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One important purpose of my Q&A last week with local Republican state Assemblyman and potential 2012 mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher was to get him on the record on a series of important policy issues.
The Q&A showed that he’s opposed to Proposition D, the city’s sales tax-financial reform ballot measure, and has a nuanced position on gay marriage. He’s personally opposed to gay marriage, but believes government shouldn’t make that decision.
I asked for his thoughts on the Arizona immigration law and he explained why he’s opposed. I also asked about the city’s three potential big building projects, a new Chargers stadium and City Hall and an expanded Convention Center. He was supportive in concept of all three, but said he needed to study details for each. (Fletcher has spent some time on Chargers issues.)
On the immigration law:
I fully understand why people in Arizona and people in California are frustrated. You have an absolute failure of the federal government to do their job. It’s the federal government’s responsibility to secure the border, to have an immigration policy that makes sense and to not make states pay for their failure to do their job. I do think there’s a desire at the state level to take action to do something.
But I think what we have to do is push and demand the federal government to do their job. My concern with something like the Arizona law is that all you’re doing is further shifting the cost onto the state. By making something that’s already a federal crime a state crime you’re just worsening the fiscal impact on the state of California, or the state of Arizona. I don’t think it’s something that makes sense to do.
Downtown Chargers stadium:
The Chargers are a part of this community and they have been for a long time. I think we have to do everything possible to keep them here. I also think there is economic upside from infrastructure. You saw the recently released report on Petco. … It’s really just a balancing act of figuring out how you do it in a way that makes economic sense.
Please contact Liam Dillon directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663 and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/dillonliam.