The Agenda: Today’s A.M. Political Roundup

Good morning from Hillcrest.

• We’ll lead the day with the second part of our special report on social services in San Diego County. This story talks about the county’s culture of resentment toward the state for failing to provide the resources for a proper safety net. The county’s lack of spending means delays for those eligible for programs and sometimes outright denials.
• We had a series of blog posts yesterday fleshing out other aspects of the series: How low participation in the food stamp program hurts local farmers and grocers, how a fraud prevention program received the wrong kind of national attention and reaction from the county supervisors.
• A renovation of Balboa Park’s central plaza will cost $6 million. City officials are hoping the money comes from private sources.
• The city’s “strong mayor” system of government is headed back to the weight room after council pushed back a ballot measure need to make the government permanent.
• I report on fundraising for the upcoming City Council races. Incumbent District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer is in the lead.
• Opponents of Poway Councilwoman Betty Rexford have submitted 7,000 signatures for her recall. More than 5,600 need to be verified if an election is to occur.
• San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio and county Administrator Walt Ekard should be taken to task for their actions in sending out taxpayer-sponsored mailers and e-mailing county employees against a term limit proposal, the U-T editorializes.
• Speaking of DeMaio, he was busy writing about his favorite topic last week. 
• Speaking of mailers, Escondido’s police union is trying to rehabilitate its image with a glossy one. 
• And last, the state is planning to hand down fines for legislators who it says failed to report gifts in 2008.

An earlier version of this post included a link to a year-old story on cost overruns for the city of San Diego’s new computer system, but the story was presented as if it was current. We regret the error.

— LIAM DILLON