Editorial: November election endorsements
• For San Diego mayor: Carl DeMaio
San Diego voters have a clear choice for mayor: One candidate represents the city’s best chance for the city’s future, the other an opportunity to take several steps into the past.
Carl DeMaio is, without a doubt, the best qualified to lead San Diego and we endorse him for office.
He has effectively represented District 5 on the City Council since 2008. He is a self-proclaimed watchdog intent on eliminating waste and fraud in the city and in reforming its pension fund. His guidelines for a better San Diego are included in his “Roadmap to Recovery,” a step-by-step plan for balancing the budget, reforming the pension system, fixing crumbling infrastructure and restoring ethics and accountability to every level of city government. He boils down his vision to three key words: “pensions, potholes and prosperity.”
The San Diego City Council, under the able leadership of Mayor Jerry Sanders, has made great strides toward restoring stability and trust in our municipal government. Sanders has endorsed DeMaio as the best candidate to continue moving forward. We wholeheartedly agree.
• Congress: Scott Peters
For U.S. Representative in the new 52nd District we support Scott Peters over incumbent Brian Bilbray. Though Bilbray has served in the House for 12 years, his career lacks luster. Bilbray is chairman of the House Immigration Reform Caucus and a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. With these groups gridlocked over tempestuous issues, a consensus builder willing to “cross the aisle” with new ideas and no party agenda is needed.
Scott Peters promises to be that kind of representative and we believe him. We’ve watched Peters learn tough economic lessons on the City Council and now as chair of the San Diego Port District’s Board of Commissioners. In an interview with our editors, Peters said, “I will take San Diego with me to Washington in my heart and that’s what I really think I’m working for. I’m going to make sure that I’ll always be working for San Diego while I’m there. While I’m talking to everybody, I’ll remember why I came.”
We will hold Peters to his words and remain watchful.
• County Supervisor: Dave Roberts
For the first time in 16 years there is an open seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and the good news is that the two candidates vying for the District 3 seat — Dave Roberts and Steve Danon — are both very strong and voters will triumph no matter who wins. However, in a close final tally, our editorial panel gave its backing to Roberts.
The current deputy mayor of Solana Beach, Roberts brings an invaluable mix of experience in local and national government. A senior manager for an international nonprofit association, Roberts has worked with a number of philanthropies and environmental organizations — he is often applauded for his work with the San Dieguito River Valley and San Elijo Lagoon. Roberts also has a solid financial background, including previous work as an executive with defense contractor SAIC .
Even though he is a Democrat, Roberts has received endorsements from notable figures in both parties, including outgoing supervisor Pam Slater-Price.
• Poway City Council, Poway Unified School District, 77th Assembly District and Palomar College District – No endorsements.
It has been our long-standing practice to invite candidates running for office to be interviewed by our editorial board, which consists of the publisher, general manager and editor. This year, due to recent changes in our corporate structure, a Poway/Rancho Bernardo-based editorial board was not available.
The candidates for San Diego mayor and Congress were interviewed in La Jolla by the publisher and three newspaper editors. The qualifications of the two candidates for supervisor were discussed by the same people.
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Posted by Steve Dreyer
on Oct 17 2012. Filed under Editorial, Opinion.
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I'm disappointed that you have no endorsements for the Poway City Council. Hopefully you'll get a Poway/RB editorial board for next time.
I guess this means we'll just have to make up our minds on our own… Judging by the opinion letters published mainly in favor of Steve Vaus, I'm going to suggest that perhaps that is who the paper is endorsing. In a passive sort of way. As far as the PUSD, there is only 1 challenger and 2 incumbents. On election day it will be to vote for the challenger and flip a coin as to which of the other two should go – Vanderveen or Patapow.
I can't believe that you whitewashed Peter's disaster as head of the San Diego City Council. He didn't "learn tough lessons" – he put our city on the map as the the poster child for pension bankruptcies. And then he billed the city taxpayer for over $600,000 for his personal attorney to protect himself during the SEC investigation of the county. Peters has acknowledged that he indebted our city to the tune of billions with no knowlege of how we would pay for it. Our country is $16 trillion in debt — we don't need another democrat in congress voting for more deficit spending.