By Doug Porter
Despite laying out a vision for San Diego at his state of the city speech earlier this week looking very much like the one mayoral candidate and City Councilman David Alavarez might craft, the lack of a formal endorsement in the race by iMayor Todd Gloria was troubling for many Democratic Party activists.
Fear not. It was all a matter of timing. Gloria held off on the official blessing until this morning, issuing a full-throated endorsement of city councilman Alvarez, saying:
“This week, I put forward a progressive vision for San Diego to be a great city. It includes ending homelessness, increasing the minimum wage, aggressively funding infrastructure, and implementing a strong Climate Action Plan. David Alvarez is the candidate in this race who shares my vision and who we can count on to make San Diego great.”
The iMayor’s announcement pointed out he and Alvarez worked together to increase funding for affordable housing, update the Barrio Logan community plan, and increasing vital city services via the 2014 budget.
The Alvarez campaign noted that his opponent City Councilman Kevin Faulconer opposed all three of these measures, lest he disappoint his corporate downtown campaign backers.
Gloria will be on the road until next week, but was eager to release his endorsement, according to a press release from the Alvarez campaign. The two will begin making joint appearances soon.
Doug Porter
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Speaking of endorsements:Why in hell would Father Joe take sides in the mayors race? From now on I call Goodwill.
On the one hand, the timing and the fact that it took so long for iMayor Gloria to formally endorse at all in this race was a bit baffling. He refused to tip his hand at all in press briefings, and he was obviously asked many, many times.
On the other hand, though, the timing is rather brilliant, coming just after the SOC address, where he laid out his vision for the city. He was clearly taking sides. And then to announce the endorsement after we’ve had a day to digest the meat of the speech, and just as the campaign is about to get back into full swing at a point where his backing might have the most influence……
It’s either indecisiveness (highly doubtful) or shrewd political savvy. Stuff’s about to get REAL in the mayor’s race!
Todd Gloria’s and David Alvarez’ progressive vision for San Diego is something we can sink our teeth into and get behind. Kevin Faulconer offers mainly a bunch of meaningless platitudes. The Climate Action Plan, ending homelessness and increasing the minimum wage are not radical proposals and in fact have already been enacted by a whole lot of progressive US cities. Now progressive politicians in San Diego need to get behind the establishment of a public bank.