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The Labor Council’s Choice: David Alvarez

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By Jim Miller

Last Friday evening, after five grueling hours of candidate interviews and spirited debate, the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council overwhelmingly endorsed David Alvarez for mayor.

This decision came after weeks of intense lobbying on the part of former labor leader Lorena Gonzalez, who, along with other powerful Democratic power brokers and money people were seeking to clear the field of genuinely progressive candidates in order to anoint Nathan Fletcher as the “only choice.”   [Read more…]

How I Became a Surrogate for Bob Filner Without Even Trying

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Lee Burdick Wrote It Down, So It Must Be True

By Doug Porter

A document from the Filner administration has surfaced via a public records act request that may be of interest to SD Free Press readers. It consists of notes taken by Filner chief of staff Lee Burdick during a July 20th staff meeting. Next to the word “Communications” typed on the agenda are notes that include “Surrogate” alongside a list of names that includes myself, Don Harrison (of San Diego Jewish World) and John (sic) Elliot (broadcaster).

We became aware of this document via a comment posted at SDFP, one that I (and others) interpreted as an attempt to denigrate my credibility.  The author of said comment denies this was his intent.

A little background is in order…   [Read more…]

23 Candidates Running for San Diego Mayor (and Counting) As Councilman David Alvarez Declares His Candidacy

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By Doug Porter

A mayoral contest best characterized thus far by the quantity of candidates took a turn towards being much more interesting yesterday as Democratic City Councilman David Alvarez entered the race.

Should he end up in the winner’s circle come February (which is when a final runoff will decide the victor), Alvarez will be the first mayor of Mexican descent since the city emerged from being ruled by trustees (bankruptcy) back in 1887.

This is no small thing in a city with a growing Hispanic (28.8%) population.  It wasn’t so long ago that brown-skinned people were prohibited from buying homes in many San Diego neighborhoods.

Alvarez is also popular with many on San Diego’s Labor Council, whose participation in get out the vote efforts in recent elections has boosted turnout in less affluent neighborhoods.  His electoral base is mostly south of Interstate 8, which changes the dynamics of an election many thought would be decided by mostly white, older voting blocs in other areas of the city.   [Read more…]

Public Banking: The Antidote to Wall Street’s Domination of the Economy – Part 2

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California Could Solve Its Budget Problems by Starting a Public Bank Like North Dakota Did

by John Lawrence

The most solvent state in the US is North Dakota which has low unemployment, no budget deficit and a burgeoning economy. The main reason is that the state has a public bank (BND) in which state revenues and pension funds can be invested making it unnecessary to send the money out of the state to Wall Street. All state revenues are deposited in the BND by law. Instead of Wall Street making the profits on North Dakota’s money, North Dakota is making the profits.

Instead of paying interest on debt bonds, North Dakota is reinvesting the interest its public bank makes on infrastructure improvements and lowering state income taxes among other things.

Whereas private banks are required by law to extract as much in debt service as the market will bear, a public bank can pass on the lower interest rates it has access to to its customers such as public agencies, local businesses and residents. Infrastructure projects are effectively interest free since the bank returns interest on its loans to the state treasury in the form of an annual dividend.   [Read more…]

Let’s Start a ‘Neighborhood Watch’ Program for Mayoral Candidates

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By Doug Porter

It seems like ‘neighborhood’ is the new ‘sustainable’ for candidates in San Diego as the campaigns for the mayoral special election on November 19th get underway.  Yes, indeedy, it seems as though this buzzword is on everybody’s lips.

What the word ‘neighborhood’ actually means to the various candidates is what we’ll be looking to find out in the coming weeks. Both the effen (my new shorthand for the anointed candidates that “everybody knows” will win) brothers emphasized the new ‘n word’ in their initial pronouncements.

Meanwhile things are going on in San Diego’s neighborhoods and communities of interest that are symptomatic a return to the business as usual mentality that has dominated the local landscape for generations.   [Read more…]

Has Assad Crossed a Red Line In Syria?

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by Frank Thomas and John Lawrence

Is the Gassing of 1400 Syrians More of a Crime Against Humanity Than the Slaughter of 100,000 Syrians?

Frank Thomas’ take:

Russia’s ongoing multi-dollar sales of advanced massively destructive weapons to Assad’s government has exacerbated the killing fields in Syria. Yet Russia sanctimoniously thinks the rest of the world, namely the U.S., has no right of humanitarian intervention to protect the lives of innocents being slaughtered by chemical weapons and more so by Russia’s own prolific arms sales to Assad’s military forces.

Russia would remind us that for many years (1980-88) Saddam Hussein’s army blatantly used mustard and nerve gases at will against Iran and even the people of Iraq. Foreign Policy has just published CIA documents confirming Washington and other western nations knew of Iraq’s production and use of chemical gases and even delivered some raw materials. In fact, the U.S. incredibly falsely accused Iran of using chemical weapons. Super-hypocritically, we and others set the Iraq precedent that a tyrant government leader, no manner how barbarous, can use chemical gases so long as his tyrannical regime is on the right side of western interests.   [Read more…]

Who Really Deposed San Diego’s Mayor and Nullified the 2012 Election?

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city hallBy Bill Adams /UrbDeZine San Diego

By now, most of the nation is aware of San Diego’s mayoral scandal, which was reported in such national media outlets as CNN, Chris Mathews Hardball, New York Times, etc. and included international legal gadfly Gloria Allred elbowing her way onto center stage. Former 10 term congressman Bob Filner had been Mayor of San Diego only 6 months before it all came to an inglorious and undemocratic end. The conventional wisdom is that the Mayor was accused by 18 women of sexual harassment leading to his resignation.

A former Freedom Rider, he was elected in the 2012 presidential election in one of the widest turnouts for a Mayoral election in the City’s history. It was a referendum for dramatic change, embodied in the policy positions and persona of Bob Filner. He was elected on a vision of prioritizing planning, neighborhoods, transit, affordable housing, labor, and livable city concepts. He was quick to deliver action on his promises . . . perhaps too quick.
  [Read more…]

A New Day at San Diego’s City Hall?

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by Ernie McCray

The other night while watching tv I heard interim San Diego Mayor, Todd Gloria, mention that it’s “A new day at City Hall.”

Well, I’ve witnessed many a “new day” in my life and what’s going on today in City Hall doesn’t look anything like any one of those days to me. Instead, it looks like the same old same old to the millionth degree.

Oh, but there was a new day at City Hall. Not too long ago. And it wasn’t like any “new day” I have ever experienced before. It was something to behold. True blue. I mean no mayor, as in none, before Bob Filner, had ever cited visions for our city that coincided with mine, a vision that included people like me, many of us South of 8, activists, artists, performers, non-profit folks and business folks of common means, all trying to meet our community’s needs.   [Read more…]

The Pawns Line Up in San Diego’s Mayoral Race

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“The U-T wants only what is best for San Diego” – quote from editorial warning Carl DeMaio to obey publisher Doug Manchester’s wishes

By Doug Porter

It was a day to remember in San Diego’s political history.  Three high-profile politicians opted to decline the opportunity to enter the contest for the top spot in the eighth largest city in the United States.  That’s like three customers going into a Starbucks paying for a latte with a hundred dollar bill and saying “keep the change”…or a camel passing through the eye of a needle.

Carl DeMaio did a stellar job of playing the media as to his intentions. “According to a source with direct knowledge of his plans” DC’s Politico and other media outlets ran with the story saying the former city councilman had decided to drop his candidacy for Congress to run for Mayor. He posted a photo on social media with supporters holding campaign signs for both Congress and Mayor.

The 11am press conference on San Diego’s harbor featured a podium sign strongly suggesting DeMaio was in it to win it for the mayor’s seat. One reporter even pre-typed a Tweet to that effect and ‘accidentally’ hit ‘send’ as DeMaio’s speech meandered across the political landscape. It was clear the former councilman was enjoying playing the press and his “special interest” opponents.   [Read more…]

To Bomb or Not to Bomb (Syria), That is The Question

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By Doug Porter

Once again the world faces an ogre whose actions threaten the sensibilities of good people everywhere and any neighborhood or ethinic group that gets in his way. I am speaking of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the latest in a series of post-cold war functionaries to break bad on the world and their own people.

Syria, like much of the post-colonial world, is a nation-state created at the point of a gun by its European conquerors.  Assad is just another functionary entrusted with keeping stability in an unstable region.

He and his father before him were placeholders for Soviet interests in the Middle East. Today Syria and Iran stand alone against the Sunni masters of Saudi Arabia, a US surrogate increasingly open about operating on its own agenda.   [Read more…]

City Heights, My Hero in the Era of “The New Jim Crow”

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By Ernie McCray

If a community could be labeled a hero then City Heights would be mine. I’ve loved the community for a long time. I used to live there back in 68 or 69 – when I was trying to get my life back in line after it had been weakened by more drama than one would find in a telenovela storyline. So, to my delight, I rediscovered the light in City Heights. That bonded us.

The word around town in those days was that there were streets in the neighborhoods that were “kind of rough” and there was some truth to that but I’ve kept the love.

Over time, though, “rough” became a pretty apt description of the area. Gang banging and drug handling came more and more on the scene. Abodes were crumbling. Citizens had nowhere to go to ask questions as there were no “public services” to speak of. Some definition of “disenfranchised” has to be included in that picture somewhere.   [Read more…]

Part I: A Story About Sex… More or Less

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By Norma Damashek / NumbersRunner

Once upon a time there was a man with an unquenchable impulse to invite women out to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He seemed oblivious to a fact most other men understand — there are circumstances when it’s okay to sweet-talk a woman and other circumstances when it’s not.

For a man known to be adept and dynamic at public speaking he was oddly banal and unimaginative at the art and practice of seduction: are you married… you are beautiful… your eyes mesmerize me… I want you to have dinner with me.   [Read more…]

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