Morning Report: Gómez’s Big Decision

A mayoral veto last week leaves City Council President Georgette Gómez with a tough decision: Abandon her year-long effort to reform the city’s so-called inclusionary housing policy, or cut a deal to keep it alive?

Her office hasn’t confirmed which path she’ll take, but she has only weeks to decide.

To keep her reform proposal alive, Gómez and a City Council supermajority would need to override the mayor’s veto with a 6-3 vote. That means purusading at least one more City Council member to back the policy and scheduling another vote by mid-October to meet the city’s 30-day deadline.

Lisa Halverstadt explains in a new story that if Gómez can’t reach a compromise, or decides to move on, the veto to her proposal will stand and the existing inclusionary policy widely viewed as outdated and ill-suited to today’s housing crisis will reman.

Police Chief Reverses Course on Rape Kits After VOSD Investigation

San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit announced Wednesday that his department will overhaul its proccess for testing sexual assault kits after Voice of San Diego last week revealed the department had instituted less rigorous testing procedures on dozens of old kits. 

The department committed to testing at least six swabs on all rape kits going forward, and it announced it will now also join a group of other law enforcement agencies from the county and send the 1,700 untested kits in its possession to make sure they’re all tested.

“Moving forward, the department will test every single kit using a six-swab method,” Nisleit wrote in a press release. “We recognize the community has high expectations for us. We also hold ourselves to the highest of standards. In order to meet these expectations, we will be working with a private laboratory to ensure all 1,700 historical kits are tested.” 

The announcement came a day after District Attorney Summer Stephan told us she did not approve of the agency’s prior decision to institute the less rigorous testing regime, and that SDPD never told her office that it was making the change. SDPD spokesman Shawn Takeuchi previously told us in a written statement that the district attorney’s office was aware of the change and had approved of it. Stephan now says that is not true.

Five crime lab employees previously told VOSD’s Andrew Keatts that crime lab management explicitly told them the less rigorous procedure was being done to “check a box” showing the kits had been tested. 

The Wild Congressional Race Isn’t the One We Expected

In a weird twist, it’s shaping up to be the House race with a longtime incumbent that is wild and fierce, and not the House race with a surprise open seat. 

State Sen. Brian Jones officially jumped into the race for the 50th Congressional District Wednesday, the seat currently occupied by Rep. Duncan Hunter.

Rep. Darrell Issa is also expected to announce his run for the 50th. Issa has a press conference scheduled for Thursday morning with Temecula City Councilman Matt Rahn, El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells, former Escondido Mayor Sam Abed and former Navy SEAL Larry Wilske. All four men had previously filed to run against Hunter. Their appearance suggests they plan to step aside and endorse Issa.

Meanwhile, the race for the 53rd District is getting less exciting by the day as more prospective candidates decline to run and instead endorse San Diego City Council President Georgette Gómez. 

Assemblywoman Shirley Weber endorsed Gómez Wednesday, which one could assume means neither she nor her daughter, La Mesa Councilwoman Akilah Weber, are interested in running. 

• While Hunter is dealing with his ongoing criminal case for allegedly misspending campaign funds, the Federal Election Commission is now asking him questions about a bunch of small donations he received recently. (Union-Tribune

Somehow We’re Still Writing About the Chargers

The Chargers have moved on (we know), but Scott Lewis just couldn’t help himself when he heard the news this week that the Rams are frustrated with Chargers owner Dean Spanos for not contributing enough financially to their stadium effort.

Specifically, the complaint is that the Chargers aren’t raising enough revenue from personal seat licenses — the things you must buy if you want to purchase season tickets.

“This was very amusing to me,” writes Lewis. “When the news of the world and San Diego overwhelms me, this drama pops up like a notification in Netflix that my favorite comedy has just posted a new episode.”

To help understand the predicament, Lewis rounded up nine important facts about the teams and stadium that you should know.

Saving Porter Elementary

Our podcast Good Schools for All is back, and this week’s episode is all about the problems plaguing Porter Elementary School in Lincoln Park. 

Will Huntsberry and Scott Lewis take a close look at what happened after Porter was put on a list of the state’s lowest-performing schools, and what was done to address complaints made by parents and school employees about students’ needs not being met

We’ll have new podcast episodes every two weeks. Subscribe now to get every episode.

In Other News

• San Diego Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez tweeted Wednesday that she received a call from Sen. Elizabeth Warren congratulating her on the passage of AB 5, a bill that limits the instances in which employers can classify workers as independent contractors. Only minutes before, Gonzalez also announced she would introduce legislation later this year aimed at protecting ride share customers and drivers from sexual harassment and assault. She said the decision was prompted by a Washington Post investigation that found workers in inside of Uber’s investigations unit “are coached by Uber to act in the company’s interest first, ahead of passenger safety.”
• Supervisors Dianne Jacob and Nathan Fletcher issued a statement Tuesday calling for a review of best practices within county jails following a six-month investigation by the Union-Tribune on inmate deaths.
• City Attorney Mara Elliott announced Wednesday that her office was beginning the process of clearing low-level marijuana convictions from offenders’ records. Elliott said she’s filed 30 petitions in San Diego Superior Court to vacate the convictions and that her office has 5,000 additional cases to review for the same treatment, now that marijuana use is legal for recreational use for people over 21 years old. (Union-Tribune)

The Morning Report was written by Megan Wood and Andrew Keatts, and edited by Sara Libby.