U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Endorses Mat Kostrinsky for City Council District 7

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Endorses Mat Kostrinsky for City Council District 7

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Kimber Tabak (619) 500-3580

San Diego, CA – March 5, 2012 – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, one of California’s most respected elected officials, endorsed Mat Kostrinsky for City Council District 7.

"I have known Mat Kostrinsky for more than a decade, and relied on his counsel on matters in San Diego. He’s strong and independent,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein. “I’m confident Mat will make sure city government is working for you, and all the people of District 7,” added Feinstein.

"It is an honor to be endorsed by Senator Feinstein. She has an incredible record of bringing together people with diverse opinions to solve problems and get results," said Mat Kostrinsky. “I look forward to working with her to ensure we support our veterans, strengthen our economy, and keep San Diego safe.”

In addition to being supported by Senator Feinstein, Kostrinsky has also been endorsed by former San Diego Councilmember Donna Frye and current Councilmembers Todd Gloria, David Alvarez and Marti Emerald.

Kostrinsky grew up in the San Diego communities of San Carlos and Del Cerro. He attended Pershing Middle School, Patrick Henry High School and graduated from San Diego State University. Mat and his wife, Jen, a family practice physician, are raising their two children in the same neighborhood where Mat grew up. For more information, please go to his website at www.Mat4CityCouncil.com

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Uptown Throwdown Continued

So now an update on the D3 race pitting Todd Gloria vs Steve Whitburn race.

On the 28th of last month the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council decided to scrap the triple endorsement since John Hartley came in third and throw their full weight behind Gloria.

Rumors are flying that Steve did very badly during the COPE interview and didn't do so well answering some questions and did not do a great job explaining his answers. His responses softened his support within some of the membership. Unfortunately, I couldn't get clarification from my source what were those questions and how did he answer them. All my source said was that it was wasn't good.

On top of this Progressive San Diego, an organization that has been strong supporters of Donna Frye. Has decided to dual endorse both candidates this past week as opposed to fully Support Donna's protege Steven Whitburn. This is surprising since many members of the board are strong Donna supporters who were very active in her runs for Mayor and the organization strongly supports many of her issues.

Could this be fallout from Donna's new found friendship with Carl DeMaio? If so, Is Steve's close association with Donna becoming a liability? After all it's been said that recent actions by Donna in terms of her support of the Mayor's veto on Big Box and her position against the amicus brief on marriage equality have been causing rifts within groups that you could rely on supporting her. Are these rifts the cause of this seeming shift toward Todd's favor?

What do you think?

Ben Hueso Happened

Disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign which has worked on the Blackwater issue, but these opinions are my own.

Earlier this week, I asked What the Hell happened in San Diego in the June 3 election. I explored a particularly underwhelming electoral performance and noted that there was a massive failure of leadership from the city's elected Democrats (active and retired). Councilmember Donna Frye supported GOP mayoral challenger Steve Francis and Council President Scott Peters ran against the Democratic incumbent City Attorney Mike Aguirre. Incidentally, both Francis and Peters failed to make it to the November runoff.

Then yesterday it happened again. Councilmember Ben Hueso, who in May was rallying to Block Blackwater in his council district, announced his endorsement of Republican city attorney candidate Jan Goldsmith. This is particularly notable because Goldsmith's opponent is incumbent Mike Aguirre. Aguirre has been a champion for the city in the fight to force Blackwater's permits into public hearing at a time when a number of other city leaders have...attended a rally and then thrown up their hands.

If Jan Goldsmith as City Attorney would go to bat over Blackwater or any other number of issues that might be uncomfortable for the Mayor or inconvenient for the City Council, I would be absolutely flabbergasted. The campaign, like every other challenge to Aguirre this year, has been centered around a promise to sit down and shut up. The last thing this city needs is another elected official who doesn't have the necessary combination of power and motivation to force important issues.

As the UT newsblog notes, Hueso and Aguirre have never exactly been close. And Aguirre has taken a lot of flack throughout his term as City Attorney for his rabid pursuit of Mayor Jerry Sanders for all manner of scandal- real or imagined. But as Councilmember Hueso well knows because he's at the meetings, the City Council hasn't exactly put on a clinic when it comes to keeping mayoral power checked by the legislative branch. Fighting the good fight has consistently taken a back seat over the past two and a half years to misguided "pragmatism" that largely allowed Mayor Sanders to get anything he wanted.

So what we're left with is Ben Hueso surveying this scene- Mayor Sanders re-elected to a second term with what CW will term a convincing mandate (it's not, the turnout was too low to carry a mandate) and a City Council that will likely go from a narrow Democratic advantage to an even split, further neutering a body that had given itself over to the inevitability of the Strong Mayor government- and deciding that the best thing for the city is that the single dissonant voice of any weight in the city government should be replaced by, as the UT put it,

Hueso said the city attorney's political persuasion is less important to him than getting "the best legal advice."

If the Democratic Party in San Diego is ever going to be able to capitalize on the tremendous infrastructure building being done at the precinct and street-corner level, leading Democrats need to stop undercutting both their party and basic points of fundamental governance at every opportunity.

What happened in San Diego? Ben Hueso and destructive politics like this happened.

Cross posted at Calitics

RSVP "Get to Know Your Candidates" Forum

Get to Know Your Candidates
(Not Your Typical Candidate Forum)

Progressive San Diego invites you to our one-on-one candidate mixer on
Thursday, April 17th
6:00pm - 8:00pm
1359 Grove Street
San Diego, CA 92102
The event will feature PSD's endorsed candidates and City Attorney candidates. Our event is open to members and friends of PSD that would like to have some one-on-one face time with the candidates.

Donna Frye
will be our special guest speaker to discuss the No on Proposition C campaign for June 3rd.

Confirmed Candidates So Far
Mike Aguirre, Scott Peters, Brian Maienschein, Jan Goldsmith, Amy Lepine, Richard Barrera*, John Lee Evans*, Sherri Lightner*, Arlie Ricasa*, Sheila Jackson, Todd Gloria, Stephen Whitburn

RSVP to: Tommie Watson@ProgressiveSD.org or (617) 365-6788

Suggested Donation: $20.00
Host Committee: $75.00

*PSD Endorsed Candidates

San Diego Ready to Build Up, Not Out

For the first time since 1979, the City of San Diego is reviewing and updating its general plan for growth and development. The report is more than 300 pages long and not even *I* am nerd enough to read it all (ok, not yet), but it's kicking up quite a stir as it recommends a rather dramatic shift to infill, redevelopment and other building up instead of out priorities. Why the shift? Well, there's no more room. As the U-T points out, only 4% of San Diego remains open for new development. Which means it's time to start thinking like an actual city instead of neverending suburbia.

This notion has of course stirred up plenty of controversy. Some of it is legitimate, like Councilmember Donna Frye's concerns about infrastructure and services keeping up with increased density. Some of it is mostly just people just trying to cover their own butts without regard for the broader picture. I'm all for making sure that the projects are executed correctly, but criticisms along the lines of "if it's done wrong, it'll be bad" really don't help me much.

Calitics has, on many occasions, discussed the need to change the way California thinks about development. Robert in Monterey has led the way on the notion that building density and a non-car based transportation system is key to the next generation of planning. So while I'm cynical like many people around town who say "The plan has these wonderful platitudes but on every page," I'm also encouraged by just the notion of setting a goal of building forward-thinking urban density.

San Diego's take on it will apparently focus on these ten priorities:

The proposed new blueprint for San Diego is guided by 10 principles. They are:

An open-space network formed by parks, canyons, river valleys, habitats, beaches and ocean.

Diverse residential communities formed by the open-space network.

Compact and walkable mixed-use villages.

Employment centers for a strong economy.

A regional transportation network of walkways, bikeways, transit, roadways and freeways that link communities to each other and to employment centers.

High quality, affordable and well-maintained public facilities.

Historic districts and sites that respect San Diego's heritage.

Balanced communities that offer opportunities for all San Diegans.

A clean and sustainable environment.

A high aesthetic standard.

Mayor Jerry Sanders, in a serious battle with fellow right-winger Steve Francis (hitting from the left and the right cause there's no major Dem in the race) for November's mayoral election, is dusting off his anti-labor credentials by complaining about the promotion of living wage regulation for low-wage industries like, say, tourism. Center for Policy Initiatives has coincidentally (not at all a coincidence) reminded San Diegans this week that the local economy has not exactly been churning out the big bucks (pdf). Via email:

In San Diego County, two-thirds of all jobs created since 1990 are in the bottom third of wage levels -- with median pay of $24,500 a year. Research from the California Budget Project shows that even a person living alone needs $28,000 a year to meet basic living expenses in our county.

Nice. So San Diego is producing jobs that pay too little to live in San Diego, thus the living wage is a bad idea. Clearly. Living is bad. Affording to live in San Diego is bad for the local economy. Jerry Sanders is an economic mastermind.

But where this really will start hitting problems is when people have to pay for it. Not because people are unwilling to pay for good stuff, but because of the near-toxic combination of politicians who demonize government inefficiency (that they contribute to), the media that laps up the notion (because it's easier than being a legitimate watchdog), and the years of (to put it nicely) crap government in San Diego.

But as Planning Commission Chairman Barry Schultz puts it, "if we want to have this vision we have to be willing to contribute our part."

Exactly.

Cross posted from Calitics

Aguirre on the outs or out of his mind?

With all the press Mike Aguirre has been getting lately, I am curious if he has anyone left supporting him? This telling City Beat blog suggests that even his old friend Donna Frye is distancing herself from the toxic City Attorney. I am sure it means that in Aguirre's mind, Donna has also entered the ranks of the corrupt establishment.

The words that were exchanged between UT Reporter Alex Roth and Mike Aguirre earlier this week sparked a thought. I have heard countless rumors about the strange and inappropriate things Aguirre has said to people over the last few years. I thought it might be fun to see if we could find the craziest. If you know of any, post 'em here...

Warning Shot Fired at Steve Francis

Over at the UT's "Finest Blog" resident Bob Kittle lapdog, Chris Reed fired off what clearly is a warning shot at Steve Francis regarding his potential challenge to Jerry Sanders for mayor. In a post on Friday afternoon Reed writes:

Just when it looks like San Diego is on track to rid itself next year of its out-of-control city attorney, Francis is apparently gearing up to run a heavily funded campaign that will depict Mayor Jerry Sanders as the city's biggest problem while ignoring Aguirre.

In so doing, Francis would directly challenge the emerging narrative that holds Aguirre accountable for all he has done to hurt the city. Such a campaign would also undermine the emerging awareness of reformers that while City Hall is still sleazy, Aguirre's antics (kind word) actually hurt the cause of reform.[Link]

This is Reed at his best, carrying the water for the UT (i.e. Republican Party establishment) in stating the standard talking point on Mike Aguirre. He also echos the recent concern I have heard from the anti-Aguirre camp when he further states:

If Francis pulls his punches on Aguirre and allows for the emergence of a de facto unified Francis-Aguirre front against the mayor, watch out. Mike can revive his old tropes by saying, "Look! Steve Francis agrees with me!"

If you asked me today whom I would vote for mayor next year, I would say I don't know. But if Francis runs a campaign that helps rehabilitate Aguirre, I wouldn't vote
for him in a million years.

Every single campaign forum, Francis should be pressed to offer a clear and coherent analysis of Aguirre's job performance. If he doesn't admit that Aguirre has been a big reason why Sanders has never really hit his stride, that should be held against him.[Link]

Without a prominent Democratic to run for mayor next year (and no, I don't consider Donna Fyre that person), the warning to Francis is quite clear. Steve, we don't mind if you want to spend several million dollars of your own money in another quixotic run for mayor, but don't you get in our way as we try to wrestle back the City Attorney from Mike Aguirre.

I always thought Chris Reed was supposed to be the big "independent" thinker on the UT editorial board. I guess not, since it appears that he needs to stay in favor with Bob Kittle.

Councilwoman Donna Fyre joins the Fight to Save KLSD

Friday morning, the grassroots group SaveKLSD held their biggest rally yet in support of KLSD/AM 1360 progressive talk radio, just before an expected format change decision by owner Clear Channel. San Diego City Council Member Donna Frye and San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre energized the crowd with their championship of KLSD and the need for our community to have diverse viewpoints on the publicly owned airwaves.

The event kicked off at 6:30 a.m., near Clear Channel’s office in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego. Shortly after eight o’clock, bagpiper Chip Hatch led hundreds of people to Clear Channel’s parking lot, where participants rallied as The Stacy Taylor Show aired live from the studio inside. Callers to the show who expressed their support for KLSD included Reverend Madison Shockley of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad; Donald Cohen, director of the Center on Policy Initiatives. After the show, Stacy Taylor thanked supporters and program director Cliff Albert addressed the crowd, but made no definitive announcements about the fate of KLSD’s progressive talk format.

KLSD has been in limbo since August, when news hit of a possible format change. Within days, listeners formed SaveKLSD (http://saveklsd.com/) and held a rally attended by about 500 people. Since then, thousands of people have signed an online petition to save KLSD, and Clear Channel has been inundated with email urging it to keep the progressive talk format. Sources say KLSD’s format may change to sports talk, even though San Diego already has several sports talk stations. In addition, San Diego has plenty of conservative radio programming, but none from a progressive political point-of-view.

Bigger than Manhattan!

Via Daily Kos: The following link takes you to an interesting graph showing the total worldwide square footage for fast food restaurants and chain stores. Naturally, Wal-Mart by a wide margin has more square footage than anyone else, but what is really disturbing is that Wal-Mart's total acreage is 20% larger than Manhattan. Check out the graph to see it for yourself. And thanks to Donna Frye for her flip-flop back in July on the Big Box ordinance, San Diego may soon be adding to that square footage total for Wal-Mart.

D3 a Two Man Race?

Interesting happenings in the San Diego District 3 Council race. It seems John Hartley has decided to take on Todd Gloria as if this is a two man race. Hartley fired off a letter to Gloria, as reported in VOSD, condemning The Center for holding their dinner at a non-union hotel. The stunt served two purposes. First, a clear message to the unions that Hartley will be more of an advocate for their issues than Gloria. Second, that Hartley sees this as a contest between the two. Insiders have been saying Hartley's only shot to win this is in the primary, with low GLBT turnout. Those chances get better if he can snag a labor endorsement. But what does this mean for the flailing campaign of Stephen Whitburn? Did he peek too soon and rely too heavily on the (now controversial) Donna Frye endorsement? Is this really down to battle between Gloria and Hartley?

Hard Truths about Donna Frye

I want to strongly recommend Carl Luna's column in this week's issue of City Beat regarding Councilwoman Donna Frye. Luna puts down on paper what I know a lot of people have been thinking about her for quite sometime now. He argues: "In trying to best serve her constituents in District 6 as well as the city at large, Frye has often--this observer would argue too often--forfeited her own judgment in favor of some ill-defined vox populi." [Link]

Many of us admire and respect Donna Frye for the leadership she has demonstrated in trying to change the way politics is conducted here in the city of San Diego. Donna's problem as so pointedly described by Carl Luna is "[her] often admirable but also sometimes extreme commitment to doing what the people want runs the risk of demagoguery." [Link]

This I think gets to the core of the problem with Donna Frye. She has not been a truly effective politician, because she has not been able to or is unwilling to find that area between maintaining your core principles and compromising on some of them to achieve some accomplishments. Go read the whole column and come back and comment. [Link]

What a choice...

So, I got an e-mail from a friend who got polled this weekend on the Mayor's Race. She said it definitely sounded like a push towards Steve Francis, but still unbiased enough to be called a poll. The sad thing - according to my friend - was they ask, if the election were held today, who would you vote for Donna Frye, Jerry Sanders or Steve Francis? That's it. They didn't even allow her to choose Jim Bell. Let's be honest - if that is the threesome you have to choose from, and you are looking to escape by voting for Jim Bell -things have gotten pretty bad for Dems in San Diego. Where's our leadership when we need it?

Some other interesting points about this poll:

They tested if the voter would be swayed to vote for Francis if Frye endorsed him. (Is there something our fair lady hasn't told us? Maybe she is a Republican at heart). Also suggested he may pull from bipartisan support.

They got personal on questions about Sander's reasons for leaving the United Way, citing stress and health problems.

They tested a bunch of questions about illegal immigration and / sanctuary city as a hit on Sanders. Sounds like a typical race-baiting Republican election.

All I can say is... can't we do better?

Profiles in Courage?

It appears Councilwoman Donna Frye has decided to take a mulligan in regards to her vote this past Tuesday regarding the "friend of the court" brief endorsing same-sex marriage. According VOSD Councilwoman Frye stated that she will vote "yes" this time when it comes back up for a vote on September 18. I guess you can't have both labor and the LGBT community mad at you if you want to run for mayor?

Et tu, Donna?

Well, what a surprise, maverick City Councilwoman Donna Frye provided the NO vote to prevent the City of San Diego from joining an amicus brief to the California Supreme Court in support of marriage equality. Democrats Toni Atkins, Scott Peters and Ben Hueso, were joined by independent-Republican Jim Madaffer in voting for the resolution. Frye made some comments about process to explain her vote. But, true blue progressive democrats have to wonder: whose side is she on anyway? This was not a shock to many activists who saw a similar betrayal a few months ago when Frye reversed her position on the Wal-Mart ban and voted to sustain a mayoral veto at the 11th hour. Is Frye plotting a run for Mayor? And if so, who does she plan to attract to her camp with these votes?

On another note, who would think that the progressive block on the City Council – on any vote - would be Atkins, Hueso, Madaffer and Peters?

It must be the heat wave!