Did you miss Politifest last week? Or did you go but you heard something that definitely needs a fact check?
Well, relive it and flag the comment for us. We’ve posted the videos from the stage activities.
• The mayoral debate. Yes, there have been many debates in this race. But this had some fascinating exchanges on performance pay for city employees, the implications of each of their supporters, the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy and whether the candidates would support the tax increase in Proposition Z for schools.
• The school board debate.
• The more informal Proposition Z debate.
• The discussion with Scott Peters, on running for Congress.
Thank you to our partners at the Media Arts Center for producing the videos.
Fact Check: Worldwide School Year Comparison
Mark Powell is running to oust San Diego school board President John Lee Evans from his seat. The entire district, which covers most of the city of San Diego, gets to vote in the race.
Powell said this at our Politifest debate:
“My opponent has voted to cut the school year to the shortest school year in the world.”
We decided to fact check that.
The verdict? Mostly true. But there are a few things to keep in mind when hearing that.
Public Radio Powerhouse in City Heights
Marketplace Money’s Wealth and Poverty Desk focused an entire show on San Diego. It will air today on KPBS at 3 p.m.. It explores the psychology of making decisions when you’re living in poverty. Four San Diego families were interviewed, including two from City Heights. The show will also feature a segment by Tom Fudge, which aired earlier this week on KPBS.
What We Learned This Week
University City Is an Election Hotbed: This was a fascinating graphic to me. University City is uniquely situated at the center of all the most impactful and dramatic local elections this November: Congress, City Council, county supervisor and the two school board races. And we even forgot to include in the graphic the 39th Senate District race, which itself is one of the major legislative seats being contested.
There’s a Difference Between Approving More Library Hours and Getting Them: There was great fanfare when San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders announced that the city would be restoring library hours because of a budget surplus. Four months ago, the City Council approved them. And yet, it still hasn’t happened. We found out why.
U-T CEO John Lynch Capitalizes PORT in Emails: And he sends a lot of interesting emails about the port.
The Ocean Pollution Reduction Act Let the City Keep Polluting the Ocean: U.S. Rep. Bob Filner said his rival in the mayor’s race has nothing on him when it comes to saving the city of San Diego money. He said his first bill as a congressman long ago saved the city billions. We fact checked that.
Quick News Hits
• U-T investigative reporter Jeff McDonald pushed and pushed wondering why a police captain’s son had not been charged with a crime many weeks after two women accused him of groping and assaulting them. Now, he has been charged.
• After Investigative Newsource and KPBS proved that City Councilman Carl DeMaio wasn’t being entirely forthcoming about the number of meetings he’s had with developer and U-T publisher Doug Manchester, this interesting exchange broke out on Facebook between a U-T editor and Tom Shepard, the well-known political consultant now working for DeMaio’s rival, Bob Filner.
• The city held a topping-out ceremony for the new downtown library and the mayor’s spokesman, Cord Bailey, reported that Turner Construction had gone the 760 days so far without an accident. Here’s a photo he took.
• Lani Lutar, the CEO of the Taxpayers Association, endorsed Democrat Scott Peters in the bitterly fought 52nd Congressional District race. This has flummoxed some conservatives.
• UCAN has demanded its former leader, Michael Shames, return $474,000 . (U-T San Diego)
Top Comments of the Week
Take a look at the comments we highlighted from the week. On our post following the what-did-the-U-T-CEO-say email saga, Gregory Hay disagreed with other commenters about whether the focus should be on the Unified Port of San Diego’s role or on what the CEO, John Lynch, said: “The conversation regarding the port’s use/importance is a COMPLETELY different issue than the story here. This article is about the politicization of a media that supposed to be impartial (or, at least *try* to appear that way).”
Quote of the Week
“I work hard for my salary. Every working person deserves a pension. Every working person deserves the security that that 30 years of work, or whatever, has given to that person. So I ain’t going to turn it down. I earned that.”
— Bob Filner, defending his pension.
I’m Scott Lewis. You can contact me directly at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0527 and follow me on Twitter (it’s a blast!): twitter.com/vosdscott.