Earlier this year, San Diego County Democratic Party leaders made it clear they wanted to rectify a problem in the county’s southern half. Despite overwhelming voter registration dominance, there are no Democratic mayors in the region.
One by one, that goal keeps slipping further out of reach.
With the Democratic candidate in Chula Vista halting fundraising and sounding resigned to defeat, Republican Mayor John McCann appears on a glide path toward re-election.
National City is certain to have Democratic leadership, since two leading mayoral candidates are Democrats. But the race has turned bitter and expensive and likely will leave the city divided in its wake.
Now, infighting between two Democrats vying to unseat Imperial Beach Mayor Mitch McKay, a conservative-leaning independent, appears to be dimming Democratic prospects in that city.
The president of the city’s local Democratic club recently resigned amid an acrimonious debate over endorsements. The two Democrats in the race have attacked each other’s experience and ties to party elites.
Democrats said they fear the two candidates will split the Democratic vote and hand the race to McKay.
“That race is over,” one observer said. Not what party leaders had envisioned.
Controversies Keep Rolling at Grossmont Union School District
In yet another controversy for the board of the Grossmont Union High School District, Trustee Rob Shield is proposing a censure of his fellow board member Jim Kelly.
A resolution authored by Shield claims that while producing records related to a Union-Tribune records request, district officials discovered that Kelly “intentionally and improperly disclosed confidential and attorney-client privileged information, including information acquired or discussed in closed session, to unauthorized parties on multiple occasions.”
Kelly also seemed to try to exert influence over the district’s recently appointed Superintendent Kirsten Vital Brulte.
“It was me who single-handedly got her appointed to be our superintendent,” Kelly wrote. “I think she knows that is because of me she has her current position but her actions do not suggest any sort of appreciation or help.”
This censure proposal is just the latest in a running series of controversies for Kelly. Last year, Kelly was one of the district’s board members shown to routinely violate public meeting laws by speaking about district business in group chats. He also played a role in a shady hire that brought a teacher who’d resigned from the district while under investigation back into the fold – at least temporarily.
The scandal couldn’t have come at a worse time for Kelly, who’s facing perhaps the most serious opposition campaign of his career. For the first time in years, the district’s teachers union backed challengers to incumbent trustees. Shield, who authored the resolution and was once a conservative ally of Kelly, opted not to run for re-election in the face of the opposition.
In a statement, the president of Grossmont Union’s teachers union Stephanie Macecca wrote: “This is just another example of a lack of transparency and attempts to keep students, teachers and the public out of the loop.”
Grossmont Union’s board will consider Kelly’s censure on Thursday evening.
D2 Council Candidates Spar Over Vacation Rentals
In the hotly contested race to represent San Diego’s coastal City Council District 2, candidates Richard Bailey and Nicole Crosby agree on little – including, it appears, basic facts.
In a Politifest debate Saturday, Bailey and Crosby went at it over a simple question: Can the city reduce the number of vacation rentals in Mission Beach, as Crosby wants to do, “on day one.”
Or, as Bailey contended, does the California Coastal Commission need to weigh in? And should the city even try, since the rentals are tax generators?
They were both right – sort of. Crosby, a chief deputy city attorney, is right that the city can change its citywide vacation rental ordinance without Commission approval.
But Bailey is correct that, in Mission Beach, the city does need Commission approval because the neighborhood is in a state coastal zone.
Crosby insisted the city could lower the number of permitted rentals, which she said have “decimated” the community, right away and work with Commission staff to get a quick signoff.
Bailey said now is not the time for the city to be eliminating a lucrative source of revenue.
“We… need to keep in mind the other side of the ledger,” he said.
Oceanside Voters Weigh Second Sales Tax Hike in Two Years
When Oceanside voters look at their ballots this year, they might experience some deja vu.
The ballot includes Measure S, a half-cent sales tax increase to fund repairs to the city’s aging pier, among other priorities.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because voters approved a different sales tax measure in 2024. If Measure S passes, it would raise the city’s sales tax rate to 8.75 percent and bring in an estimated $20 million per year.
Passage is not a slam dunk, our Tigist Layne writes.
The 2024 measure was actually a 10-year extension of a half-cent sales tax increase voters approved in 2018.
Having seen the benefits of that measure – enhanced public safety, infrastructure and homeless outreach programs – voters seemed fine with keeping it going.
This time around words like “double taxation,” “double-dipping” and “politicians’ slush fund” are making the rounds on social media.
City officials counter if the tax doesn’t pass, there could be painful budget cuts in face of several pressing infrastructure needs.
Read the North County Report here.
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In Other News
- San Diego County Supervisors on Wednesday voted unanimously to oppose the placement of three sexually violent predators in the county. The three men in this case had been in state hospitals. Another sexually violent man went missing in the county last month after cutting off his GPS device and fleeing his workplace. (Union-Tribune)
- inewsource has a guide to school board races in six South San Diego County school districts.
- San Diego State University basketball season ticket sales are down, with just 84 percent of previous ticket holders renewing for this season. That compares with renewal rates well above 90 percent in previous years. (Union-Tribune)
- The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is scheduled to arrive in San Diego today after 260 days at sea that included combat operations, supply shortages and at least one sailor jumping overboard amid reports of deteriorating morale. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by Jim Hinch and Jakob McWhinney. It was edited by Will Huntsberry.