Politics Report: Dem Calls County Reform ‘Outrageous’

Sometimes when you’ve got too much politics on the brain, it’s hard not to see things elected officials say as they may appear on a mailer.

State Sen. Catherine Blakespear just said some things about the big county governance reforms headed to the ballot this November that could make for good mailers for someone paying to oppose them.

“I think it is outrageous and they need to change course,” Blakespear said. She said she can support all the changes in the package, she just can’t support extending the term limits for current supervisors. Right now, supervisors can only serve two terms. If voters approve the measure as it’s currently written, current supervisors could do third terms.

“They still have three weeks to change course,” Blakespear said. While the Board did approve the measure for the ballot, it must be reaffirmed with another vote. “It’s unquestionably a self-serving power grab. It gives us all a bad name.”

She said she could support making the term limit three. But she said it should have been written to apply to future elected leaders.

She also said that another provision that would put term limits on the other elected leaders of the county — the sheriff, district attorney, treasurer-tax collector and assessor — was a mistake.

It conflicts with state law and supervisors tried to write that it would kick in only if state law changes. Blakespear said none of the San Diego legislative representatives want to change that law and it would cause an immediate and unnecessary legal fight with the state.

She supports all the other parts of the measure and actually articulated arguments for them well – the county does need to be able to move its bureaucracy better to accomplish things.

“My hope is the three supervisors who voted for this remove those objectionable parts of the proposal and it succeeds,” she said.

About those mailers: The thing is, to put some spicy quotes on mailers costs money and it’s not clear who, if anyone, has enough money at stake to want to pay for any opposition campaign efforts to defeat the measure.

About the reform: We talked about it at length on the podcast this week.

Trash Fee Bringing in Less Than Expected 

The budget hits just keep coming.

The city expects to bring in less revenue with the trash fee than expected because some customers are returning their additional trash cans — while others are opting for lower-cost, smaller bins.  

The environmental services department projects it will generate approximately $123.9 million in revenue in the coming year. That’s about $9 million less than what city officials assumed in the department’s cost-of-service study.

The $9 million funding discrepancy is just the latest problem in San Diego’s troubled budget. Hundreds of people protested the mayor’s proposed cuts to libraries, recreation centers and the arts this week and a tough fight over what actually gets funded may be ahead. 

The city gives homeowners a menu of options for trash bins.  

The cheapest option starts at $32.82 a month. That gets you a 35-gallon trash bin. In the middle, there’s an option for a 65-gallon bin. And on the high end, $43.60 a month gets you a 95-gallon trash can. All of the options come with bins for recycling and organic waste.  

More homeowners are choosing the cheapest options, which means the city is bringing in less money than expected.

“The reasons for this decrease in revenue are customer selection changes that differ from the assumptions in the cost-of-service study,” wrote Jordan More, who works in the Office of the Independent Budget Analyst, in an email.

Officials with the Independent Budget Analyst’s office said they will provide more information on how the changing customer behavior is impacting revenue projections in a report they will publish next month.  

More said the environmental services department revenue estimate is based on customer behavior through January. The department anticipates a revenue adjustment in the May revision of the budget based on new data.  

For the current year, all homeowners actually paid the high-end cost of $43.60 per month. They will adjust and give credits on future tax bills, depending on the bin option residents chose. 

If a person requested and received a smaller trash bin, that’s credit that will go toward their next tax bill. If a person requested and received additional bins, they’ll owe more money.  

South San Diego Council Candidates Pitch New Revenue

At a candidates forum for City Council District 8 – which represents Barrio Logan, Sherman Heights, San Ysidro and other southern San Diego neighborhoods – Venus Molina said she wanted to bring back a sales tax measure.  

Molina works as chief of staff to District 2 Councilmember Jennifer Campbell and is one of four candidates running for the seat.  

“The sales tax – that’s something that actually was really popular when it comes to Districts 8, 4, and 9,” she said. “It was districts up north that actually didn’t support the sales tax. But our communities understood that a sales tax is something that actually would benefit us when it comes to infrastructure, when it comes to, like I said, our basics.”

Two of the other candidates also had ideas for new revenue, though they didn’t go as far as proposing a tax.

Antonio Martinez, who serves as a San Ysidro school district board member, said he wants to increase rent on city leases. He also wants to do an audit to see if there are businesses and organizations that are “not paying their fair share of taxes.”

Gerardo Ramirez, who works as chief of staff to District 8 Councilmember Vivian Moreno, said the city needs to apply for more grant funding. 

“We are leaving money at the table when it comes to grants. San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, they’re all getting more money per capita than the city of San Diego. Why? Because we are not applying,” he said. 

Quite a Week for Ammar

It comes up every time he runs and its very unfair but it happened again this week: Ammar Campa-Najjar was attacked because he is the grandson of a bad person.

This week it came from Laura Loomer, the president’s friend known for her racist and inflamatory attacks. “Crazy that Ammar Campa Najjar … is allowed to even serve in the US military and that he’s dating [U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs] … when he is the grandson of Muhammad Yousef al-Najjar,” she posted this week.

He has long renounced his grandfather, a Palestinian who died before Campa Najjar was born. Here’s how the U-T described the grandfather in 2018.

“Campa-Najjar’s paternal grandfather was Muhammad Yusuf al-Najjar, head of the intelligence wing of Fatah, the political party founded by Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat. Some Fatah members formed the Black September organization, a terrorist group that was responsible for a series of attacks against Israelis, including the 1972 killing of 11 athletes and coaches at the Munich Olympics.

“Israel launched a series of responses to the Munich attack, including a 1973 commando raid in Beirut, Lebanon, where Yusuf al-Najjar and his wife were both killed.”

You don’t pick your grandparents. The president’s party has a lot of voices overtly, or getting really close to, saying people shouldn’t be allowed to be part of American civic life because of their ethnic backgrounds.

But then he got hit for a legit flub: The Navy reprimanded Campa-Najjar for campaign materials that inappropriately used Navy imagery.

KPBS: “Pentagon regulations allow reservists to run for office but restrict how they can use their military status and photos. Department of Defense Directive 1344.10 says reservists ‘must clearly indicate their retired or reserve status’ when referencing their service.”

This is an unforced error by Campa-Najjar, who described himself as an officer but didn’t clarify that it was in the Reserve.

But then he got a big financial boost: A Jeff Bezos-backed group and Irwin Jacobs have put $750,000 into an independent campaign supporting Campa-Najjar. Times of SD has the details.

This should more than make up for any shortfall he has in campaign cash on hand.

If you have any feedback or ideas for the Politics Report, send them to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org or will.huntsberry@voiceofsandiego.org.

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