Politicos, there are still some races that are too close to call – and there’s one that was clear soon after the polls closed Tuesday night.
Here’s a status update on potential November election match-ups and one under-the-radar one that’s already clear.
The North County supes race: Democratic District 5 Board of Supervisors Kyle Krahel’s edge over Republican John Franklin grew in the latest vote counts posted late Thursday. Franklin, Vista’s mayor, now trails Krahel by about 1,461 votes. This makes it appear more likely that Krahel could face off against Republican San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones in November.
The District 8 City Council race: The second candidate in the District 8 City Council is still too close to call. But Gerardo Ramirez, chief of staff to sitting Councilmember Vivian Moreno, has a growing lead over fellow Democrat Venus Molina, who serves as chief of staff to District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell. Ramirez is now 346 votes ahead of Molina.
The November match-up that’s set: Appointed County Treasurer-Tax Collector Larry Cohen, a Democrat, will face off against Republican Certified Public Accountant Shirley Nakawatase.
PSA: The county’s treasurer-tax collector oversees the collection of property, transient occupancy and cannabis taxes, manages county investments and disburses funds to school districts.
About the winners: Cohen and Nakawatase both argue they’ve got the best experience for the job. Nakawatase noted her roles working with business, nonprofits and groups including a county subsidiary agency and said she wants to focus the office more on serving taxpayers. Cohen said his experience working as the appointed treasurer-tax collector and past roles in private sector biotech and as chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas, who served the financial services committee, make him best suited to deal with the complexities of the job.
Not on the November ballot: A spokesperson for sitting County Supervisor Joel Anderson, a Republican who also sought the seat, said he called Nakawatase on Wednesday to let her know he would support her.
“That office is a wreck, and they need somebody that is dedicated to doing the job,” Anderson said in a statement.
Anderson now plans to serve the rest of his supervisorial term representing East County communities, where he’ll be termed out in January 2029.
Einstein School Superintendent Officially Out
Yesterday we told you that embattled Albert Einstein Academies Superintendent David Sciarretta has resigned after more than a year of tumult over his use of district funds and a flood of parent complaints.
The charter school’s board held an emergency meeting Wednesday and later announced its acceptance of Sciarretta’s resignation and a settlement agreement.
Our Jakob McWhinney has more on how the drama surrounding Sciarretta unfolded. It all started with complaints about the degradation of the charter’s trademark German language immersion program and ratcheted up after allegations that he used district funds on projects including a personal podcast. Then the San Diego Unified School District recently started investigating.
County Redistricting Maps Survive Years-Long Court Battle
The U.S. Supreme Court this spring declined to hear a legal challenge against new San Diego County district boundaries etched out during a 2021 redistricting process, upholding the changes.
Now the county’s Independent Redistricting Commission is calling on the Chaldean Coalition, an organization that had alleged the new boundaries split their community, to pay at least $634,000 in legal bills covered by taxpayers.
How we got here: The commission approved new boundaries in late 2021 after a year-long process. The changes, which included keeping Rancho San Diego in more urban District 4 and moving El Cajon into more rural District 2, took effect early the following year. Some Chaldean community members objected to those changes and said they identified more as rural East County residents.
The Chaldean Coalition sued in March 2022, arguing the move amounted to an illegal division of its community. The case has been winding its way through the courts ever since.
Colorado River Deal Is a ‘QSA 2.0’
San Diego signed a deal Tuesday to start talking about selling water to other thirsty states in the Southwest.
The San Diego County Water Authority is probably the only water agency in this Colorado River-dependent region that has claim over more water than its people and industries use.
It won’t be easy: Water Authority General Manager Denham told our MacKenzie Elmer that this deal is like “a QSA 2.0.” He’s referring to another very complex deal San Diego made in 2003 to buy water from farmers in Imperial Valley, who had to let some farm land go dry. It was a very complex arrangement involving the four major water agencies in Southern California.
San Diego will need buy-in from the Imperial Irrigation District, and farmers already have concerns.
Keep in mind: San Diego wouldn’t actually be physically shipping desalinated water to Arizona or Nevada. The water would be exchanged on paper, so a buyer in Arizona purchasing San Diego’s water would take an equivalent amount of Colorado River water.
There are still a lot of questions: If San Diego is selling its water to another state, would that count against the total amount of water California gets from the Colorado River? Each state and its water rights holders are entitled to draw certain amounts. And when drought hits, everyone scrambles to agree on how to use less.
That’s the pickle the Southwest faces right now as Colorado River levels are at record-breaking lows. You can read more in the full post here.
In Other News
- A county Law Enforcement Review Board investigation found that a sheriff’s deputy violated department policy in failing to aid a homeless woman who died after being left in a Lemon Grove ditch. (Union-Tribune)
- The 3,008-home Fanita Ranch project in Santee has been halted – at least for now – by an appellate court ruling. (Times of San Diego)
- A federal judge this week ordered the Otay Mesa Detention Center to let county health inspectors into the privately run facility after they were previously denied full access. (CalMatters)
- A new city report uncovered surging overtime in the city’s Transportation Department as city workers hustle to try to repair more roads. (Times of San Diego)
- A Tijuana protest temporarily closed the southbound San Ysidro Port of Entry on Thursday. (Union-Tribune)
The Morning Report was written by Lisa Halverstadt and MacKenzie Elmer. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña.
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