City Beat Doesn't Get It - District 6

On Wednesday, the San Diego City Beat endorsed Howard Wayne for San Diego City Council, District 6. They claim he is more knowledgeable than Lorie Zapf and point to questions about her past business dealings and alleged homophobia. My reaction, so what? Who is going to lower my taxes? Their editorial board refuses to think through the tough questions like: "What is the source of our budget woes?" and "Who is best suited to tackle those issues?" Have two years of demonstrations by the Tea Party on the size and voraciousness of government passed them by?

If they had made an argument that it only Wayne, on the "only Nixon could go to China" theory, could tackle the pension problem, I might have had some respect. Instead they stick their heads in the sand, as if pensions and budgets are not serious issues. I agree that Howard Wayne is very knowledgeable, and I reported that earlier. It's not the point, how can he be trusted when he seeks out public employee endorsements and donations and has been inconsistent on outsourcing city services?

The U-T seems to get it, at least on this race. Here is a part of their endorsement:

Zapf, meanwhile, has faced deserved criticism over her personal finances and for some past remarks about gays for which she has apologized. But she displays an increasingly strong command of fiscal issues and far more of a willingness to demand the changes San Diego must make to end its budget nightmare.

Exactly.

The Meaning of our Choice in November

On this coming election day, there is a choice between an inexperienced new comer to politics who has had some explaining to do about her past, including personal debt against a more experienced Democrat. (I'm not talking about the Delaware Senate campaign either.) The new comer, a Republican, has come out for reducing union pension costs and for competitive bidding on city services. The Democrat has shown a detailed understanding of the pension problem and the inner workings of city government, and has promised to also tackle the pension problem. However, he is backed by the very unions that are at the root of the problems and his votes in the state assembly supported legislation that was part of creating the pension problem in California.

Of course, I am talking the San Diego District 6 Council race between Lorie Zapf and Howard Wayne. We have to decide if we are willing to accept Howard Wayne's word that he opposes Proposition D and will work to force the city employees to increase their pension contribution share, despite his record and endorsements. Or will we go with Lorie Zapf, who has been consistent in her statements on competitive bidding and union clout, but has been slow to respond to allegations.

B-Daddy's position is that this is the year that we toss out the old politicians who have gotten us into this mess and bring in new people to reform the process. I welcome your comments on the matter.