Nathan Fletcher endorses Scott Peters for Congress

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Port of San Diego Commissioner Scott Peters picked up a major endorsement for his congressional campaign Tuesday, while his opponent accused him of helping to start the city of San Diego’s financial mess and called on him to apologize for his votes.

Scott Peters

The endorsement for Peters came from independent Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who ran for San Diego mayor and stirred the pot earlier this year by leaving the Republican Party, but he failed to make the runoff. He is completing his final term in the Assembly representing a good portion of inland North County, including Poway and Rancho Bernardo.

Fletcher said Peters, a Democrat who is hoping to unseat incumbent Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, “is smart, capable, has the right experience, is in it for the right reasons, and he’s a good man.” The two are competing to represent the redrawn 52nd Congressional District, which includes Poway and Rancho Bernardo.

“Congressional dysfunction is at an all-time high because of hyper partisanship,” Fletcher said. “We need a leader like Scott who cares more about results than rhetoric.”

According to the Peters’ campaign, registration in the district is split in thirds between Democrats, Republicans and independents. A campaign statement said Peters hopes the endorsement will help him obtain the crossover votes necessary to win in the November election.

Democrats have targeted Bilbray for years, but believe this year is their best chance because redistricting radically changed the area he represents, from mostly coastal to primarily inland.

Bilbray’s campaign issued a statement asking Peters to apologize for his votes in 2002 when, as a city councilman, the panel underfunded the pension system and approved bond sales that turned out to be based on fraudulent disclosures.

Nathan Fletcher

`”Scott Peters left San Diego’s pension system with a $1.4 billion deficit and put hard-working taxpayers on the hook to pay for this fraudulent activity,” Bilbray said.

He said the votes left Peters unworthy of becoming a member of Congress.

MaryAnne Pintar, communications director for the Peters campaign, said Bilbray was focusing on a vote that happened a decade ago. Peters regrets the votes and subsequently worked to solve the problem that was created, she said.

Related posts:

  1. Peters declares primary win in Congressional race

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Posted by Steve Dreyer on Sep 18 2012. Filed under Local News, Poway. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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