The Morning Report
Get the news and information you need to take on the day.
Kevin Beiser has two jobs.
Soon, voters will weigh in on whether he deserves to keep one of them – his role as school board president for San Diego Unified.
As Mario Koran reports in a new profile of Beiser, he’s racked up an impressive group of supporters that includes parents, the teachers union and charter schools. He also has a ton of campaign money in the bank. His supporters praise his ability to get things done, like the time he got the school board to finally act on air-conditioning dangerously hot classrooms.
But that same tenacity can cause Beiser problems: One former staffer and a former principal say his disrespectful behavior lost their support. And his relentless campaigning has bumped up against his duties as a middle school teacher — he’s had enough absences (and then some) to be considered chronically absent from class.
• Beiser’s absences from class could come back to haunt him when he inevitably runs for higher office, Scott Lewis writes.
Strange Days in the 52nd
The 52nd District race got more bizarre after a remarkable encounter between Carl DeMaio and Scott Peters on NBC 7 San Diego. DeMaio directly asked Peters if the Peters campaign had come into possession of a campaign playbook stolen during the strange burglary right before last June’s primary.
Peters confirmed his campaign manager did get the playbook and looked at it enough to know what it was before turning it over to police. GOP activists pounced on the news alleging Peters’ team likely copied it or worse.
DeMaio, of course, blames former political director Todd Bosnich for the break-in. Bosnich has accused DeMaio of sexual harassment.
• The Washington Examiner Friday revealed internal campaign emails in which DeMaio’s team discusses how to spot campaign “trackers” and spies at events. After that, Campaign Manager Tommy Knepper felt compelled to apologize for a message in those emails in which he says that black people or young people at campaign events (especially on Saturday mornings) are a “red flag” — meaning they are likely trackers or spies from the Democratic side.
That Other Successful Moderate Republican San Diego Guy
When people think about a San Diego Republican who’s had a big year, they’re naturally inclined to drift toward Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whose win in February gave the party a major boost.
But flying under the radar is another moderate Republican, Assemblyman Brian Maienschein. He’s had the most bills signed into law among San Diego lawmakers this session, and he’s been the third-most prolific fundraiser in the city’s legislative delegation.
Our Sacramento contributor Brian Joseph’s conversation with Maienschein about how he’s been able to get things done from his spot in the minority leads this week’s Sacramento Report.
Meeting of the Minds: Cross-Border Culture Edition
You may have noticed our friends on the other side of the border have been on a bit of a winning streak lately – hosting the massive Innovadora confab and making progress on infrastructure upgrades like the San Ysidro border crossing and the new cross-border airport terminal.
There’s also a flourishing arts, culture and culinary scene on the rise in Tijuana. That’s what we’ll explore in our next Meeting of the Minds event, happening Wednesday, Oct. 22. Bonus: Our pal Alex Zaragoza, who writes the Culture Report, will make her debut as Meeting of the Minds host.
What We Learned This Week
• The city and the state are locked in a standoff over Prop. A.
• The city doesn’t have many places to put all those manufacturers it wants to lure here.
• San Diego Police still aren’t keen on the idea of releasing footage captured by police body cameras.
• San Diego Unified is changing course – instead of making money by selling off its land, it wants to make money by keeping its land.
• At least two former staffers of Carl DeMaio are not happy with how he treated them. But no one we talked to saw any sexual harassment take place.
Quick News Hits
• Our Caty Green breaks down a survey that shows owning a car in San Diego is still more cost-efficient than relying on ride-share services.
• Andy Keatts reports: The city’s plan to add a new regulation on certain brewery tasting rooms is now moot. Turns out, the state closed the loophole two weeks ago.
• There’s a lot to digest here: A Carlsbad school board candidate might have been dressed as a Nazi in a Facebook photo. He says he wasn’t. Some Republican supporters are jumping ship to be safe. (U-T)
• An SDSU student hospitalized earlier this week with meningococcal meningitis has died. SDSU says it has warned students about exposure risks. But the U-T says the university’s announcement about her death was premature.
Quote of the Week
“Elizabeth, there’s nothing better than being a U.S. congressman.” — San Diego Unified Trustee Kevin Beiser