Two San Diego City Council members were at the center of a heated debate on the KPBS show "These Days" Thursday. They were debating a proposed outsourcing measure.
City Council members Marti Emerald and Carl DeMaio were on the show to debate DeMaio's Competition and Transparency in City Contracting initiative. The measure would require the city to let private businesses compete for some city contracts.
Council Members Debate On These Days
Voters passed an ordinance in 2006 that calls for outsourcing some services. But DeMaio said politicians like Emerald have ignored it.
"Not one function, not one job, not one service has been subjected to Proposition C's competitive bidding in the past four years," he said as Emerald tried to talk over him.
DeMaio said his new measure would allow the city to pay the lowest possible price for services.
But Emerald said the measure would undermine San Diego's living wage ordinance. She said she also supports creating jobs.
"But not to create minimum wage jobs with no benefits so that we can line the pockets of Mr. DeMaio's friends in big business," she said. "This is about maximizing profits to big contractors who are lining up at the government trough right now."
At one point Emerald accused DeMaio and his friends of planning to launch a recall effort against her for speaking out against his initiative. DeMaio said Emerald is being paranoid.
