of Intimidation

* Nathan Fletcher's bullying threats to city workers: "I interrogated al-Qaeda…I can negotiate a labor deal" are overkill.  His contempt for ordinary civilians who live what he calls a "climate-controlled life" is way out of line.

Skills in the martial arts have little to do with the qualities and qualifications citizens deserve in their elected officials.  You might remember that Fletcher’s former employer Duke Cunningham also used his military record as a weapon to win election -- then the Duke engaged in bribery and fraud and ended up in prison for abusing the public trust.

* Carl DeMaio is no novice when it comes to bullying and aggressive behavior but here’s the difference: DeMaio doesn't glad hand.  He's not a chameleon.  What you see is what you get...whatever that's worth.  

  

The Peril of Manipulation

* Nathan Fletcher is no shirker when it comes to manipulating the public.  He delivers feel-good declarations of political independence but marches in lockstep with conservative mentors like Newt Gingrich, Pete Wilson, and Karl Rove.  

To advance his political career he maneuvers behind the backs of the public at the behest of downtown redevelopers.  He aggrandizes himself in public appearances as a lion in combat.  He capitalizes on the brutal deaths of two north county girls -- a callous exploitation of the grief and misfortune of others.

* Carl DeMaio has a knack for turning ordinary words inside-out.  He zeroes in on commonplace democratic (as in small d democracy) snags and hitches and attributes them to “out of control government bureaucracy.”  He twists the word reform to try to crush city unions and eliminate living wage protections.

Out of his mouth, reform means outsourcing government services to private monopolies.  His mission is to “shrink government to the size where we can drown  it in the bathtub,” in lockstep with the ideals of his guru, Grover Norquist.

The Peril of Political Sociopathy

* Nathan Fletcher and Carl DeMaio are running neck and neck in this category.  The two of them share a common history.  Both, at a young age, were scooped up, tutored, and polished by powerful upper-echelon masters in the conservative wing of the Republican Party.


Both have a knack for manipulating public discontent to promote ideological, political, and personal agendas. They exemplify a brave new world of millennial confidence men masquerading as populists.

Both candidates exhibit strikingly similar idiosyncracies: repetitive, tightly-drilled speech patterns...oddly-robotic responses…unblinking, vacant eye contact.... It's possible that San Diego will go down in history as the first American city where not one but two manchurian candidates ran against one another for the office of mayor.

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The moral of this parable? Physician, heal thyself.  It means that the cure must come from our own actions.  It's as simple as that.  Don't forget to vote on June 5.  

Two things I need to clarify

First thing: Some regular readers of NumbersRunner questioned last week's harsh assessment of how San Diego is faring under our ‘strong mayor’ system.  Actually, I understated the problems -- they're much worse than you think.

While it’s not unheard of for city leaders to sweep messy problems under the rug, the lack of professional management inside City Hall and the disintegration of public accountability and honest disclosure under our current mayor are -- without a doubt -- San Diego's most closely guarded secrets since Diann Shipione (former board trustee of the San Diego City Employees Retirement System) spilled the beans about gross mismanagement, lack of disclosure, and deceptive practices shrouding our pension system.  

Honestly, I went much easier on our mayor than he deserves.  After seven years of  inverse leadership, his legacy to the people of San Diego consists of a dismantled, hollowed-out city...ripe for the picking by wily political and corporate opportunists.

So woe to the public -- UNLESS our next mayor surrounds himself with experienced people, skilled at managing a big city.  And woe to the public -- UNLESS he surrounds himself with people of integrity who value our neighborhoods and communities and can be counted on to reestablish more public right-of-ways into his office at City Hall.  

Second thing to clarify: A few other readers said they didn’t get last week's Sigma Chi allusion -- especially the sweetheart part.  What, they asked, does a golden-oldie college fraternity song have to do with the San Diego mayor’s race?

Look at it this way.  We already know what a tight-knit town San Diego is, manipulated by a shadow government of bankers, developers, lobbyists, and tourism folk.  A kind of home-grown fraternity.

Turns out that an influential contingent of San Diego's men-about-town really are bonded and united...by a fraternity pledge.  “Once initiated, Sigma Chi is for life.”  

Here's a sampling of local movers and shakers bonded in the brotherhood of Sigma Chi (with apologies to the brothers I left out): 

• Doug Manchester, hotel developer and owner of the Union-Tribune  
• Bob White, senior advisor to Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger  
• Jim Schmidt, executive VP of San Diego Federal Savings Bank
• Ben Clay, founder of San Diego’s preeminent lobbying firm Carpi and Clay
• Bob Page, CEO of San Diego Ranch & Coast newspaper group
• Mike Morton, owner of the Brigantine restaurants
• Harry Summers, residential, commercial & industrial real estate developer...you get the picture... 

As for the sweetheart ritual -- in much the same way they anointed their fraternity sweetheart in the days of old, the now-grown-up, big-men-on-campus get to handpick their very own political candidate for mayor (and anything else that runs).

This year something went awry.  The designated winner on Doug Manchester's dance card is Carl DeMaio.  But on Bob White’s it's Nathan Fletcher. (What about Bonnie Dumanis, you ask?  It looks like whoever brought her to the dance has  unchivalrously retreated.)  

Obviously, the voters will have the final word on this beauty pageant.  But despite differing styles as they strut their stuff on stage and TV, it's not so easy to distinguish candidate Fletcher from DeMaio from Dumanis. 

Take a look at their voting records, campaign promises, stump speeches. What picture emerges?  A threesome, joined at the hip by identical political agendas, goals, objectives, plans, proposals, philosophies, and political persuasion.  And each of the three wants you to know he/she'd be one TOUGH sweetheart:

-- the one who hammers city workers the hardest  

-- the one who interrogates foreign enemies the fiercest  

-- the one who targets child molesters and sexually-violent predators the severest

-- the one who says what he means, even when you don’t like what he says 

-- the one who tells you whatever you want to hear, even when it isn't true

-- the one who packs the meanest pistol  

Psst... I know a mayoral candidate who doesn't choose to terrorize, strut, swagger, bully, double-talk, or self-aggrandize.  He's getting my vote.  Final hint: he's not one of the above.

Sweetheart of Sigma Chi

Suppose a pollster called you on the phone and asked your opinion about whether a “strong mayor” form of government is a better deal for San Diego than a “city manager” system?  Would your answer be: uh…well…hmmm…?? 

Okay, let’s admit it -- most of us don’t pay that much attention to City Hall.  And for sure, most of us don’t have a clue about how the switch to a “strong mayor” government (which we voters agreed to seven years ago) has affected daily life in San Diego.  

Given that our first strong mayor will soon be replaced by our city’s second strong mayor (Bob Filner? Bonnie Dumanis? Nathan Fletcher? Carl DeMaio?) a few clues about how city government has been faring these last few years might prove helpful when choosing our next mayor.  A quick reminder of how we got here might also come in handy.  So read on.

How We Got Here

Under our old “city manager” system San Diego's mayor and council members -- a total of nine -- sat together, side by side, at open public hearings, at weekly council sessions, and at committee meetings, listening and responding to public testimony and then casting their votes…one vote each...majority ruled.  

The mayor was always a key political player but the mayor didn’t run the city.  That was the job of the appointed city manager.  He (it’s always been a ‘he’) was responsible for organizing, coordinating, and overseeing city affairs.  Also for executing the policies, legislation, regulations, and directives of the mayor and council members.  Also for hiring and firing department directors.  Also for creating and managing the city budget.  Not a job description for the faint of heart.  Not a job for amateurs!

Curious to know how the switch to “strong mayor” came about?  It was the longed-for baby of San Diego bankers, developers, real estate establishment, lobbyists, hoteliers, and other old-guard wheelers and dealers intent on gaining easier access to city officials.  A switchover would increase their clout and undercut the sometimes-recalcitrant city council.  

There were other supporters who felt the time had come for San Diego to slough off its image as a ‘well-managed town’ and take it's place among big-league cities.

When the news hit the fan about ethical and financial malfeasance by city officials, municipal union chiefs, and retirement board members (remember Enron-by-the-Sea?) San Diego voters became easy prey to the pitch that a switch to a strong mayor form of government would usher in public accountability, greater efficiency, and open government.  The buck stops here sort of thing.  So we switched.

So How's the City Been Faring?

 The picture is murky…very murky.  So far our “strong mayor” system has resulted in:

• less professional management of city departments and city services
• less community/neighborhood access to city officials, notably the mayor
• less independent action and advocacy by city councilmembers 
• less access to city information
• less responsiveness to public inquiries, complaints, and problems
• less oversight of city departments and city contracts
• more political manipulation of city data and financial accounting
• more control by private interests
• more back-room political maneuvering
• more passing the buck by all elected officials

Is the strong mayor system at fault for the bad news?  Or could much of the backsliding be attributed to the person occupying the “strong mayor” seat?  

Perhaps I should tread lightly here because Mayor Jerry Sanders may well go down in history as the most genial, endearing, charming, and upstanding leader the city has seen in...I don’t know how long (ex-mayor Murphy, move over).  The sweetheart of Sigma Chi.

Our termed-out mayor is not merely nice but also very magnanimous.  Get this -- he's making a jaw-dropping parting gift to our financially bankrupt city of a generous budget SURPLUS!  The audacity of this legacy-polishing duplicity kind of takes my breath away.

But wait -- maybe this is really good news in disguise.  If the system isn't entirely at fault we've got a fighting chance that a competent and trustworthy person sitting in the mayor's seat -- beholden to the San Diego public and not to ideology, upward mobility, or the status quo -- might turn things around.

Which brings us back to the June 5 primary and our choice for mayor.  Bob Filner? Bonnie Dumanis? Nathan Fletcher? Carl DeMaio?  

Here’s where things get personal: I’ve been around city government for a long time. I have high standards for our city. I know and love San Diego politics.  I’m a realist.  I’ve done serious homework on all four candidates.  I’m no dope.  I know 'em when I seem 'em.

I’m choosing Bob Filner for mayor.  He's competent, trustworthy, consistent, and public-spirited.  He's not buddy-buddy with San Diego's old-boys club.  He'll never be the sweetheart of Sigma Chi.  To me, that's a really good thing.   

eeny, meeny, miney, moe

Still can’t decide who to vote for in the upcoming mayoral primary?  One thing’s for sure – this race should not be decided by the eeny-meeny method.  

Why not? because this is not merely a titillating race among mayoral candidates with a range of personal values, lifestyles, and world-views.  It's a particularly pivotal one, given the wide span of political perspectives among our four choices.

So to take some of the guesswork out of making your choice for our next mayor I’m providing the following list of observations.  I hope they will be food for thought.  

1) It’s not just you who are confused about who and what our city needs to get the potholes fixed, resolve our pension debt, restore community clout, and so on.  Hardly anyone has digested the effects and repercussions of the city’s switch several years ago to a ‘strong mayor’ government (more about that in my next commentary). 

And almost everyone remains in the dark about what voters can and should expect from a first-class, full-blown, chief-executive mayor.   It does not help that our current mayor has set the bar very low for his successor. 

 2) The mayor's race is further complicated by the fact that politics in San Diego have gone crazy in this political season.  At the start of the campaign season the lineup included one life-long Democrat (Bob Filner) toward the left end of the spectrum and three mutually-antagonistic long-time Republicans (Bonnie Dumanis, Nathan Fletcher, and Carl DeMaio) clustered at the right.

But the ground recently shifted under our eenie, meeny, miney, and moe candidates, prompting them to reconfigure their seating arrangements.

3) The kink that set off the rumblings.  Nathan Fletcher was spurned by his Republican Party teammates, his fervent declarations of party faithfulness and loyalty notwithstanding.  Barely pausing to lick his wounds, he emerged from the closet as a political indeterminate…independent…decline to state candidate, raising the question: did miney become meeny?   

4) Hold on!  It gets even weirder.  In a town like ours -- historically under the thumb of a good-old-boys-network of not-always-upstanding-but traditionally MODERATE Republican bankers, hoteliers, newspaper and sports team owners, land developers, and downtown boosters -- the San Diego Republican Party went ape and endorsed the most right-leaning, polarizing, ideological, off-putting candidate of all, Carl DeMaio.  People are scratching their heads.  How come they picked moe and not meeney or miney?

5) Could it be because of money? LOTS of money?  Unlike the other candidates, DeMaio has the capability of pulling in untold piles of cash from ultra-wealthy, super-conservative billionaires and political groups from all over the country.  He’s the ticket for the San Diego Republican Party’s once in a lifetime opportunity to enrich their coffers and catapult party chairman Tony Krvaric into the big-shots league!

6) Now here’s the funny part of this story.  San Diego’s aforementioned good-old-boys-network (of bankers, hoteliers, newspaper and sports team owners, land developers, and downtown boosters) got themselves all tangled up right from the start of the mayor’s race.  Which Republican should they choose to be an utterly compliant, suitably compatible stand-in for the current mayor?   Their first choice was Bonnie Dumanis.  She got the endorsement of Mayor Sanders, Councilmember Faulconer, Sheriff Bill Gore, County officials, former city attorney Casey Gwinn, and a long list of other old friends.

Why not DeMaio? because most San Diego king-makers understood that DeMaio was a separate breed of Republican who answered to much different drummers.

7) OK, now for the punch line.  San Diego’s good-old-boys-network of bankers, hoteliers, king-makers, etc. got tripped up by none other than former mayor Pete Wilson -- who may be getting on in years but still has a healthy appetite for state and national politics.  And a sharp eye for malleable talent. 

 Pete Wilson adopted Nathan Fletcher as his protégée, plucking him from an already well-padded and protected position as a staffer to Duke Cunningham (of course no one in that office smelled the blatant corruption …certainly not Fletcher…) and Wilson anointed Fletcher as the next mayor of San Diego. 

8) Whoops! Now you know why you’re confused?  DeMaio’s got the US Mint backing him up, fortified by the iron fist of Doug Manchester.  Dumanis has the usual old-time-cronies shuffling nervously in her corner and stripping off the petals: will she or won’t she? will she pull the plug? should she throw in the towel? in whose direction?  what’s her consolation prize for getting everyone out of this jam? state attorney general?

9) Meantime, the band plays on. Along with his strawberry blond, Fletcher is now waltzing with wily mentors and consultants, who have turned this military team-player into an independent matinee idol. 

He’s lately been seen waltzing with another chorus line of San Diego business executives, who were also blinded by political affiliations in their past lives but are now free at last to be middle-of-the-roaders, beholden only to moderation and the public good. 

 10) There’s a French moral to this story: plus ca change... Translated it means: The more things change, the more they stay the same. 

 Think about it this way: the same old guys who have traditionally run our city suddenly find themselves screwed by their own Republican Party.  They’ll do what they have to do to stay in control.  If it means calling yourself by some other name, that’s okay.   Labels don’t matter.  Control matters.  So will it be meeny, miny, or mo?  Which team player will step aside for the good of the good-old-guys?  

Let's be honest. Let's be truthful. And let's be direct.

Nathan Fletcher comes across as an attractive, appealing, handsome candidate who -- after a bruising and losing fight for the endorsement of the local Republican Party -- made a calculated decision to rebrand himself as a political “independent.”  

His switch in party affiliation has led a number of Democratic and other voters to ask themselves whether they should consider supporting Fletcher for mayor.  Perhaps the following information will help you decide.

The most heated exchanges in recent mayoral debates have been between Fletcher and his Republican rival Carl DeMaio.  The friction between them is clearly a personality duel, since their views and political perspectives on city issues, proposals, and problems are practically identical. 

In fact, Fletcher and DeMaio can be called two peas in a pod.   Aside from the differential in charm and sex appeal, San Diegans will find little to distinguish one from the other, should either of them become our next mayor.  

Here’s a shorthand way to think about it: if you would feel comfortable voting for Carl DeMaio, you should have no trouble whatsoever voting for Nathan Fletcher.  Or vice versa.  

As I said, two peas in a pod...with one notable difference.  

Fletcher has what appears to be an uncontrolled compulsion to cite his military experience at the drop of a hat.  It is uncharacteristic for veterans of combat to repeatedly broadcast their wartime record as a campaign tool to enhance their manliness and voter appeal.  Can you even imagine wartime hero President Dwight D. Eisenhower trying to seduce Americans with his combat prowess?  Enough said.

  To read a superb analysis of Nathan Fletcher’s political persona, I implore you to click onto Jim Miller’s article in today’s OB Rag newspaper: http://obrag.org/?p=58914 . It will be well worth your time.

  To hear Fletcher in action as he solicits the Republican Party for their endorsement, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsFZkNmm2v8&feature=youtu.be

  To read the full text of Fletcher’s letter in which he makes the statements listed below, click here: http://sdrostra.com/?p=25657

*  Family values are very important to me…I take very seriously my commitment to my wife and children.  As a Christian of strong faith, I take seriously my commitment to God… 

*  I have never voted for a tax increase

*  I have consistently stood up to labor — I have one of the lowest labor scorecards

*  I have been endorsed by Governor Pete Wilson, Joel Anderson, Mark Wyland, Martin Garrick, and the California Small Business Administration

* I…have taken the no tax pledge (aka “Taxpayer Protection Pledge”…authored by Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.)

  To learn more about Fletcher family politics read the following autobiographical account about Fletcher’s wife Mindy.  For additional details click here: http://www.flashreport.org/blog/author/mindy-fletcher/

*  Mindy Fletcher is a veteran of Republican political campaigns at the national and state level having been a spokesman for Governor George W. Bush, the Bush 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee as well as Deputy Chief of Staff and Deputy Campaign Manager for Governor Schwarzenegger… 

*  In 1999, she became Press Secretary for the Bush-Cheney 2000 effort, where she worked closely with national and regional media, managed the day-to-day operations of the communications division and appeared regularly on national television and radio programs.

*  During the Florida Recount she served as the senior spokesperson for the recount effort. After President Bush took office in 2001, she became the first woman appointed Director of Public Affairs at the United States Department of Justice...In January of 2002, she became the Party’s chief spokesperson as Director of Communications for the Republican National Committee before she moved to San Diego in 2003…

  To see Nathan Fletcher’s decidedly conservative voting record click here: http://www.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/104432/nathan-fletcher

To sum up: I recommend we all heed the immortal words uttered by poor little Buttercup (courtesy of  Gilbert and Sullivan) to help us evaluate Nathan Fletcher's mayoral bid:

Things are seldom what they seem / Skim milk masquerades as cream… 

Black sheep dwell in every fold / All that glitters is not gold…

jackin-it

You have got to see this animated spoof of San Diego.  This uncanny snapshot of our city’s identity is a stroke of perceptive genius.  I urge you to click here  and, while it's loading, get prepared for a shock of recognition.

Then you and I need to sit down for a serious talk.

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OK, now for the serious part.  Let's deconstruct the dirty little ditty you just watched (keeping in mind that your fellow Americans and global counterparts have also had the pleasure of viewing it on Comedy Central). 

It’s hard to deny: jackin-it-in-san-diego nails us on our sunburned heads with its spot-on depiction of our city as a picturesque, feel-good, simple-minded, trivial-pursuit vacation mecca -- exactly the branding painstakingly promoted by our high-powered hotel (aka “hospitality”) industry and ConVis (Convention and Visitors Bureau).  Think San Diego and up pops the zoo…palm trees…del Coronado (OK, not officially SD)…Gaslamp District…yachts and sail boats on an azure bay…Sea World…the clearest blue skies this side of heaven.  

And did you catch the scene with the priest?  He’s carrying a U-T newspaper and the headlines are screaming, Another beautiful week in San Diego!! Front-page news in paradise.  

Finally we meet the mayor, chief cheerleader of Oz.  Does he sell our city as a great place for business opportunities? diverse neighborhoods? university brain-power? ship-building industries? theater/art/music/dance? scientific research and development? green technology?  Nope.  His come-on is a titillating invitation for a sightseeing adventure to Old Town for warm tortillas...

Okay, I admit I’m putting an oversized squeeze on this crude, adolescent TV skit.  The South Park-Comedy Central crew is just having a good time with a recent spot on NBC news (to wit: A co-founder for Invisible Children was detained...for being drunk in public and masturbating, according to the San Diego Police Department*).

But guess what?  There’s actually a shocking moral to this story.  

Over the past decades and right up to today, people running San Diego (I’m referring to a lineup of weak-willed politicians, strategically-appointed officials, double-dealing lobbyists, self-serving newspaper owners, afraid-of-their-shadows board members, arrogant developers, lily-livered business owners, and so on) have indulged in ego-driven, happy-talking, short-lived, non-productive, under-the-cover, self-boosting, sneakily-abusive, publicly subversive activities.  They've dug a deep grave for ordinary San Diegans.   

Not that us ‘ordinary’ folk are off the hook.  We’ve been played, manipulated, lied to, and sucked dry by a long procession of city “leaders” and how do we respond? We turn a blind eye. We don't ask questions.  We comply.

Yesterday the mayor announced to the people of San Diego that he has finally solved the city’s horrendous budget problems.  Yesterday, the city council received the news and smiled in appreciation.  

It's a lie.  It’s a whopper.  San Diego is still jackin-it.  

* Corrected to provide a more accurate clue to the shenanigans in the video skit.  Still, in anyone's hands, it's hardly the most egregious act  ever witnessed in San Diego.

Who's on top?

Remember that old, old, old radio game show Can You Top This?  If you missed it in its first incarnation, don’t fret.  You can get an updated replay by tuning in to San Diego’s mayoral race.  Nowadays it's called Can Fletcher Top Demaio? … Can Demaio Top Dumanis? … Can Filner Top All Three? 

The spectacle of four mayoral candidates climbing over one another in a leapfrog contest to see who’s got the best two-minute answer to questions (posed by reporters or the usual set of candidate-forum panelists) that DON'T HAVE QUICKIE ANSWERS is not just embarrassing, it's downright useless, meaningless, and deceptive.

Frankly, I’d be happier if Demaio, Dumanis, Filner, and Fletcher forget about answers altogether.  What I’d like to know is what they think are the most important questions, issues, problems, and obstacles facing the city and the next mayor.  

I already know what’s important to me, but before I cast my vote in the June 5 primary I want to know what makes them sit up and take notice.  I want to know which one of them really gets San Diego issues.  Who among them recognizes what needs fixing?

I'll learn a lot more about their priorities and their values if they tell me what they believe is going wrong in our city.  

Political pundits like to say that the public only likes good news...voters want a positive message...nothing negative. 

Not me.  

I want a mayoral candidate with enough integrity and independence to ignore the happy-face talk coming out of the lame-duck mayor’ office.  I want to hear a thoughtful analysis of what each of our mayoral candidates thinks is going in the wrong direction.  Then I’ll  know in whose hands we might stand half a chance of making progress in our city.

An honest analysis of our city's problems would be the most positive message I can think of.

(For the San Diego version of Can You Top This click here.  It might take a second or two to load but it’s worth the wait.)