If there’s one thing that Democratic Congressman Bob Filner has proven himself good at during the San Diego mayoral campaign, it’s laying out a broad vision for the city’s future.
If there’s one thing that Filner has failed at more than anything else, it’s providing any details, specifics or facts to back up his vision.
The latest example comes today with the nonprofit Investigative Newsource taking Filner to task for botching basic facts about the Unified Port of San Diego. Recall that expanded maritime commerce at the port is the basis for Filner’s jobs plan. From the story:
Yet during a fact-check of Filner’s interview, we noticed a few important claims made by the candidate that merited further review. What we found were a number of issues about which the Congressman was incorrect. What’s more, the Congressman has made many of these claims in the past — almost verbatim — while speaking with other news outlets.
Filner talked about the lack of commerce, the number of longshoremen and the port’s niche. His claims were exaggerated or wrong, according to the report.
This is a theme in Filner’s campaign. His most high-profile policy plank is his alternative to a June pension reform initiative. But Filner still hasn’t formally released it. We’ve chronicled that plan’s long and winding road.
Our own Fact Check has taken on Filner six times during the campaign. He’s scored “Mostly True” or better in two of the claims, “Barely True” or worse four times, including one “Huckster Propaganda,” our worst rating.
His August claim about wait times at competing ports earned a “False” rating.
“I don’t want to call a congressman a liar,” the head of a nonprofit that tracks port shipping told us at the time, “but that’s just not true.”
We’ve checked Filner’s opponents in the race, too. Here’s an up-to-date tally.
Republican District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis
Claims Checked: Four
True: Two
Barely True: One
False: One
Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio
Claims Checked: 10
True: Three
Mostly True: One
Barely True: One
False: Four
Huckster Propaganda: One
Independent Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher
Claims Checked: 10
True: Five
Mostly True: One
Barely True: One
Misleading: One
False: Two
One note. DeMaio and Fletcher’s numbers are skewed a bit because we’ve checked multiple claims from each of them in single stories.
Liam Dillon is a news reporter for voiceofsandiego.org. He covers San Diego City Hall, the 2012 mayor’s race and big building projects. What should he write about next?
Please contact him directly at liam.dillon@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.550.5663.
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