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The First Order of Business for the Post-Election City Council: A Minimum Wage Referendum

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By Doug Porter

It’s time to give the Lincoln Club and their allies a dose of their own medicine. They’ve collectively decided to wield veto power over our elected officials, effectively turning San Diego into a case study of rule by initiative.

Fine. It’s likely the City Council will have a veto-proof 6-3 majority for the foreseeable future. If there’s one issue that polls well with the general public, would actually benefit people not in a position to belong to the yacht club and will simply drive Jerry Sanders along with the rest of Kevin Faulconer’s transition team crazy, it’s raising the minimum wage.

Putting such an initiative on the November ballot, which the council can do without hiring professional truth twisters to harass shoppers, will have the additional benefit of increasing voter turnout, something favoring Democrats and progressive causes.   [Read more…]

SDPD’s Non-Solution to the ‘Driving While Female’ Crisis: Let’s Study It

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By Doug Porter

News accounts concerning incidents of sexual assault by San Diego Police Department officers have finally reached critical mass. Chief of of Police William Lansdowne told UT-San Diego on Saturday the department has decided to seek an outside auditor “to take a hard look at how the department handles misconduct and how it can better weed out rogue cops.”

Incoming Mayor Kevin Faulconer issued a statement on Sunday declaring his intention of meeting with Lansdowne “in the coming days to discuss an independent audit as part of my broader goal of rebuilding the police department and ensuring we are recruiting and retaining the best officers to serve San Diegans.”

The recent arrest of Officer Christopher Hays, accused of inappropriately touching or forcing as many as seven women to perform sex acts, has tipped the scale to the point where this issue can no longer be ignored. It should be obvious by now that the SDPD has a problem with a well-studied phenomenon known as “Driving While Female.”   [Read more…]

Guns, Nuts and Gun Nuts on a Roll in California

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By Doug Porter

A federal appeals court has struck down rules permitting counties in California to impose restrictions on carrying concealed weapons in public. The 2-1 decision by U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel is aimed at restrictions primarily imposed in the states’ urban regions including Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and San Francisco.

California’s rules will remain in effect for the foreseeable future, pending appeals, including a potential rehearing before a larger 9th Circuit panel. Many news accounts quoted lawyers saying the issue would eventually be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ruling is contrary to decisions in the Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits in Drake v. Filko (New Jersey), Woollard v. Sheridan (Maryland) and Kachalsky v. Cacace (New York.)

This case will likely push the Supreme Court to weigh in to work out the various conflicts on the circuit level. The high court has not ruled on what restrictions on an individual’s right to bear arms are constitutional.

The original lawsuit targeted the San Diego sheriff, whose policy requiring specific reasons over and above the usual “for personal protection” in advance for issuing a concealed carry permit infuriated gun owners. For the time being 9th Circuit ruling affects only California and Hawaii, states whose legislation was based on a “may issue” versus a “shall issue” interpretation of prior high court rulings on permitting.   [Read more…]

Cartel Partners Comcast and Time Warner Cable Announce “Merger”- Slower Internet Speeds for All Promised

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By Doug Porter

The pending merger of Time-Warner Cable and Comcast has made headlines everywhere today. Sadly, most of the coverage is missing the mark when it comes to the real significance of the deal. The tone, if not the actual content of the reportage, generally suggests that there is concern about creation of a cable monopoly.

The #1 and # 2 cable TV providers compete head-to-head in very few markets. In fact, when it comes to cable TV, competition is a rarity. In San Diego it was decided long ago to be in the ‘public interest’ to split the county into north and south region cable providers. These companies are more like a cartel than they are competitors.

So the proposed deal won’t effect the actual connection people use or, for the time being, its cost. The combination of Comcast-TWC will end up with about 30 million subscribers, but that number is less than the percentage (roughly 33%) of the overall pay TV market the FCC is likely to worry about.  Non-cable providers, like AT&T and Dish Network will keep enough share of the market for the government and the industry to say there is adequate “competition”.   [Read more…]

Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda… Faulconer Wins Big in San Diego Mayoral Contest

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By Doug Porter

Local Democrats lost big at the polls last night, as City Councilman Kevin Faulconer cruised to an estimated nine point victory over David Alvarez in the final mayoral showdown.

The much vaunted ground game for the Alvarez campaign turned out to be a disappointment, as turnout  was lower than expected (the final numbers are dependent on 36,000 provisional votes). Mail in votes, as opposed to voting at polling places, which tend towards Republican candidates, were the deciding factor. Democratic party activist enthusiasm for their candidate clearly did not translate into the needed higher voter participation in traditionally supportive areas of the city.

It’s also true that the side with the nastiest attack ads won. The Lincoln club mailers attacking Alvarez’s character via gangster-esque photo-shopped images did a better job of motivating voters than labor’s portrayal of a smiling Kevin Faulconer as the tool of an amorphous set of downtown developers.   [Read more…]

Fear and Gambling at Pauma Casino

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By Doug Porter

Anna Daniels and myself took a road trip yesterday to beautiful downtown Temecula to meet and talk with employees of Casino Pauma who have been struggling for union representation. Native American casinos like Pauma are located in sovereign territories whose coverage  by labor laws are limited to the terms described in compacts negotiated with the Governor’s office and ratified by the legislature.

Following an initial investigation by its General Counsel, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against Pauma Casino alleging that management’s response to the wearing of union buttons was an unfair labor practice. The unions says that workers who wore buttons have been threatened with disciplinary action if they failed to remove the buttons.

Organizers with UNITE HERE Local 30 staged a press conference in the parking lot outside of a Ramada Inn in Temecula prior to the start of a week long series of hearings by an administrative judge from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Separate from the hearing, workers have been asking the tribe to agree to a fair process, free from intimidation and retribution, while they decide whether to unionize.

   [Read more…]

Rate Hikes for Solar Panel ‘Freeriders’ and Small Users Proposed, Courtesy of SDG&E, ALEC and the Koch Brothers

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By Doug Porter

The business section of UT-San Diego leads today with an article informing us that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is considering a proposal advanced by SDG&E to shift the costs of producing electricity to “lower tier” users. The kilowatt-hours charges on the base allotment of electricity would jump by 24% come July 1st.

What that effectively means is a raise in rates for homeowners, small businesses and buildings equipped with solar panels. Current billing practices shift a higher percentage of costs to heavy users. Should the proposal before the CPUC gain approval, the paper says, “the largest home-electricity users would avoid a major bill hike, and could see some reductions.”

This raise in rates fits in rather neatly with a national strategy articulated by carbon-based energy corporations. Since California’s rates are not directly set by the legislature, utility companies are making proposals directly to the CPUC. In many states, like Arizona, these concepts are making their way through the legislature. The similarity of the substance of these schemes is hardly a coincidence.   [Read more…]

Cue the Crazy: What Are They Smoking at Fox News?

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By Doug Porter

One of the big stories in the media this week concerns the decision by CVS/Caremark to discontinue selling tobacco products at its 7600 stores. In the short term this move will cost the company $2 billion a year in sales,or about 1.5% of their total volume.

I expected to see debate over whether this was a prudent business decision. After all, no good capitalist likes to walk away from a profit. And questions about the viability of the company’s long term strategy are to be expected. Will a large enough number of consumers actually react positively to the concept of hard-core retailing of health care?

I also expected the ‘yahoo’ element to chime in, filling comment sections with trollish chatter about how, liquor, candy and sodas would probably be next. But I was astonished at how quickly Fox News spun this story into yet another Obama-centric controversy.   [Read more…]

Hijacking Democracy: ‘Referendums Have Become the Tool of the Wealthy’

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By Doug Porter

Starting with a guest editorial in UT-San Diego back on January 8th, City Attorney Jan Goldsmith has been at the forefront of a publicity blitz designed to counter community disdain for initiative drives sponsored by monied interests.

Repeated accusations about misrepresentations by paid signature gatherers, combined with a pair of  lawsuits filed by the proponents of a new community plan in the Barrio Logan have left a bad taste in the public political palate.

I believe the big business backers of an subsequent initiative (the so-called jobs tax) must have been concerned about the blowback and dispatched their most loyal servant at city hall to do their bidding. But it could be a coincidence, right?     [Read more…]

City Attorney Ploy to ‘Slut Shame’ Woman Sexually Assaulted by Cop Backfires

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By Doug Porter

“Jane Doe” is one of thirteen women who sued the City of San Diego following the arrest of SDPD officer Anthony Arevalos for sexually assaulting women while on duty by threatening them with arrest. It was her courage in filing a complaint that triggered an investigation leading to an arrest of the officer.

Yesterday reporters with 10News revealed that taxpayer dollars, authorized by the City Attorney’s office, were used to hire a private investigator to follow and videotape Jane Doe over a 23 day period. The investigator’s report, uncovered during the discovery process, clearly indicates the intention to portray her as ‘wanton woman.’

Twelve of the victims have settled their lawsuits, with payouts totalling $2.3 million. Jane Doe has stood fast, even as City Attorney Jan Goldsmith has portrayed her in the news media as a gold digger.  The real issue at hand is the young woman’s demand that the city create an independent monitor at the San Diego Police Department to watch for corruption. She and her attorneys claim there were several reports and accusations Arevalos engaged in similar misconduct over a decade.   [Read more…]

Help Wanted: Who Did What in the North Park Jack-in-the-Box Construction Caper?

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By Doug Porter

On Wednesday I included an item in my column about a community rally and fundraiser for the North Park residents still hoping for a hearing on the lack of consequences for permit violations occurring remodeling of a Jack-in-the-Box restaurant. In that story I made the following comment:

The bottom line here is that the City of San Diego (also being sued) chose to be sued by residents rather than take on a corporation. We can thank City Attorney Jan Goldsmith for that legal strategy. 

One of my favorite phrases in writing about politics in San Diego is everybody knows. Based on reporting in City Beat (and elsewhere), I thought everybody knew that the construction was allowed to continue due to actions (or inaction) by the City Attorney.

Jan Goldsmith’s office now says that’s not true. So I’m asking for a little help from our readers to figure this out.   [Read more…]

Faulconer’s Game Plan for San Diego: To Hell With Those Citizen Gadflies – Build, Baby, Build!

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By Doug Porter

His plan is just perfect for sound-bite coverage. Mayoral candidate Kevin Faulconer rolled out his miracle cure for San Diego’s housing crisis focus on the homeless population on Wednesday and the local media dutifully reported his talking points without challenging any assumptions.  It should have been easy to ask a few questions; after all here were no specifics, facts or dollar figures cited.

Today we’ll take a look at some of those assumptions, with a big assist via remarks made by by former mayor Jerry Sanders at a panel discussion sponsored by Torrey Pines Bank. Candidate Faulconer’s plan is simply a gussied up version of “trickle down” economics. And by now hopefully you’ve figured out how that hasn’t worked for 99% of the population. What’s going on here is that the GOP candidate is hiding his true intentions behind a “feel good” press release about the homeless.

A 2012 report by the Center for Housing Policy does a good job of outlining the problem, which extends way past the homeless population. While nearly one in four working households nationally are defined as having severe housing cost burden, 37% of San Diego residents are paying more than half of their income for housing. Much of the working population is one mishap away from being homeless, so when you’re talking about housing in San Diego, you may as well talk about the whole problem.   [Read more…]

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