They Said What Again?

Sometimes there are comments that make you wonder what people were they thinking or even if they were thinking at all.  This week we had several good ones, but below are the best:

Minimum Wage - Chris Gluck of Wine Vault & Bistro should stick to his business and stay out politics, because I don’t know if he actual has a successful business, but his comment this week about the minimum wage was a good one.  Chris was asked questions about the ordinance and he said, “We have a tip pool system here that encourages wait staff to pitch in and help other wait staff,” thus meaning he knows he pays low wages to some of his staff, but he should not increase it, because he has his other staff do it for him. Though, the gem was when Chris said, “Maybe Todd [Gloria] needs to open up a restaurant,” which only could mean he would like Todd to see what it is like to pay these higher wages and run a business.  Um, maybe Chris should live on his low wage salary he offers his own employees and see what it is like for them?

Minimum Wage – I understand this was from a week ago, but these comments were to good not to add to this post.  During the debate amongst the city council members the sage of the city council shared his words of wisdom.  Scott Sherman told us he has to work two jobs now as a councilmember that is paid $75,386 a year to survive.  I guess he thinks those making minimum wage working 40-hours a week that work all 52-weeks make $18,720 don't need to survive.  Scott commented at 1:25 on the city broadcast of his speech saying, "1.50 an hour more will not raise people out of poverty” admitting minimum wage is poverty and the increase is not even enough to live on.  Though, he then capped off his glorious speech saying something along the lines that if the minimum wage is increased, then businesses will let people go and those released will have to go on public assistance.  Does Scott not know that people earning minimum wage are on public assistance now and the government is subsidizing these low wage businesses?  As a person that does not like when government taxes anything, then he should want businesses not to shift their cost onto us, the taxpayers.

Paid Sick Days - This weekend did not come soon enough for this next double take victim.  Eric Lund is the general manager of the East County Chamber of Commerce.  It seems he didn’t want to take a back seat to the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce over the state soon passage of paid sick day legislation.  Eric stepped up and provided us with a classic to end the week.  Eric said to the UT San Diego, “It’s just bad for business. It’s bad for employees,” because Eric thinks being paid to stay home sick is not a good for an employee, but coming in sick or staying home unpaid is so much better.  Does Eric have paid sick time?

Karl Rove Hypocrisy Alert: He Supports Same Budget Approach As Peters

 

San Diego -- Turns out Karl Rove is a big fan of the Simpson-Bowles approach to deficit reduction, which wouldn’t be all that newsworthy were Rove not spending $705,000 in attack ads lambasting Rep. Scott Peters for supporting the exact same approach.




Today comes news about Rove’s effusive praise of Simpson-Bowles. At one point Rove called the bipartisan proposal for balancing the federal budget “the blueprint for righting the nation’s finances.” Rove also has been “repeatedly attacking President Obama for not enacting its recommendations,” Media Matters for America reports.



The news comes roughly a week after Rove’s political-action committee began airing $705,000 worth of attack ads in San Diego. The ads attack Peters for his support of the exact same Simpson-Bowles approach, saying: “Peters’ approach doesn’t make sense.”



“Karl Rove’s hypocrisy is so mind-boggling that you have to wonder if he even watched these ads before they started airing on TV,” said Alex Roth, communications director for the Scott Peters for Congress Campaign.  “Rove should probably stick to his area of expertise – predicting elections.”

VIDEO: DeMaio Says He'll Change Congress By Being Like Tea Party Sen. Ted Cruz

 

San Diego -- Today the Scott Peters for Congress campaign released more evidence proving that Carl DeMaio’s record and philosophy are pure Tea Party extremism, regardless of his transparent attempts to rebrand himself.


In this video from last year, notably recorded on the day the Tea Party shut down the federal government, Carl DeMaio was asked at a public appearance how a freshman legislator could make a difference in Congress.

His answer: He cited Ted Cruz, the Texas Tea Party senator and the man who led the charge to shut down the federal government.

“Take a look at what Ted Cruz is doing,” DeMaio told his audience. “He’s a freshman senator. He’s certainly creating a lot of stir. So I do believe one individual can make a difference. And it’s a question of whether you’re willing to stand your ground.”

So on the same day Ted Cruz succeeded in his wild-eyed mission to shut down the government, Carl DeMaio chose to give Cruz a shout-out.

“Every day brings more evidence that Carl DeMaio is fundamentally aligned with the Tea Party,” said Alex Roth, communications director for the Scott Peters for Congress Campaign. “On the very first day of the government shutdown created by Ted Cruz and his allies, Carl DeMaio publicly cites Cruz as a guy making a difference in our nation’s capital. Who but a fan of the Tea Party would ever make such a reference?”

For raw video of DeMaio’s speech, click here and here.

Even By DeMaio's Standards, His Latest Ad is Utterly Deceptive

 

San Diego -- Even by Carl DeMaio’s standards, his latest ad is so deceptive that it demands a response to set the record straight:

The ad claims:

1. That Peters “opposed pension reforms.”

Sadly for DeMaio, there’s video that makes this statement downright laughable. Specifically, the video shows a 2008 press conference in which DeMaio stands next to City Council President Peters and praises the council’s work on pension reform, calling those reforms “the first step towards sustainable pension benefits for the city of San Diego.”  As DeMaio well knows, the pension reforms championed by Scott Peters – and announced at that very press conference -- will save the city an estimated $22 million a year. And Mayor Jerry Sanders called Scott Peters a valuable partner in meaningful pension reform.

2. That Peters “voted to increase his own pension.”

This statement is about as misleading as it gets. First, as DeMaio knows, Scott Peters has donated every penny of his city pension to San Diego’s city libraries. Second, the ad apparently refers to Peters’ vote to raise City Council pay from $71,522 to $75,386 – a raise he didn’t accept for himself. Not only did Peters’ own salary remain at $71,522, he took home only $30,000 of that salary in 2008 and used the rest towards providing better constituent service from his council office.

 “This ad reveals Carl DeMaio’s basic campaign strategy, which is to try to bamboozle the voters at every turn between now and Election Day,” said Alex Roth, communications director for the Scott Peters for Congress campaign. “But the voters are too smart for that. They won’t fall for this deceptive ad campaign.”

Assemblywoman Gonzalez’s Bill To Protect All Peace Officers Injured in the Line of Duty Passes Full Legislature, Sent to Governor Brown

AB 2052 closes gaps in safety net for injured police, expanding coverage to all law enforcement officers

SACRAMENTO – (Monday, August 25, 2014) – The State Assembly voted today to send to Gov. Brown for his signature a bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) to ensure that all classifications of peace officers receive the workers' compensation health protection they deserve if they are injured in the line of duty.

“We can all agree that California has a moral responsibility to ensure every peace officer receives basic workers' compensation protections if they're injured in the line of duty,” Gonzalez said. “With AB 2052, the officers who protect students in our schools and universities, passengers in our airports and our transit systems, and many others whose protection we rely upon will be cared for.”

When the workers’ compensation section of the Labor Code was written in the 1970’s, the intent was to include all peace officers that performed the duties of active law enforcement as having a rebuttable presumption that certain injuries were related to their occupation. Assembly Bill 2052 will expand the existing workers' compensation protections or work-related injuries to new classifications of peace officers which didn't exist at that time, such as school police, transit police and airport police.

The bill was supported by twenty five public safety organizations including the Peace Officers Research Association of California, Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, Association of Probation Supervisors, California Correctional Peace Officers Association, California School Employees Association, California State Firefighters’ Association, and State Coalition of Probation Organizations.

AB 2052 was approved by the Assembly on a 51-10 vote Monday after it passed the State Senate with 27-8 bipartisan vote last Thursday. Gov. Brown has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bill.