The Morning Report
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District 3 candidate John Hartley challenged fellow competitor Todd Gloria to relocate a charity event from the Marriott downtown to a union hotel.
Gloria is a past chairman of the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center, known as just “the Center,” which is hosting a fundraising gala for its programs at the nonunion hotel next month. In a letter, Hartley urged him to convince the rest of the Center’s board to move it to a facility that employees union workers.
Because of organized labor, literally hundreds of thousands of working families in San Diego are able to work in jobs that offer a living wage, health benefits and a well deserved measure of dignity for their labor.
We have some very fine union hotels in San Diego where the Center could hold its gala.
Hartley’s move is an obvious overture to the labor community, which is a strong constituency in progressive politics that Gloria, Hartley and other Democrats in the race will undoubtedly court for their run in the left-leaning, uptown district.
Gloria said the gala’s location would not be changed. He offered this response in a telephone interview this afternoon:
Only in a campaign can somebody be attacked for raising money for charity. I’ve always been one to raise the question of whether the Center can hold the gala at a union hotel. I’ve just never sent out press release to tout that.