Too many people in San Diego think County Supervisor candidate / former District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is some kind of moderate. Heck, some people even think she’s a Democrat. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Do you need some evidence? Look at who’s running her campaign: Jason Roe, the guy tasked by the Chamber of Commerce and their associates for derailing minimum wage in San Diego. Look at who’s polling on her behalf: The Lincoln Club, smear purveyors extraordinaire.
It’s no small coincidence a smear campaign, complete with website appealing to the Beavis and Butthead demographic, against former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, favorite of the Democratic Party’s establishment for the District 4 County Supes contest, emerged this week.
With Republicans down 17% compared to Dems in registered voters in the City of San Diego (the bulk of Supes District 4), desperate measures are called for.
I was hopeful a vigorous primary season (something the local Democratic party itself apparently doesn’t have much interest in) could end with an understanding of how bad it has been for San Diego to have five white Republican San Diego State graduates running the County.
Instead, we’re gonna get to hear, read, and see garbage.
The last thing Republicans want discussed is Bonnie Dumanis’ actual record: medical marijuana pot busts, coverups of malfeasance, racial animus, negligence on domestic violence, and –lest we forget– hanging out with rich guys/now convicted felons looking to turn San Diego’s waterfront into another Miami Beach.
There are, in fact, three other qualified Democrats running for the Supes seat, but the Republicans are hoping to win the seat by denigrating the candidate with the most name recognition.
Those other candidates are former Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña, Attorney/community activist Omar Passons, and retired Deputy Fire Chief/Encanto Planning Group Chair Kenneth Malbrough. (We’ll be doing more stories on them as the election nears.)
Saldaña has been deeply involved in advocating for solutions to San Diego’s homeless population, something the County–with its vast financial resources and primary responsibility for administering social programs– should be in the leadership of addressing.
Omar Passons’ ideas about working with, supporting, and empowering young people, along with proposals to addressing the housing crisis deserve to be heard. Not to mention that he is a fresh face.
I haven’t met with Malbrough yet, and he does not have a website. Hopefully, we’ll learn more about him in the months to come. That’s what primaries are supposed to be about, right?
UPDATE: Thanks to Ken Stone, I now have Ken Malbrough’s website on my radar. “Health and human services for all underserved communities” is his elevator pitch. I’m sure there will be more to come.
Getting back to the garbage… The Times of San Diego just happened to publish a seven-month-old Lincoln Club poll of “403 active voters” showing that Fletcher was vulnerable, especially after a little negativity got shared.
Unfortunately, Jason Roe’s latest nastiness, the website referenced in the tweet above, uses an abundance of quotes from columns appearing in the San Diego Free Press and OB Rag published in years past.
From the Times article:
The sarcastic site — iheartnathan.com — features cartoon depictions of Fletcher. It mocks his conversion from Republican to Democrat and links to articles critical of him, some from the left.
“And now Nathan is back — his star rising again with the help of a pliant Democratic Establishment who is passing over a Latina and two African Americans who have been loyal Democrats their entire lives,” the site says.
I’m not going to attempt to go back and re-write history. Those SDFP/OB Rag quotes (I don’t think I’m quoted, but I didn’t really care to look very hard) were relevant at the time they were published. A lot of water has passed under the bridge.
My quotes about Jason Roe,–whose start in San Diego included working for Carl DeMaio–based on his current behavior, appear to still be accurate. Roe liked them enough to share them on his Facebook page, which should give you some insight into what kind of human he is. (Or isn’t)
Also, you should know the Republican political consultant’s other candidate in his 2018 election portfolio is Summer Stephan, who will also be trying to sell herself as a reasonable candidate for District Attorney while Roe orchestrates a smear campaign against progressive candidate Genevieve Jones-Wright.
Without endorsing his candidacy, it is fair to say Nathan Fletcher has evolved politically. Tens of thousands of people have left the GOP in recent years. Many of those folks say the GOP left them. Some of them have become Democrats.
And linking him to his wife, who authored (and got passed) some of the best progressive legislation in California this year, seems flat-out strange. Maybe they’re testing out tactics to use against Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren in 2020. Is there a hint of misogyny is the air?
There are some Democrats who feel compelled to endorse Nathan Fletcher at this early stage in the election cycle. I’m told the County Democratic Party central committee may move to make an endorsement tonight, which, if true, explains the timing of the first GOP salvo aimed at Fletcher.
There are some progressives who strongly dislike Nathan Fletcher. I respect that. You don’t work in politics in San Diego for years without burning a few bridges, and I suspect this is at the root of their animosity. However, I don’t respect promoting Republican propaganda on social media, which, unfortunately, I saw this morning. (If you lay down with the dogs, you’re gonna get some fleas…)
There are also some political activists in town who are refusing to endorse any of the Democratic candidates. They’re building a coalition to make sure the public knows just how bad a candidate Bonnie Dumanis is. (Email me if you’re interested. They just reached out to me this morning, so I’m lacking details here.)
I’ve had beefs with Fletcher candidacies in the past, and we’ll likely have them again in the future. For now, I’m all-in on making sure Dumanis retires from politics in 2018.
I look to what activists in the 49th and 50th Congressional districts are doing with multiple challengers to their Republican incumbents as a good model for what should be happening in the 4th District Supervisor’s race. They’re hosting town hall-style meetings and inviting all the challengers. What a concept!
Looking for some action? Check out the Weekly Progressive Calendar, published every Friday in this space, featuring Demonstrations, Rallies, Teach-ins, Meet Ups and other opportunities to get your activism on.
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Doug Porter
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Doug – Already looking forward to your stories on the other 3 Democratic candidates for D4 – would genuinely like to hear more about them. One of them will be getting my vote! (Ditto re GJW for DA…) :-)
Beyond that – get out the brooms! It’s the one sure cure for garbage!
(PS: I don’t necessarily begrudge the current batch of Supes all being Aztecs (heck, so am I); all else, however, is FAIR GAME! Beware of THAT, cowards!!)
Bonnie Dumanis is part of the corrupt county Repugnant junta. Democrats need to fight tooth and nail to defeat her. And Summer Stephan is Dumanis’ protege, exactly the same. And she is shamelessly self-promoting with the “insurance fraud” announcements. I know Dumanis did them too, but they are far more frequent now that Stephan is in campaign mode. They are on every channel at least 12 times per day! There’s got to be something smelly about that. Opponents should demand equal time. Talk about shameful public exploitation!