The Morning Report
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More than half of high-propensity voters recently surveyed said that the $20.3 million Kroll report went too easy on the City Council and others, according to a poll released today by Datamar Inc.
The poll of 469 consistent San Diego voters found that 54.4 percent of respondents believed the report – which found council members negligently, but not recklessly or intentionally, culpable for the city’s erroneous statements to investors – was “not tough enough.” Only 21.1 percent believed the report to be “too tough,” while 7.7 percent found it to be “correct.”
The five sitting City Council members named in the report each faired differently in their individual districts, with Council President Scott Peters fairing the worst and Councilwoman Donna Frye the best.
In District 1, 25.2 percent of respondents characterized Council President Scott Peters’ job performance as “criminally reckless or intentional,” while 31.5 percent gave him a “satisfactory” rating and 29.7 believe him to be “negligent or incompetent.” Fifty-five percent of respondents found Frye’s performance to be satisfactory, with 8.1 percent believing her performance was “criminally reckless or intentional.” (The poll used the precise legal terminology found in the report.)
Overall, Mayor Jerry Sanders and City Attorney Mike Aguirre continued to hold strong approval ratings, with 79.1 percent approving of the mayor’s performance and 63.8 percent approving of the city attorney’s work. The City Council as a whole had an approval rating of 38 percent.
And how do San Diegans want to deal with the city’s financial problems?
Nearly 40 percent said “mostly through pension benefit rollbacks.” About 30 percent said through a “combination of spending cuts, tax increases, and pension benefit rollbacks.” “Mostly through spending cuts” got 13.2 percent; 8.3 percent said “mostly through tax and fee increases;” and 6.2 percent opted for bankruptcy.
The bonus question: Should voters or the City Council make the ultimate decision on the controversial water reuse program? The answer: 77.4 percent said voters should decide.
Click here for the full results of the poll (there’s also a question about former Mayor Dick Murphy, former City Attorney Casey Gwinn and former City Manager Jack McGrory).