Duck-duck-goose: San Diego's quest for a new mayor

Let’s start with an urban tale about dreams and possibilities.  Not long ago in a city far, far away, an international gathering took place and it called itself the Fearless Cities Summit. 

And this summit brought together 700 mayors and councilmembers and active citizen groups from far-flung cities and towns around the world.  And their plan was to collaborate on creating global networks of solidarity in the cause of human rights, democracy, and the common good.   Overblown hype?

As it turns out, the “fearless cities” concept is completely down to earth.  It entails people merging their efforts to modify local government institutions and create practical programs that address the specific needs of their particular communities.  Their efforts are unified by a simple overarching goal--to improve the lives of city residents.   Who could find fault with that?

The first “fearless cities” summit took place two years ago in Barcelona—a city that had, for decades, encouraged and enjoyed a tourism and real-estate boom.  But something insidious began revealing itself.  A gradual distortion of the city’s priorities forced out local businesses, drove up rents, accelerated gentrification, and muscled out city residents.  Under the rallying cry of “Barcelona is not for sale," the city boldly embarked on a candid reassessment of the soundness of their growth model based on tourism.

The second fearless cities summit was held in New York City, the third in Warsaw.  Next up will be Brussels, where the city will present a progress report on local initiatives it created to deal with its troubled financial, housing, mobility, jobs, infrastructure, and environmental sectors. 

Sounds like a familiar set of urban troubles, doesn't it?

No, I’m not suggesting that San Diego has the desire—let alone the oomph--to join the ranks of fearless cities.   We’re far from ready to reassess our status as a tourism mecca, much less pull down our city’s “for sale” sign.  

Okay, let's admit it: San Diego is actually a fearful city, where elected officials obediently go along to get along with a well-endowed tourism industry and intimidating real estate/building/growth machine power brokers.  Even our citizen groups are easily silenced by a few token  crumbs.  

Given the usual consequences, maybe we should just cry uncle!  But no, there’s another alternative.  It’s called compromise.   

Her's what I suggest: why don't we settle for improving the biggest small issue that plagues San Diego and causes us much grief?  How about settling for the modest goal of becoming a very well-managed city? 

That’s it? A. Very. Well. Managed. City?  Think about it this way: 

• when no city official is held accountable for delivering the goods to city residents… 
• if no one takes responsibility for slipshod oversight of city workers or the work of private contractors… 
• when no one keeps tabs on how the San Diego Housing Commission spends public money…  
• if no one remembers that problem-oriented community policing, once a diamond in San Diego’s ear, was stealthily abandoned… 
• when no one answers for continual botched attempts to ameliorate the city’s homeless crisis, not even to provide adequate public toilets…
• if no one noticed that the chief of the city water department didn’t supervise his meter readers, who were overcharging water customers (that’s us) by over $2 million… 
• when no one answers the phone in the office of code compliance/enforcement, while city regulations are violated right and left…
• if no one can explain why the city throws good money after bad on real-estate deals that sit empty for years… 
• when no one turns up for over a year to change a street light bulb… 
• if no one seems to be minding the store… 
• when no one knows where the buck stops… 

The obvious conclusion? San Diego is A. Very. Poorly. Managed. City.  Is it due to the woeful performance of this mayor?  Or to our bungled transition to a strong mayor system from a city manager government (far from perfect but, in hindsight, more accountable to the public)? Or to our falsified, papered-over pension/budget fiasco?  Or?  Whatever reason, the outcome is--or ought to be--grounds for rebellion.

Now think about it this way: if the fundamental goal of fearless cities is simply to improve the lives of city residents, couldn’t even a fearful city like ours make real and immediate progress toward improving the lives of city residents by setting minimal but firm requirements for our mayor and other elected officials to deliver a well-managed city to San Diego residents?

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Which brings us to Tasha Williamson, a candidate in San Diego’s 2020 race for mayor.  The San Diego City Clerk currently lists the circle of 9 candidates running for mayor. (I've already written commentaries on Todd Gloria, Barbara Bry, and Cory Briggs--who says he's a candidate but has yet to file the requisite paperwork with the city clerk.)  

Did you ever hear of the game called duck-duck-goose?  It’s where 'it' goes around a circle of players and taps each on the head, saying 'duck… duck… duck.'  Then 'it' taps an unsuspecting player on the head and calls out 'goose.'   So 'goose' has to run in circles to tag 'it' before 'it' plops down in the vacated spot left by 'goose.'   That's sort of the way San Diego's political races play out.

Tasha Williamson (TW) is on the list of players eyeing the soon-to-be-vacated spot of San Diego mayor.   One thing's for sure: in this political game she’s no duck.  Not a goose, either.  Could it be she’s more of a swan?  Is it possible for a swan with a resonant message to steal the show--at least for a while?  

Keep this in mind: swans are not outsiders.  They swim the entire pond and know the territory as well as any duck or goose.  And you better take heed of them.  They know how to hiss.  They know how to bite.

What sets TW apart from other candidates is her fearless call for changes that benefit our city’s traditionally underserved sectors.   

Almost a decade ago, TW co-founded the San Diego Compassion Project, serving members and families victimized by gang-related and other violent acts.  Her community actions prompted the Union-Tribune to place her name on their list of Voices of the Year.   She knows the city well enough to give credible voice to many subjects that are usually swept under the rug, like:
→ racial profiling and police offenses in our city...

→ the role city government should and could play in enhancing public schools in all neighborhoods...

→ concrete, humane responses to the needs of the city’s homeless, poor, addicted, and mentally ill populations...

→ resetting misdirected, unfairly apportioned, and wasteful budget priorities...

→ beneficial public reuse of public property in the city we all call home...

Tasha Williamson is in the right place at the right time to bring a fearless voice to the mayoral debate.  San Diego voters (and other candidates, as well) can learn a lot from TW's perspectives, perceptions, and experience.  It's a fact--the burden of management failures in our city falls most heavily on our chronically shortchanged communities.  And inevitably, every resident in a badly-managed city suffers the consequences. 

 Yes, a mayor's priorities and goals matter.  But expert management is indispensable if we ever want to see good intentions actually materialize.  The necessity of upgrading the mechanics of city government is part and parcel of what it will take to implement new priorities for raising the quality of life in every community and for all residents.  Now is the perfect time to tackle this unglamorous but burdensome city albatross.

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Of course, exposing and airing the issues are not the same as being able to deliver the goods.  The quest for the best  leader for a fearless future for San Diego continues.  Pass the word along: the cut-off date for mayoral candidates to get their names on the primary ballot is not until December 5, 2019. 

San Diego’s mayor: present, past, and future (part 2)

Mayoral candidate Todd Gloria (TG)

Origin stories are the rage nowadays, but do they make one person intrinsically more worthy than another?  Do they reliably predict the abilities, values, ethical yardstick, or qualifications a person develops over the years? 

Take Todd Gloria, for example. You may already have a mental image of him as a likable, winsome, up-and-coming kind of guy.  He self-identifies as a gay person of color: ½ Alaskan tribal- native American, 1/4 Filipino, a tad Dutch, and a touch Latino (Puerto Rican), nestled in a home-grown man from an economically disadvantaged background.  

In other words, our man for all seasons.  

TG was elected as heir apparent to the District 3 seat of the San Diego City Council following a particularly nasty primary battle against opponent Stephen Whitburn (who's running once again).  The LGBTQ baton was passed to him by Toni Atkins, who had received it from Chris Kehoe.  

At the end of their respective terms, Kehoe, Atkins, and then Gloria advanced to the CA State Assembly.  Kehoe and Atkins eventually mounted the next rung to CA State Senate.  Not TG.  He's been hankering after Susan Davis's seat in the US Congress but she hasn't budged.  

(Correction added) Starting in 2012, assemblymembers can serve a lifetime maximum of 12 years or a combined total of 12 years in both the State Assembly and Senate.  So TG could conceivably hang out in Sacramento for another 8 years.  But he's back to San Diego to run for mayor.  

That’s not to say that being mayor hasn’t been on TG’s mind for a while.  He clearly enjoyed--and made the most of--his 6-month stint as San Diego’s interim mayor, a post he held in 2013 following his dubious partnership with former City Attorney Jan Goldsmith during the orchestrated undoing of Mayor Bob Filner.  

That wasn't the only odd coupling in the saga of Filner’s election as mayor (although it was the most toxic).  TG’s domestic partner Jason Barsi had hooked up professionally with the mayoral campaign of Filner’s Republican opponent Bonnie Dumanis.  

Meantime, the high school daughter of not-yet assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez made a surprisingly sizable campaign contribution to Nathan Fletcher, at that time also one of Filner's Republican opponents.  Fletcher's budding relationship with Gonzalez was already bearing fruit.  

(Targeted from the start by presumed Democratic allies, the hapless super-liberal Bob Filner never stood a chance.  But that’s a story for another day.)

In today’s mayoral race, here’s what distinguishes TG from his opponents: TG is a seasoned city politician who has already captured early support among Democratic Party regulars, labor unions, the hotel industry, and major developers.
  

The assortment of power-brokers and lobbyists in his corner is impressive.  Financial backers include hoteliers Bill Evans, C. Terry Brown, and Richard Bartell, SeaWorld, Sempra Energy, Ace Parking, Cox Communications, Cush Enterprises, CA Association of Realtors, CA Building Industry Association, Chevron, CA State Building & Construction Trades Council, OliverMcMillan, and--recently in the news--private prison contractors doing business with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  

But there’s a flip side to being a seasoned city politician.   After two terms as city councilmember TG left a paper trail, a political record, for all to see.  Once you refresh your memory about his time on the city council you'll be faced with a thorny question: would TG make a good mayor, anyway… despite much of his recorded performance? 

As councilmember:

• TG engineered the establishment of the Balboa Park Conservancy, whose mission is to raise funds to maintain and improve the park (Balboa Park is in TG’s council district).  But the Conservancy stumbled, sputtered, and languished under his negligent supervision…
• TG defied 1) public objections, 2) a lawsuit brought by Cory Briggs, and 3) strong opposition from incoming mayor Bob Filner by forging ahead with an unprecedented 40-year lease extension to the Bahia Hotel in Mission Bay, owned by financial backer Bill Evans... 
• TG actively supported the Qualcomm/Irwin Jacobs makeover plan in Balboa Park for a bypass bridge and city-financed paid parking lot.  Filner opposed the plan and, after becoming mayor, took steps to create a pedestrian friendly Plaza de Panama by eliminating surface parking spots… 

As council president:

• TG chafed mightily under Bob Filner’s ascendency as San Diego’s progressive new mayor.  The two engaged in a fierce public rivalry over who was the city’s rightful top dog… 
• TG conspired with the City Attorney to deny legal support to Bob Filner, an underhanded and unethical tactic to force the mayor to resign or face bankruptcy...
• TG climbed to the top of the bandwagon in support of public funding for the Convention Center expansion...
• TG sidestepped honest analysis of the San Diego worker pension morass, replicating evasive practices of previous city councils to conceal damaging budget impacts from public view…
• TG improperly pressured a city planner (according to court documents) to reverse report findings over a disputed expansion of the Academy of our Lady of Peace, a private religious school.  This unethical manipulation cost the city more than half a million dollars in legal settlement fees...

As interim mayor: 

• TG used his 6-month stint as interim mayor to speedily reverse, undo, and overturn numerous decisions and processes put into place by the elected Mayor Filner… 
• TG put up roadblocks to renegotiating improved terms for the city regarding a tourism marketing deal with San Diego hoteliers, dismantling Filner’s early efforts…
• TG overstepped his job description as temporary mayor and hired consultant Stephen Goldsmith to reorganize city government.  Goldsmith was an "efficiency expert" in privatizing government services and in the sale of city functions to the private sector... 
• TG promptly rehired two lobbying firms, previously rejected by ex-mayor Filner but favored by Jerry Sanders and the Chamber of Commerce.  Peculiar choices for a progressive politician…
• TG rescinded a stop-use order issued by ex-Mayor Filner to prevent zoning code violations by the neighborhood restaurant chain Jack in the Box.  In doing so he overstepped his authority as interim caretaker, turned his back on North Park residents, and reassured big-business backers...
• TG reversed a program--previously funded by Mayor Filner--to keep shelters open year-round, thus impeding the city's ability to provide emergency shelters as needed.  Closing cold weather shelters eventually led to a deadly outbreak of Hepatitis A just a few years later…

More as councilmember:

• TG boldly claimed credit for promoting a much-sought after minimum wage law—an ordinance that had, months earlier, been achieved for contractors doing work for the city by then-Mayor Filner.  In a bizarre twist, TG negotiated worse terms by scaling back the wage increase from Filner’s $13/hour to $11/hour.  Who had the last laugh on this one?...
• TG claimed authorship of San Diego’s Climate Action Plan, which must come as a big surprise to the plan originator Nicole Capretz, who had coordinated with ex-Mayor Filner… 
• TG dropped the ball in creating San Diego's Balboa Park Centennial Celebration, which was to be a spectacular citywide festival.  Through failed leadership and lack of oversight it landed as a disastrous flop.  TG promptly blamed ousted Mayor Filner for having unduly raised expectations...

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If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's this: bad things happen to a city under bad leadership and bad management.   Next time around we need a good mayor.

So the question for voters remains: is Todd Gloria's proliferation of political warts--scattered across many unexpected places--a dependable indicator of what we can expect from him in the future?  Nobody’s perfect.  The question is, would he be good enough?  

Our next installment looks at mayoral candidate Barbara Bry.

All the world's a stage

Act I:  the State of the City Address
San Diegans are about to witness a full-dress reenactment of our town’s annual civic ritual known as the State of the City Address.   

Article XV of the City Charter lays it out: On or before the 15th day of January of each year, the Mayor shall communicate by message to the City Council a statement of the conditions and affairs of the City, and make recommendations on such matters as he or she may deem expedient and proper.

You can catch a live performance at 6pm this Wednesday, January 15^th at downtown’s historic Balboa Theatre.  Alternatively, you can kick back in the comfort of your own living room and watch it on City-TV. 

Like most political rituals it’s an occasion for platitudes and cheerleading.  San Diego mayors traditionally use the opportunity to bring in the color guard… special lighting… ministers… pomp and circumstance… to showcase their recent accomplishments and bright plans for the city’s future.  

It’s a feel-good event -- rarely the time for blunt assessments of the true state of the city’s fiscal, environmental, social, or economic health and well-being.  It's the time for lofty sentiments, optimistic forecasts, and a touch of political preening.  Afterwards, there’s cookies and punch in the lobby.

What sets this State of the City Address apart from all others is that the official master of ceremonies of this year’s event will be a substitute, a stand-in, a person who doesn’t happen to be the mayor. 

At this Wednesday’s big event the role of mayor will be played by the presiding officer of the City Council, Todd Gloria.  He’s been filling in as the designated seat warmer pending next month’s runoff election to replace former mayor Bob Filner, who resigned from office this past summer. 

You will remember that barely a year ago the freshly-elected mayor Bob Filner stepped onto the stage of the Balboa Theatre to deliver his first (and last) State of the City Address.  In an ironic twist to a yet-untold complex and sordid tale, Filner was ruefully introduced as the "real mayor" by his political rival, the inimitable scene stealer Nathan Fletcher.  To refresh your memory of that ill-omened event click here.  

You’ll notice that smiling stonily (ominously? cynically? conspiratorially?) upstaged in the shadows sat Councilman Todd Gloria and City Attorney Jan Goldsmith – practiced political actors already working in tandem alongside other disgruntled bigwig players to ring down the curtain ASAP on this problematic, confrontational, threatening, politically liberal change-agent of a new mayor.  Seven months later, sooner than they could have dreamed, they got their wish.

Act II: Strong Mayor Strikes Home
It’s been almost a decade since the city of San Diego converted from a “city manager” form of government to a “strong mayor” system.   The jury isn’t in yet on whether the switch was overall positive or negative, at least from the public perspective. 

But one thing’s for sure – city government now operates within a denser, darker, sweatier, more testosterone-driven political framework than ever before.  The full story about Bob Filner's demise will one day attest to that.  Meantime, the immediate aftermath of Filner’s rapidly-executed stoning gives us a tantalizing glimpse of what's awaiting us in our adopted "strong mayor" world of cutthroat politics.

For starters, take a look at the City Charter “strong mayor” section regarding how to handle a vacancy in mayor’s seat:

During the period of time when an appointment or election is pending to fill a vacancy in the Office of Mayor, the presiding officer of the Council shall be vested with the authority to supervise the staff remaining employed in the Office of the Mayor, to direct and exercise control over the City Manager in managing the affairs of the City under the purview of the Mayor and to exercise other power and authority vested in the Office of the Mayor when the exercise of such power and authority is required by law. This limited authority would include circumstances where the expeditious approval of a legislative action is necessary to meet a legal requirement imposed by a court or another governmental agency. Such limited authority would not include the exercise of the power of veto or any other discretionary privilege which is enjoyed by a person appointed or elected to the Office of Mayor.

Now consider that over the past five months the presiding officer of the Council – Councilman Todd Gloria – artfully draped himself in the robes of the mayoralty to strut his stuff and mark his territory, ignoring with impunity the intent and  limitations spelled out in the City Charter.  

With a wink and a nod from the City Attorney, the District 3 representative crowned himself mayor and embarked on reorganizing city government in his own image.  He hired, fired, rearranged, proclaimed, undid, reversed, and erased all traces of ex-mayor Filner's popular reforms and political direction in an illegitimate exercise of "discretionary privilege."  

Our soon-to-be-voter-approved-next “strong mayor” will find himself saddled with a slew of officials, appointees, directors, restructured lines of authority, policies, decisions, and hidden alliances that will prove difficult to control, let alone undo. Here's a piece of advice that might prove useful upfront: be sure to check your new office for stray bugs.

Meantime, the Councilman who recently saw fit to tweet to the world “I look amazing in animal prints” will be flashing his dazzling smile onstage this Wednesday and using the State of the City event to cement his credentials as an oh-so-flexible politician destined to go places.  We've had more than our share of quisling political opportunists in San Diego, so here's another piece of advice that might prove useful: Todd Gloria, just fuggedaboudit.

Act III: Our Next Best Chance
In one year from now San Diegans will be watching a duly-elected mayor -- either David Alvarez or Kevin Faulconer -- on the stage of the Balboa Theatre deliver the State of the City Address with a message to the people about what the city's been up to and where we ought to be headed.   Their messages would be vastly different from one another.  

Why? because the masters of political strangleholds who have traditionally straight-jacketed our city are throwing their considerable weight behind Kevin Faulconer.  

And the proponents of good government and progressive change -- having had a taste of what our city could and should be like -- are flexing their newly-developed muscles in support of David Alvarez.  

The political machinations in our city have become murky and devious but the best choice for the majority of San Diego voters is crystal clear: next year it must be David Alvarez on the Balboa Theatre stage in the spotlight delivering his State of the City Address.

Sex and the City

Let’s ease into this subject with a mindful autumn walk.  Notice the days getting shorter... morning air chillier... leaves turning gold on liquidamber trees.

Now notice a fact as unwavering as the seasons -- the fact that sex plays a dominant role in San Diego public affairs.  Hook it up with other San Diego mainstays (uninspired leadership, stunted civic aspirations, free-floating corruption, overinflated egos, corporate welfare, legal-establishment collusion, Republican Party strategy, dubious fidelity among leading Democrats, to name a few) and it wallops a punch potent enough to knock a new mayor out of the ring and force the city into a costly, rushed election to bring in a replacement. 

Of course this is not how the Chamber of Commerce markets our city.  It’s motto: Good for Business - Good for San Diego says it all.  Same for our Tourism Authority, which promotes the city as a clean-cut, open-air paradise: …70 miles of beautiful beaches, countless parks and gardens, and endless opportunities for pampering at one of the areas many spas and resorts… an excellent destination for some quality R+R.

I've noticed that San Diego sells itself as a trophy town of moderation, rectitude, and civility.  But scratch the surface and you’ll discover the other San Diego -- a town constantly preoccupied with commercialized sexual indulgences (move over, Las Vegas). 

• Aren’t we the fun-loving host of the over-the-line tournament, the frisky, sandy weekend of boosted beer, bouncy breasts, and bared behinds? 
• Isn’t the weekend street scene in our redeveloped Gaslamp Quarter every bit as raunchy as the notorious pre-CCDC days of sailor bars, hookers, and peepshows?
• And you wouldn't call our very own glistening rompers and exhibitionists at the summertime Pride Parade chopped liver, would you? 
• How about San Diego’s collection of privately-catered swinging establishments, open to you, me, and the lamppost? 
• And what would you say to hugh-hefner-wannabe accommodations upstairs at the U-T?
• Have you taken the oral history tour of City Hall, a behind the scenes tale of who-did-what-with-whom (or who-was-doing-what-with-himself)?  It starts at the 12th-floor Council Chambers and works its way down.
• And what about our ferociously fought-over 25-foot bayside statue immortalizing a sailor’s frontal assault on an unconsenting female – you know, the one with the woman in a headlock submitting to a forced, full-mouth kiss?  Once named “Unconditional Surrender” nowadays it’s known as felony false imprisonment.

Not bad for an upstanding city like ours that goes ape over tales of a mayor’s clumsy kiss, posterior pat, and too-tight arm around the shoulder.  (For a rare honest response from the U-T take a quick look at what Logan Jenkins has to say.)  Will we entertain similar hysteria over the next round of scandals that are bound to make headlines?

By now most of us who entertained high hopes for what an experienced, old-time liberal mayor like Bob Filner could bring to the city of San Diego have resigned ourselves to the new reality – which looks oddly like the old reality called business as usual.  Surely you've noticed what a busy beaver our interim mayor Todd Gloria has been in setting the clock back to pre-Filner time.  In fact, a time warp engineered by downtown Republicans along with select Democrats has pretty much erased all traces of what almost was but might have been.

Which brings us to the current candidates running to replace Bob Filner. 

Of the four front-running mayoral candidates, only one is being honest with the public about a core issue: the untenable financial state of the city.  The other three have chosen to avoid the subject.  They're choosing to promote the homespun San Diego fable about having our cake and eating it too. 

Mike Aguirre has taken every opportunity over the past couple of months of campaigning to make a simple but crucial point – that a big (and growing) chunk of the city’s general fund budget is set aside annually for payment into the employee pension fund.  This results in a significant reduction in the cash available to pay for routine city services.  This year's required annual pension payment is $275 million -- the bulk of which ($200 million) is eaten up as interest on the $2.3 billion pension deficit that drags the city down.  

Notice this contrast: a mere $55 million is allocated for our roads.  The decision to take from Peter (fire, police, roads, and neighborhoods) to pay off Paul (the City Employees Retirement System) was a choice made by former Mayor Jerry Sanders, abetted by the City Council, so he could fake a balanced budget and claim he had resolved the city’s fiscal crisis before leaving office.

You can hear plenty of campaign chatter about paved roads, upgraded libraries, recreation centers, parks, decent streets (smooth streets, in the words of Nathan Fletcher; sexy streets, per temporary-mayor Todd Gloria), homeless facilities, and other neighborhood needs.  You'll get a deafening silence from the others when Aguirre starts talking about the city's crippling pension problem. 

Aguirre is tackling the difficult financial issues head-on (despite sniping from candidate Fletcher).  The other candidates won’t touch it.  So far, neither has the U-T nor our other news and opinion providers.  Neither have the economic analysts and political gurus who comment regularly on city business.  (I noticed with dismay that then-mayor Filner also steered away from the same time bomb that's already detonating in other U.S. cities.  Detroit, anyone?)

David Alvarez has been denigrated as too young by Democrats who’ve been smitten by Nathan Fletcher.  But notice that there’s a mere three-year age difference between them -- Alvarez is 33, Fletcher is 36.  Notice that interim-mayor Todd Gloria is only 35.   Also notice that Alvarez has an upper hand in understanding how the city works and what makes it tick – an important qualification for anyone wanting to be mayor.  (Yes, I also noticed that the lack of municipal government expertise was a fatal shortcoming in the Filner administration.) 

Others question Alvarez’s independence from the Labor Council, his primary financial backers.  It’s a fair question that should be asked of all candidates running for office: Will you be free and strong enough to balance the demands of your friends and major financial backers with the good of the city at large?  While it seems to me that committed Democrats ought not to distance themselves from the union movement -- the most important ally American working people have ever had -- there's a lot of work to do by Democrats as well as labor unions before they reemerge as comprehensive, progressive, visionary leaders of the future.

Kevin Faulconer blithely sails by without anyone questioning who his keepers are.  He’s best described as San Diego’s retrograde candidate of the 20^th century – a cordial, sunburned, amorphous kind of guy sporting the Chamber of Commerce logo on his sleeve.  He may well have an underside (and who among us does not?) but so far his passive, follow-the-leader style has protected him from getting bitten where it hurts. 

Here’s one good thing about Faulconer: you know exactly what you’ll get… exactly who’ll be whispering in his ear… exactly what his agenda will be… and exactly what you’ll be fighting against.  He’s someone you can depend on to deliver what he and his financial backers know how to do best: the downtown fraternity two-step (one for you, one for me, more for you, more for me).

Nathan Fletcher is a cipher.  He’s been described as a changeling, a switch hitter, a chameleon adept at overnight transformation.  Other than a photogenic face and military boasts (what kind of person capitalizes on the business of interrogating prisoners of war?) you have no idea what you’re getting… who’s whispering in his ear… what his agenda will be.   Trendy clichés spill effortlessly from his lips: innovation... creativity... we put a man on the moon.  But he's like quicksand: there’s no there there. 

Keep in mind that Fletcher was adopted (metaphorically speaking) into the Qualcomm family and reaps the benefits of a well-paid corporate job and faux UCSD professorship. His wealthy and influential backers pave the way for him to scoop up high-profile Democratic endorsements like handfuls of Halloween candy.  We've all noticed that money wields inordinate influence over the political fortunes of seated elected officials as well as most of those who'd like to be.  He's belongs to somebody, but it's not the public.

Fletcher's political message boils down to this: I’m your man, San Diego!  Forget my past voting record!  Look into my eyes and trust me!

Sex and the city... the mayor's race... what's the connection?  There's no mystery to this one.  Sex has great commercial and utilitarian value in our town.  We either pretend not to notice it, or we use it as a political battering ram.  Notice that sex was the weapon of choice for deposing former-mayor Bob Filner.  It's precisely what brings us here today as we contemplate the mayor's race.  

San Diego voters will be making a choice about who will be our next mayor (notice that not choosing is a choice that permits someone else to choose for you).  My advice is to wait a while before turning in your vote.  Keep listening -- but not to the pollsters, not to political pundits, not to anyone's subjective calculus predicting the odds and trying to manipulate the outcome.

What are we listening for? less talk about smooth and sexy streets and a whole new conversation about the unsexy time bomb ticking in our back yards -- our multi-billion dollar municipal pension deficit.  

Any mayoral candidate who pretends he can fulfill his campaign promises of neighborhood improvements and safety protection by shutting his eyes to the way the city cooks the books guarantees bad consequences for all of us.  

I’ve never been good at playing the numbers (neither was my father -- though I named this blog in his honor, anyway).  I know what I've already heard and I intend to keep listening before I confirm my choice for our next mayor. 

The mystery of why Qualcomm adopted Nathan Fletcher

Did you ever suspect you were being taken for a ride but decide to go along with it anyway?  Did you ever ignore that little voice inside your head warning you to watch out! because the guy conning you was so smooth, so really cute, how could you say no?

You’ve just been introduced to Nathan Fletcher in his rematch race for mayor of San Diego.

Nathan Fletcher is funny, engaging, self-deprecating, and a topnotch storyteller.  He is low-keyed even when boasting, "I interrogated al-Qaeda… I can negotiate a labor deal."  (You might remember that Fletcher was in the Marine Corps Reserves while working in the office of Duke Cunningham, a San Diego congressman who also used his military experience as a political prop to win an election.  Cunningham was recently released from prison after serving a sentence for enriching himself illegally through bribery and fraud while in office.)

Nathan Fletcher is a performer with a special gift for reading the minds of his audience and bouncing back precisely what you want to hear.  He strings his words together in a tightly-drilled speech pattern that convinces you he’s answered your question -- even when he hasn’t. 

Though once excoriated by labor unions for his conservative voting record, now his chief cheerleader is former labor-leader Lorena Gonzalez.  He’s regarded as a good catch on both sides of the fence, or so it would seem from the number of wealthy San Diegans who’ve endorsed him for mayor. 
 
Nathan Fletcher is the Great Gatsby of our time -- a fabricated man filled with longing and wild ambition but not quite who you think he is… was… wants to be...

Which brings us to the mystery of the week: why was Nathan Fletcher plucked from a pool of contenders by Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs, judged best in show, and adopted by the Qualcomm family? 

Fletcher is not an engineer, not a businessman, not the holder of specialized academic degrees.  Yet he's got a job at Qualcomm that pays him $400,000/year.  What makes him worth it?

Meanwhile, he’s running an all-out political campaign for mayor of San Diego on company time and the big boss is doing his darndest to catapult him into office.  How come?

When the downtown establishment throws its full faith and credit behind Kevin Faulconer, we know that they know what they expect to get from him.   Same goes for the Labor Council endorsement of David Alvarez.  But what in the world does Irwin Jacobs want and expect to get from San Diego’s next mayor, should it be Nathan Fletcher?  It's a mystery.

I have a hunch part of the answer lies in an arcane section of the San Diego City Charter, specifically Article VI - Board of Education.

Look back to 1931 – that’s when a manager-council form of government was codified in the San Diego City Charter.  Concurrently, the city’s school system (which then included kindergarten, elementary, secondary, evening, technical, and parental schools) was codified as Article VI.  It states: “The government of the San Diego School District shall be vested in a Board of Education, composed of five members who shall be elected at large by the electors of the School District at the same time as the members of the City Council.”

Between then and now there’ve been a number of minor amendments to Article VI -- one that narrowed the scope of the school district to kindergarten through secondary schools and others that adjusted salaries, terms of office, and timetables for electing new Board members.

Today, you'll still find election procedures for the 5-member Board of Education in Article VI of the City Charter and, as always, any changes to the Charter must be approved by San Diego voters.

Now think back three years when an (unsuccessful) attempt was made to amend Article VI.  The purpose was not to adjust salaries, terms of office, or election timetables but to make a significant change -- to increase the size of the School Board from 5 to 9 members by appointing 4 additional people to preside as Board members.  

These 4 would not be publicly elected.  Instead they would be chosen by a committee of Chamber of Commerce/ Economic Development business organizations, some university leaders, and a select group of parents.  We were told this change would "depoliticize" the School Board.

The two big funders of this proposed amendment were charter school proponent and wealthy businessman Rod Dammeyer and Qualcomm's Irwin Jacobs.  Notable boosters included organized advocates of the charter school movement.

What has this got to do with Nathan Fletcher's relationship to Qualcomm?  Might it be that Irwin Jacobs et al. have not given up on their plans to redesign the city school system in their own image?  Is this why Fletcher has been parading his credentials as an educator?  Is Fletcher their political proxy?

Notice Fletcher’s frequent campaign remarks about school district education.  He lifts stock phrases from his Qualcomm-sponsored speeches: best practices… innovation... vocational training... the digital divide… technical curriculum for middle school and high school.  He calls for forming an independent educational foundation to guide public education.

Now notice Fletcher’s trumped-up credentials as an educator.  On January 1, 2013 Nathan Fletcher was appointed “Professor of Practice” in the political science department at UCSD.  Don't laugh.  He is the first-ever appointed practitioner of a newly-invented, no-academic-degree-required, privately-funded position to teach part-time at the university, subject matter to be determined.  

And notice that while others in the academic jungle sweat and toil for years to attain the level of Professor, Fletcher was quietly ushered through a rear door to the top of the ivory tower -- his feet barely alighting on the red carpet linking Qualcomm headquarters to UCSD.  It's handy to have wealthy patrons in high places, even when they use you for their own purposes.

Nobody disputes the desirability of improving public education.  The question to ask ourselves is: Is this a role for the mayor of a city facing unprecedented deficits and debt with no good remedies in sight? In a city that hasn't yet straightened out the kinks from our switch to a 'strong mayor' form of governance why would we want our mayor to take on the complex and challenging world of public education, as well?  Especially one who's so ill-equipped?

Might not San Diego's mayor contribute to the success of our school system through constructive collaboration with school board members, principals, parents, health officials, education experts, business interests, and others in this city who support public education.  Isn't it preferable to discourage private and political incursions into the city schools?  

What do we know about the mysterious Fletcher-Qualcomm connection?  We know that Fletcher’s status as beneficiary of Irwin Jacobs' largesse is a clue to the presumptive power behind the wished-for mayoral throne.  It reminds us that influential private individuals -- no matter how well-intentioned -- tend to feel free (even entitled) to use the democratic process to gain control of the public domain.  That might be okay with Fletcher – it's not with me.

We know that Fletcher’s concocted job in a classroom at UCSD doesn’t give him credibility for spearheading changes in our school system.  He may want you to think it does – it doesn’t. 

We know that Nathan Fletcher’s touted experience as a Marine has nothing to do with his capability or desirability to be San Diego’s new mayor.  He seems to think it does – I don’t.   

We know that we don’t know who Fletcher really is.  Within the span of 500 days he went from calling himself a Republican to an Independent to a Democrat.  He disavows his past voting record.  He says he's seen the light and now he answers to a different drummer.  He wants us to believe that an indeterminate chameleon with identity confusion would be a good choice for our next mayor -- I don't buy it.  

We know that using democratic means to achieve undemocratic ends is never a good idea.  People engaged in political subterfuge are not acting in the best interests of our collective future and should be sent packing -- I think you will agree.

The birds, the bees, and the wolf pack, Part II

Did Bob Filner jump? did he fall? was he pushed?

Forget you, Nancy Drew.  You’re being replaced by Perry Mason, super-sleuth defense attorney from old TV days.  Every week at the zero hour this guy would laboriously rise up in the middle of the courtroom and pull a rabbit out of a hat.  First he'd say something enigmatic to the judge, then to the jury.  Soon he’d turn to the seated onlookers and dramatically finger the real culprit… swindler… murderer… for a histrionic wrap-up to another solved case.

Problem is, the case against Bob Filner doesn't lend itself to cheap theatrics.  The complexity and political fallout of Bob Filner's ouster bring his political demise closer to classic tragedy than pulp fiction -- not merely for him personally but for the future of our city.  

So let's stick with the diligent approach of Ms Drew to arrive at some answers to this mayoral mystery: did Bob Filner jump? fall? or get pushed? and when the curtains are drawn back will we find a master manipulator slinking around in the shadows? 

A quick recap: The overblown Bob Filner pseudo-sex-saga (are you married... I’d like to kiss you... come to dinner with me) elicited an outpouring of righteous indignation from all corners of the city -- from Democrats and Republicans, males and females, reporters and readers, heavyweight professionals and the up-and-coming.

And a bevy of hometown political strivers got into the act -- the Jan Goldsmiths, Kevin Faulconers, Todd Glorias, Sheriff Gores, Nathan Fletchers, Carl DeMaios – decrying the former-mayor’s “disrespect” for women and shedding crocodile tears for the rainbow of plaintiffs who were hand-delivered on schedule to local reporters, TV anchors, and the national media to bare their mortification and shame to the viewing public. 

After hounding the mayor out of office our Republican city council members and Democratic council president glommed onto a megaphone provided by the local news media to broadcast their litany of coded slogans: Heal our city! End the civic nightmare! Get San Diego back on track!   

Translated that means: Turn the clock back to the Jerry Sanders era of business-as usual!  Purge all traces of Bob Filner’s political, economic, environmental, and social agenda from the political record!  And from public memory!

On the surface, ex-mayor Filner’s agenda seemed benign.  He promised voters he would: 1) bring new faces to the table; and 2) use the tools of government to benefit the public at large, not just the financial interests of the private sector.  Yet the evidence is clear that from the day he stepped into his 11th floor office, efforts were underway outside and inside City Hall to abort his term as mayor... to get rid of him ASAP.  

Within a week the City Council President (a fellow Democrat) began undercutting the mayor's agenda.  Within a two weeks the City Attorney began commenting publicly about the mayor's temper and other "behavior issues," an approach he recently acknowledged was part of an overall "strategy."  Within a month Filner was being caricatured in the U-T and on-line press as the outsider… the other.  By summertime he was being painted by nationwide commentators as the pervert.  Through concerted efforts he was methodically quartered and drawn... demonized.  It was an ugly process.

What made Bob Filner so intolerable to the city’s traditional power brokers and political rivals to justify a crusade so wildly disproportionate to the low-level harassment accusations leveled against him?  His behavior toward women was foolish and puerile but the threats he posed to the San Diego wolfpack must have loomed large… he-man sized.  The threat of new faces? new voices? the plan to benefit the public?

It’s still too early for definitive identification of all the faces behind the ouster of Bob Filner (the upcoming mayor’s race and ensuing battles for control will fill in many of the blanks) but we’ve got plenty of clues to start us off. 

So here’s the plan: all suspects in what has been labeled a political coup will be herded into one big room and sorted out. Players from outside the mayor’s office will be directed to the left side.  Players from inside the mayor’s office will keep to the right.  A path down the middle will be kept clear for surreptitious comings and goings by people straddling the fence.

Here's who gets sent to the left: