Everyone changes their minds at some point or another.
When politicians do it, though, the public is watching. So are rival candidates, ever ready to pounce with charges of blatant and egregious flip-floppery.
Our Scott Lewis has created a handy list of five flip-flops by candidates for mayor so far and analyzes what they mean. And, to be clear, he has no problem with politicians changing their minds.
“It shows thoughtfulness and often courage to take a radically different position than before,” he said. “But the key is you have to explain it. You have own it.”
City Attorney: We Won’t Do What I Want
“I think the information should be made public, but we can’t,” said City Attorney Jan Goldsmith yesterday about the details we’ve been pushing for regarding a vote on a $1 billion hotel-room tax.
Goldsmith went on 760 KFMB-AM to talk about the issue and explain that he would happily disclose the information — if a court order forced him.
The city attorney revealed something else in his tortured defense: that the very secrecy that the deal with hoteliers calls for could cause the entire financing plan for the Convention Center expansion to collapse.
The Big Needs in District Nine
The story of Ernestina Diaz is the story of the newest City Council district. She’s lived her for 34 years, but can’t yet vote. She wants to badly, though, and is studying to become a citizen to have her say in how to make her little corner of the city beautiful.
Our editor Andrew Donohue, who is spending the week in the district covering the City Council race, says Diaz’s story reflects the top priorities for both candidates. Marti Emerald says priority No. 1 doesn’t have anything to do with the votes she’ll take as a councilwoman — she’ll focus on helping tutor would-be citizens. Mateo Camarillo, meanwhile, says he’s running to give a voice to the under-served.
Donohue explains some of the big issues people are talking about in the district: getting around safely without a car, waiting to see what comes next after the death of redevelopment and the eyesores that come with the burying of utility lines.
A ‘Barely True’ for Prop. B Foes
Opponents of Prop. B, the pension reform initiative, write in their ballot argument that city law already requires something supporters are pushing as a major benefit of their plan — a two-thirds vote by the City Council to approve negotiated pay increases.
San Diego Fact Check finds the claim is Barely True.
Buyers Fighting Over Homes, But…
Real-estate agents are seeing something mighty peculiar: Battles among buyers eager to snap up homes. The NC Times says people on the ground are claiming a thaw in the real estate market after a frozen year.
The rub? The mix of people appears to be the same, there’s just fewer actual houses on the market. Hence the bidding wars.
Quick News Hits
• The murder of an Iraqi woman in El Cajon made national news because it raised questions about whether it was a hate crime. The U-T finds evidence that the murder might actually be family-related.
• Mice droppings, slime, unsafe squid and ceviche, beetles and more grossness. A few of my favorite things? Nah, they’re among the icky stuff that county health inspectors found in local restaurants over the past few years. CityBeat tracks the worst offenders and offers the very unappetizing details plus responses (if anyone would talk) from the eateries.
• The Marine whose career is threatened by his online postings about the commander-in-chief now has the support of the ACLU, KPBS reports. The Marine, who’s from Temecula, initially said he wouldn’t follow the president’s orders; the ACLU says he “did not threaten order or discipline or take positions that anyone would attribute to the Corps.”
• Winner, winner, chicken dinner (via Reykjavík): Pam Stevens, one of our readers, was the first to correctly guess the identity of an sculptor named Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir who appeared in the Morning Report on Thursday. Thórarinsdóttir is Icelandic.
Still no correct answer on the heritage of my last name. I shall run around yelling “Don’t you know who I am??” until someone provides one.
• Gah!!! My eyes!
Play Ball! Or What Passes for It Around Here
Today’s opening day for the Padres on their home field, but you may find it harder than ever to watch the game on TV thanks to the ongoing snit between Fox Sports and Time Warner Cable. In fact, you’ll only find it on Cox and DirecTV, the U-T reports.
Then again, maybe you won’t wanna watch in the first place. The prospects for this season, after all, aren’t looking too hot.
Baseball Prospectus has this summary: “San Diego had been almost universally picked to finish last in 2010. Had the Padres performed as expected that year, rather than teasing everyone with a run toward the postseason that was derailed by a 10-game losing streak at the end of August, fans might not have been as jolted by the 91-loss season that followed. If it wasn’t obvious at the time, it is now: 2010 was a fluke.”
Eeesh. However, there is a silver lining: the Padres are picked to perform better than the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.