So Bob Filner is going to be mayor. Liam Dillon introduces us to things that might change, including San Diego’s power structure itself.
Even Filner allies say he has a lot of work to do to put meat on the sometimes vague and lofty ambitions he laid out.
Vince Mudd, who often speaks on behalf of San Diego’s business community, told Dillon that he and others are eager to see whom Filner hires because he needs to mend fences with business leaders.
Later, on Twitter, that provoked a response from the Labor Council’s Evan McLaughlin: “Vince Mudd has it backwards: it’s businesses who spent millions against Filner who must do the fence mending … apparently, the San Diego 20’s arrogance will live on even if their relevance does not.”
The San Diego 20 is what his labor leader Lorena Gonzalez calls the old guard that she has helped supplant.
More on Filner’s Triumph
• Our Scott Lewis writes that, in retrospect, it seems Carl DeMaio never really had a shot. As Lewis elaborated later in an exchange on Twitter with the U-T’s Chris Reed, “he did everything possible, got all endorsements possible, spent as much as possible and Filner was as bad as possible”
• Andrew Donohue picked up on something Filner said that he hopes is a sign of good things to come.
• Will DeMaio, who’s been in San Diego about a decade, leave? His job as councilman is done in a few weeks. Nope, he says, he’s staying: “This may be the end of a campaign but this is not the end of my involvement in serving this great city that I love.”
You should never listen to a politician who says never, but do consider this remark from DeMaio when asked if he’d run for mayor again: “Are you serious?”
• KPBS called DeMaio’s concession speech “wistful, gracious and proud.”
Filner, for his part, said this on KPBS: “To be entrusted with the leadership of one of America’s great cities is a humbling experience,” he said.
He promised to meet the public most Saturdays in the City Hall lobby and pledged to put one of the city’s most beloved politicians — former Councilwoman and almost-mayor Donna Frye — in charge of an open government department.
Election News Roundup
• The race for a congressional seat between former Councilman Scott Peters (Dem.) and Rep. Brian Bilbray (Rep.) was still too close to call. It’s one of only about a handful of congressional races nationwide that are still up in the air.
If Peters wins, it will be a big moment: three local House reps would be Democrats and two Republicans, instead of the other way around.
• NBC San Diego lists the other close races in the county.
• Tony Krvaric, the chairman of the Republican Party of San Diego, known for his combative style, got on Twitter for the first time since his across-the-board losses Tuesday.
• The Secret Service is gone and Mitt Romney may settle down in La Jolla.
• The election of shoo-in Democratic candidate Juan Vargas to Congress didn’t get much attention since it was so expected. But it’s still a landmark. As Patch.com reports, “Vargas is the first Hispanic to represent the district and the first Hispanic Congressman from the San Diego-area.” (In fact, he may be only the second Hispanic congressman to represent any part of San Diego County. Records suggest the first one served way back in the 19th century, when the county was sparsely populated and shared a district with a huge chunk of California.)
Vargas replaces Filner.
State Treasurer Weighs in on Bond Changes
“In his latest warning to the companies that put together hundreds of controversial school bond deals in California, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer is putting firms on notice that they should figure out how to restructure the debt or face significant consequence,” our Will Carless reports.
It’s not clear, however, what Lockyer will do if the firms don’t play ball.
Correcting the Record on U-T Readership
Based on a misinterpretation of data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Monday’s Morning Report incorrectly reported a 16 percent drop in print readership of U-T San Diego over the past year. In fact, the print readership level has stayed about the same.
I made the error because I looked at a number provided by the ABC for 2011 called “Print Readership-Total Readers #” and compared it to a 2012 number called “Print Readership.”
An ABC representative says the 2011 number, despite the label, actually represents print readership and online readership. It is not equivalent to 2012 “Print Readership” number. That means my comparison was inaccurate.
I apologize for the error.
$20,000 Blues for the Bolts
The Chargers are off the hook after suspicions that the team wrongly used what the U-T calls “a grip-enhancing towel.” Turns out that “Gorilla Gold” towels are fine, the NFL said, but the team needs to pay a $20,000 penalty because a staffer who carried them screwed up by not complying with a game official.
About those towels: the NFL has now banned them. The U-T says they include “a wax-based material that carries a tackifying element similar to a glove, repelling moisture and improving grip.”
A tackifying element? I’m often tacky myself. Don’t ban me, bro!
Please contact Randy Dotinga directly at randydotinga@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com/rdotinga.