He hasn’t even been sworn in yet and already newly re-elected National City Councilmember Jose Rodriguez faces a possible censure by colleagues for alleged violations of his city’s code of conduct.
Rodriguez, propelled to a second term by a lopsided 73 percent of voters in his district, has been a lightning rod in the city for what critics on and off the Council say is a pattern of using city resources to boost his campaign efforts.
Mayor Ron Morrison said the “mixing of city functions with campaign functions” has drawn complaints from both residents and other Councilmembers, who Morrison said asked him to initiate the censure process at this week’s City Council meeting.
The response: In a statement, Rodriguez called the censure vote “all politics and sour grapes, Trump-style,” and attributed the vote to Morrison’s disappointment at the election results. Morrison and Rodriguez have disagreed on a wide variety of city issues.
“We won by over 73 percent, get over it, Ron,” Rodriguez said in the statement. “Election is over, get to work.”
The Return of Drug Court
Much of the commentary about Proposition 36, the just-passed tough-on-crime state ballot initiative, focused on the measure’s stiffer penalties for shoplifting and robbery.
Our Deborah Brennan reports that one of the initiative’s most consequential changes may be the resurrection of a once-common tool for fighting substance abuse: Drug court.
In a wide-ranging interview with San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, Brennan learned that police and prosecutors plan to use the initiative’s stiffened penalties for drug crimes to steer non-violent offenders into court-mandated treatment programs.
Everything Else You Need to Know about Proposition 36
Drug crimes are not the only target of Proposition 36’s tougher approach. In her Sacramento Report, Sullivan breaks down the measure’s likely ramifications for police, prosecutors, jails and San Diego County’s budget.
In short: Expect more prosecutions, more jail time and higher costs, at least at first. San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan says she expects to prosecute at least 600 felony thefts each year, and other county officials say they expect thousands of new arrests and jail bookings each year.
All of that will cost money. How much exactly isn’t clear because the county also expects to receive funds from another ballot measure passed in March that aimed to expand statewide mental health and drug treatment.
Many of the most commonly prosecuted crimes in San Diego County are often related to intertwining factors of drug use, mental illness and homelessness. Expanded treatment – along with added leverage to steer defendants into supportive programs – could end up saving taxpayers in the long run.
Mixed School Report Card Sullivan also details Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent report on the state of California’s schools.
The good news: The percentage of students, including Black and Latino students, meeting or exceeding standards, grew, though just barely.
On the other hand: Republicans slammed the governor for putting a rosy spin on marginal improvements in scores that were low to start with. The report found that fewer than half of California students are proficient in English language. Even fewer, about one-third, are proficient in math.
Read the Sacramento Report here.
Measure E Didn’t Make it
One of the many measures we were watching during the election was Measure E, which would have raised the city of San Diego’s sales tax from 7.75 percent to 8.75 percent. As our Will Huntsberry reported, there was a lot at stake for the city.
But as our Scott Lewis writes, Measure E didn’t make it. Observers were hopeful that it would prevail but, “The 10,000-vote lead that the ‘no’ votes held never really broke. Measure E failed and so did the only plan to address the city’s looming deficit and infrastructure backlog that city leaders have articulated,” Lewis writes.
He explains what this means for the city and elected officials in the latest Politics Report.
The Politics Report is available exclusively to Voice of San Diego members. To get access, become a member here and subscribe to the weekly politics newsletter.
VOSD Podcast: Our podcast crew runs through some election results for the razor thin races they had been following. Listen to the episode here.
In Other News
- San Diego’s economy continued a steady upswing last month, adding 12,200 jobs across all sectors, according to state labor officials. The 4.7 percent unemployment rate was higher than the national average but lower than the rest of California. (Union Tribune)
- County health officials are reporting a sharp rise in whooping cough cases–547 so far this year compared to 332 all of last year. Officials urged all residents, especially children, to ensure their whooping cough vaccines are up to date. (CBS8)
- Police identified both the suspect and victims in a fatal shooting last week in Little Italy. The victims, 31-year-old Rachael Martinez and 39-year-old Jose Media, were allegedly shot by Christopher Farrell, 26. Farrell, who was killed during a shootout with police, had been in a previous romantic relationship with Martinez, authorities said. (FOX5)
- Brrr. San Diegans got a preview of winter over the weekend. A fast-moving storm doused parts of the county with showers on Friday and was forecast to dust local mountains with snow. Temperatures hovered in the 40s and 50s. Break out the sweaters and hot chocolate. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Andrea Lopez-Villafaña. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.