When San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria announced that he was dismissing the city’s top bureaucrat more than a month ago, he said the move was purely about addressing a massive city budget deficit.
Gloria’s team is changing its tune following former Chief Operating Officer Eric Dargan’s discrimination lawsuit against the city.
The mayor’s chief of staff told our Lisa Halverstadt that Dargan was fired – and that the former COO’s claims will be disproven in court.
Dargan’s attorney Michael Conger, who has long faced off against the city in court, argues the city is “fabricating facts to justify discrimination.” He alleges Gloria failed to keep an earlier pledge to provide three months of pay and benefits after Dargan was terminated in February – and argues Dargan, who is Black, was treated differently than another person in that post would have been due to his race.
All of those issues are now the subject of a lawsuit Conger filed on Dargan’s behalf late last week – and Conger said he’s now considering adding a defamation claim against those he says are attacking Dargan with “untrue statements.”
Reminder: Dargan’s departure from City Hall followed criticism from several councilmembers and the leader of the city’s largest union that no one was taking charge of the response to the city’s more than $250 million budget deficit, and rumors that Dargan fell asleep at key meetings. Yet Conger says the mayor never flagged any concerns with Dargan’s performance before his firing.
Border Report: US Denies Mexico’s Special Water Request
For more than 50 years, Mexico has been able to request, and pay for, special deliveries of Colorado River water to Tijuana, and the United States has always complied – until now.
Though not a requirement of the U.S.-Mexico water treaty, Mexico has been able to request special deliveries of its share of water from the Colorado River whenever things like drought or aqueduct repairs results in a water supply shortage in the Tijuana-Rosarito region.
This month, though, the United States has denied Mexico’s recent request for a special delivery of water, with U.S. officials saying that Mexico hasn’t held up its end of the U.S.-Mexico water treaty. According to U.S. officials, Mexico has repeatedly been late in delivering water to the United States, which is threatening crops along the Texas border.
Voice Contributor Sandra Dibble spoke to experts who worry that by denying Mexico’s request, the U.S. could jeopardize a long-standing collaboration along the California-Mexico border on water issues.
In Other News
- As the Kaiser Permanente mental health worker strike enters its 25th week, a new report reveals that Kaiser has allegedly not yet corrected 19 out of 20 mental health care violations from 2022. (KPBS)
- It’s been several months since Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered agencies to clear encampments from state lands, but ongoing challenges in addressing homelessness have led to more encampments and fire risks. (Union-Tribune)
- Voting centers are now open in San Diego’s District 1, and voters can now cast their ballots for the supervisor special election. (Fox 5)
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and Tigist Layne. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.