My previous article on Lorie Zapf's difficulties was quoted in the San Diego CityBeat, an alternative newspaper. My comments were taken as a withdrawal of my endorsement of Lorie Zapf. I want to make clear that they were not. Lorie Zapf is walking a fine line and I am concerned that she doesn't understand that serving the people in elected office is a privilege that requires not only actual propriety but the appearance of propriety. There is no shortage of candidates for public office, she should understand that she is on a job interview and the public is the panel.
I was hoping my comments would get Zapf to clean up her act. I have serious issues with every candidate in the District 6 race; but electing someone with the fortitude to scale back pensions and outsource services is my number one issue, and Zapf appears to be the best positioned to do so. In more normal times, I might be endorsing Kim Tran, but I think that Kim is, by nature, just a little too nice of a human being, and someone with a little anger and edge is going to be needed to take on the unions. The budget crises faced by the city, state and nation are unprecedented because they are all happening simultaneously, not due to some catastrophic misfortune, but due to the lack of courage to take on the clamor for ever increasing spending. I am looking for candidates willing to make cuts in city government, even on firefighting and police, and willing to use every legal means available to scale back the costs of services, including outsourcing, raising employee pension contributions, and re-negotiating contracts and benefits.
Thanks for the post and the comment on our blog.
ReplyDeleteI tried to choose the word "double back" carefully to indicate that you were going back, retracing your steps, and taking a hard look at Zapf and Tran. I would've just said you'd withdrawn your endorsement if you had. I didn't want to use a word like "wobble" or "vacillate" because I thought your response was methodical, reasoned and thorough.
Today, you reaffirmed your position and that's that.
If you're staying home on election night, would you like to join us on our live blog? Sort of like a glorified chat-room, we'll be having live results and discussion and I think you'd help us keep it balanced.
Please shoot me an email: davem@sdcitybeat.com