By Doug Porter
The battle for endorsements by political campaigns is a key part of any election strategy, fostering prestige, volunteers, mentions in the press and donations. Today we’ll take a gander at the Alvarez and Faulconer campaigns’ lineup of endorsers. Their campaigns have been slugging it out in recent days, each hoping to top the other with press releases and media events.
My curiosity about endorsements was trigged by a press release from Republican Kevin Faulconer’s campaign. Here’s the lede: “Countering the Asian American labor union bosses that endorsed David Alvarez last week, the official Asian American Coalition that supported former Democrat candidate Nathan Fletcher in San Diego’s mayoral general election, will announce a break with the Democrats and endorse Kevin Faulconer in the runoff election.”
I wondered about the phrase “labor union bosses,” since my recollections about the group referred to by Faulconer’s PR guys, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), was that their activities were focused on immigration reform, human rights and aid efforts for victims of natural disasters. A little research revealed APALA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO and they do regularly get trotted out for endorsement photo opportunities.
Since their local president appeared at a press conference for David Alvarez as an individual endorser, I wonder how this makes them “bosses,” plural. I do wonder if the Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, Korean, Japanese, Indian and other Asians appearing at said press conference feel dissed by the Republican candidate.
Faulconer’s newest endorsers, the “official” Asian American Coalition, have only been in existence for two years and Nathan Fletcher is the only local candidate I can find any record of them endorsing. So maybe their “break” was with a Democrat, singular. Their national organization appears to be a non-profit focused on get-out-the-vote efforts.
Meanwhile, inewsource is reporting that Nathan Fletcher, the former candidate who the Faulconer campaign seems bent on associating with their guy, just donated $1000 to the Alvarez campaign, backing up his election night endorsement.
It seems like just yesterday that a flyer soliciting campaign volunteers for Faulconer called out Fletcher as a “traitor.”
Each candidate maintains a web page listing their endorsers. Spoiler alert: the endorsements break down into the usual party affiliations. Please direct any comments about omissions or titles to the candidates. These lists are “copied and pasted” directly from their web pages.
Republican Kevin Faulconer’s page:
Organizations:
Association of Builders and Contractors, San Diego Chapter Associated General Contractors, San Diego Chapter,Building Industry Association, San Diego Chapter, California Restaurant Association, San Diego Chapter, Latino American Political Association of San Diego, Lincoln Club of San Diego County, New Majority – San Diego Chapter, San Diego County Republican Party, San Diego Downtown Partnership, San Diego Hotel-Motel Association, San Diego Port Tenants Association, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce
Local Elected Officals & Dignitaries :
Mayor Jerry Sanders (former), Councilmember Mark Kersey, District 5, Councilmember Scott Sherman, District 7, Councilmember Lorie Zapf, District 6, Councilmember Carl DeMaio (former), Assemblyman Rocky Chavez, Vice Admiral Peter Hekman, Major General Dennis Kenneally, Major General Mel Spiese, Rear Admiral Robert Halder, Rear Admiral Ronne Froman, Brigadier General Michael Neil
Democrat David Alvarez’s page:
San Diego Democratic Party, San Diego and Imperial Counties Central Labor Council (Broken Link), Sierra Club, UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, California Nurses Association, Environmental Health and Justice Campaign, AFT Guild Local 1931, San Diego CityBeat
California State Controller John Chiang, State Board of Equalization Member Betty Yee, Speaker of the Assembly John Pérez, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, State Senator Marty Block, San Diego, State Senator Ellen Corbett, San Leandro, State Senator Kevin de León, Los Angeles, State Senator Mark DeSaulnier, Antioch, State Senator Mark Leno, San Francisco, State Senator Ted Lieu, Torrance, State Senator Alex Padilla, Pacoima, State Senator, Chair, California Legislative Caucus, Ricardo Lara, State Senator Leland Yee, San Francisco, Assembly Majority Leader Toni Atkins, Assemblymember Richard Bloom, Santa Monica, Assemblymember Raul Bocanegra, Pacoima, Assemblymember Rob Bonta, Oakland, Assemblymember Nora Campos, San Jose, Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez, Echo Park, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez, Chula Vista, Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Los Angeles, Assemblymember Jose Medina, Riverside, Assemblymember Richard Pan, Sacramento, Assemblymember Henry Perea, Fresno, Assemblymember Anthony Rendon, Lakewood, Assemblymember Phil Ting, San Francisco, Assemblymember Shirley Weber, San Diego, San Diego City Councilwoman Myrtle Cole, San Diego City Councilwoman Marti Emerald, San Diego Unified School District Board President John Lee Evans, San Diego Unified School District Board Vice President Kevin Beiser, San Diego Unified School District Board Member Richard Barrera, San Diego Unified School District Board Member Marne Foster, Former California Assemblymember Lori Saldaña, Former San Diego City Councilwoman Donna Frye
San Diego Democrats for Equality, San Diego County Young Democrats, Chicano Democratic Association of San Diego, Asian American Pacific Islander Democratic Club of San Diego, Pacific Beach Democratic Club, Uptown Democratic Club, San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, Progressive San Diego, Filipino American Community Empowerment (F.A.C.E.)
Former San Diego County Democratic Party Chair Bob Jellison, Former San Diego County Democratic Party Chair Kennan Kaeder, Former San Diego County Democratic Party Chair Maureen Steiner, Former Mayoral Candidate & Save Our Heritage Organisation Executive Director Bruce Coons, Former McKinley Elementary PTA President Sandy Mattson, President of the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) of San Diego, Johanna Puno Hester.
Your homework assignment for today is to figure out which major local elected official is not on either list. We’ll have the answer for you in Thursday’s column. Leave your guesses in the comments.
The Ad War Continues
I received an oversized pro-Alvarez mailing yesterday from the California Democratic Party featuring San Diego’s skyline wrapped in wads of $100 bills saying “There are millions of reasons why downtown developers are fueling Kevin Faulconer’s campaign.” I think it would have been more effective if it said “Republican Kevin Faulconer”, since that’s the word his campaign seems to be running from.
via 10News
Over at 10News they featured political consultant Tom Shepard, saying the latest mailing from the Lincoln Club appears to have David Alvarez making a “gang hand sign.”
10News anchor Itica Milanes spoke with Tom Shepard, a political consultant who believes there is a very subtle message in the mailer ad that could have a powerful impact.
“It’s a hand gesture specifically associated with gang members,” he said.
Shepard is considered a kingmaker when it comes to San Diego politics. He ran the campaigns that got both Jerry Sanders and Bob Filner elected mayor.
He believes the picture in the mailer was edited to make Alvarez look sinister and like a gang member.
I had no clue. Guess it was too subtle for me.
Jobs Coalition: It’s Our Way or More Potholes. You Choose.
Amongst the claims being made by Jobs Coalition spokesman and former mayor Jerry Sanders is that the City Council opted out on over twenty different funding proposals for funding low incoming housing, choosing a linkage fee on large construction projects because it was more expedient.
Voice of San Diego’s Andrew Keatts tried to find out more about those rejected proposals, only to discover that Jobs Coalition members hadn’t actually gotten around to actually endorsing any of them. They’re just ideas, I guess; many of which require 66% voter approval.
There’s a Catch-22 at work: Business groups largely haven’t taken formal stances on each policy because each policy never looked like it was gaining steam with the city and affordable housing advocates; the city and affordable housing advocates, meanwhile, never seriously pursued many of these policies because they were deemed unachievable.
Keatts asked Jerry Saunders about support for those “ideas”:
…he said it wouldn’t make sense for coalition members to indulge questions on which of the 20 alternatives they support. Doing so would mean negotiating against itself, he said.
The ex-mayor made it clear that support for any of those “ideas” (which include a major bond issue for infrastructure updates) could be dependent on the results of the election. In other words, if the jobs coalition doesn’t get its way, San Diego’s sidewalks and neighborhoods will pay the price.
Orange County Jury Acquits Police in Death of Homeless Man
This is some sick stuff. Don’t watch the video below where this guy gets beat to death unless you have a strong stomach. At least the police officers in question are no longer employed. The FBI has announced it’s entering the case to look for civil rights violations.
From Think Progress:
Two former police officers in Orange County, CA were acquitted of murder Monday for beating a schizophrenic homeless man, Kelly Thomas, to death. After watching a harrowing video showing Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli, along with other officers, brutalizing Thomas, the jury spent less than a day deliberating to find the two men not guilty.
In July 2011, the Fullerton cops came upon the 37-year-old schizophrenic taking some letters out of a trashcan and started beating him with a taser and a baton. The entire encounter was caught on a nearby security camera. The recording shows Ramos putting on a pair of latex gloves and telling Thomas, “See these fists? They’re getting ready to fuck you up.” As the officers hit him, Thomas begged for help and called out for his father. Cicinelli arrived later, tasing Thomas with a stun gun and then struck him across the face with it hard enough to break several bones. “I just probably smashed his face to hell,” he says on the video. Thomas went unconscious and died five days later. Ramos and Cicinelli were fired about a year after the assault.
The defense attorneys argued Thomas had fought back, forcing the officers’ to subdue him, and that he died not of his injuries but of a heart condition exacerbated by long-term drug use. As a result of the not guilty verdict, the Orange County District Attorney has also decided not to pursue charges against a third officer, telling reporters, “I don’t intend to proceed with another trial when the two officers here were acquitted.”
At Last, A Budget. Maybe.
Word out of Washington DC is that congressional negotiators have come up with a one trillion plus dollar budget that will fund the government through October.
The good news for San Diegans is that the proposed deal includes $128 million to expand the busy U.S.-Mexico border crossing station between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The bad news is the sum is less than the $226 million originally sought by the Obama administration.
Here are some other low lights:
- The deal bars postal officials from ending Saturday mail delivery — a move endorsed by a majority of Americans — or from closing far-flung rural post offices — a tricky issue fraught with political concerns. Not included are any measures helping the Postal Service get out of its congressionally mandated death spiral, which requires the agency to pre-fund all its future pension obligations in a five year time period.
- Republicans did drop demands for more food stamp cuts, settling for defunding Wall Street regulators instead.
- An energy rider in the omnibus bill includes a ban on the administration’s light bulb efficiency standard. Manufacturers have already started phasing in the 2007 ban on bulbs that don’t meet energy efficiency standards in 2012. Yay! Climate Change!
- Last, but not least, the budget deal includes four provisions that block funding to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, an anti-poverty activist group better known as ACORN. Despite the fact that the group dissolved in 2010, the House GOP has voted 13 times since the organization disbanded to block its funding
On This Day: 1784 – The United States ratified a peace treaty with England ending the Revolutionary War. 1943 – Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first president to fly in an airplane while in office. He flew from Miami, FL, to French Morocco where he met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss World War II. 1966 – David Jones changed his last name to Bowie to avoid confusion with Davy Jones from the Monkees.
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Doug Porter
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A tiny nit to pick:
Why is it “the administration’s light bulb efficiency standard”? The efficiency standard was passed by Congress in 2007 and signed by President Bush.
This phrasing “the administration’s … standard” was used by WaPo and The Hill, so I’m not complaining about you as much as I’m noting the re-framing to pin a cost-saving law that can be demagogued onto Obama.
While the law was passed by Congress almost seven years ago, I’m pretty sure the Obama administration issued executive orders stipulating that the necessary standards had been met to discontinue the sale of older, less efficient bulbs.
Todd Gloria?
Brent: Same occurred to me, too…
Yup, it’s Todd Gloria, despite the fact that he’s been asked at every Thursday morning presser I’ve attended whether or not he would endorse in the mayoral race. His answer has always been a de-facto “no comment.”