One of San Diego's Three Propositions Creating Controversy

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 2, 2008 at 12:22 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

Voters in the City of San Diego have three initiatives on their ballots. Prop A would exempt police and firemen from privatization. Prop B would put the strong mayor form of government on the ballot i

Voters in the City of San Diego have three initiatives on their ballots. Prop A would exempt police and firemen from privatization. Prop B would put the strong mayor form of government on the ballot in 2010, rather than letting it sunset. Prop C is the city measure that has created the most controversy. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

It's not something voters would normally care much about, but it's at the heart of keeping the city on the straight and narrow financially. How to appoint a city auditor who is truly independent has proven to be a tricky issue.

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Prop C is the result of a compromise after months of meetings. It would let the mayor be involved in picking the auditor, but the auditor could only be fired by the city council. The appointment is for 10 years.

The Taxpayers Association and the Labor Council made an unusual pact to support Prop C.

But it's opposed by the League of Women Voters and John Torell, Mayor Sanders' first Auditor, who resigned because of what he considered interference from the mayor's office. The opponents are led by city councilwoman Donna Frye who says the measure amounts to allowing the fox into the chicken coop.

The last campaign filings show supporters of Prop C have raised five times as much money, but Frye points out the opponents have raised money from more than 15 times as many contributors.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.