San Diego City Council to choose next council president
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz. It’s Monday, December 9th.
What happens to a campaign donation when the candidate stops running for office? Can you ask for a refund?
We’ll look at a local example, next. But first, let’s do the headlines….
The San Diego City Council meets today to address the city's short-term action plan for shelter beds.
By the end of this month two shelters at Golden Hall and the Paul Mirabile Center will be going offline and taking over 600 beds with them.
The council’s discussion on shelter beds comes after the recent Regional Task Force on Homelessness’ annual conference.
The council will also meet in closed session about the growing number of lawsuits resulting from last January’s floods. The City Attorney’s Office will update the Mayor and City Council on the status of the lawsuits and seek direction.
On Tuesday, the council will also select their next president. The incumbent, Sean Elo-Rivera, announced last week he would not be running again.
Voice of San Diego’s Scott Lewis will tell us more about why we have a council president and what’s next for the council, just ahead.
El Cajon residents can now stay informed about police activity in their neighborhoods. Thanks to a new web-based technology called Citizen Connect.
The police department made the announcement on Friday, and they’re launching Citizen Connect on mobile phones or computers with internet access.
The technology allows people to see what calls the police are responding to nearly in real-time, and includes a map that shows the location of the call.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
In our next “Why It Matters” segment, we look at new leaders in city politics.
Voice of San Diego CEO Scott Lewis explains why we even have a council president in the first place.
The November election is over but there is an interesting vote in local politics. It will set the future of the San Diego City Council. Sorry though, you don’t get to vote. Unless you’re a City Council member. The San Diego City Council will elect its next president next week. Current Council President Sean Elo-Rivera does not want to be Council President any longer. “I’m really proud of what we’ve done in the last few years. There’s changes that we’ve made administratively. There’s changes that we’ve made in terms of the procedure in our council meetings and then some of the ways that we’ve led in policy as well.” Until 20 years ago, the mayor was the presiding member of the City Council. Then the city switched to the strong mayor form of government. The mayor became the chief executive of the city, in charge of most city employees. The move created a new position: City Council president. It was supposed to be almost as powerful, leading the city council as a separate but equal branch of city government. The council president gets to decide committee assignments and they get to set the agenda. If they don’t like a policy, they can do a lot to make sure it never goes forward. The vote will have a big impact on San Diego politics for years to come. I’m Scott Lewis from Voice of San Diego and that’s why it matters.
A mother is suing the City of San Diego after a high-speed chase by police ended in the deaths of her sons. Reporter Katie Hyson says it’s part of a push to reform police chases.
Last December, 4-year-old Mason and 8-year-old Malikai were in the car with their mother, Victoria Hayes. A car collided with them. Sending them off a freeway ramp and into a tree. Their car burst into flames. The boys died from their injuries. The car that hit them was speeding away from San Diego police. The lawsuit claims the pursuit started over a traffic stop. It calls it unnecessary. It says the police should’ve stopped when the chase became dangerous. And that they violated their own procedures. San Diego’s Commission on Police Practices sent policy recommendations to Chief Scott Wahl last month. Including that they should stop pursuing vehicles over things like traffic violations. Wahl has until mid-January to review the recommendations. The police department and the city attorney’s office said they don’t comment on pending litigation. Katie Hyson, KPBS News.
What happens when you give money to a political campaign, and then decide you want the money back?
Investigative reporter Scott Rodd found it’s not as easy as you might think.
San Diego resident Yvonne Elkin has been politically active most of her life. “Even back when I was young, we had, you know, in the 60s, we did a lot of advocating for civil rights and voting rights.” And in her retirement, she’s invested a lot more time in her advocacy work. “I'll knock doors and make phone calls and stuff like that, but it's because the candidate aligns with what I want to see happen.” That’s why Elkin supported Nathan Fletcher’s campaign for state Senate early last year. Fletcher at the time was on the County Board of Supervisors…and was considered a rising figure in the local Democratic party. “I was pretty impressed with him right out of the gate. You know his values and what he spoke for.” Elkin contributed $100 to Fletcher’s campaign…and planned to chip in more over time. But then….Fletcher dropped out of the race last March. He initially said it was for treatment of PTSD and alcohol abuse. Elkin fully supported Fletcher’s decision to focus on self-care. But then a few days later…a former employee at the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System accused Fletcher of sexual assault in a lawsuit. “When that occurred, then that was a different story. Then you crossed the line. You’ve been unfaithful to your family, you’ve broken our trust.” Fletcher has denied the allegations and claims the affair was consensual. As KPBS reported earlier this year, Fletcher has spent more than half a million dollars in leftover campaign contributions to defend himself in court. The California Fair Political Practices Commission has since launched an investigation into Fletcher’s use of campaign money for his legal defense. The campaign has argued the spending is allowed. Elkin decided last year that she wanted her hundred dollars back. “I gave you money to run for Senate. Now, you're not running for Senate, so I want to choose how my money is spent.” But it’s not so simple. Contributors to political campaigns can ask for their donations back. But in most cases, under state law, candidates don’t have to return the money. In Elkin’s case it took four months…and repeated requests. She started with an email to Fletcher’s campaign, which read… “Given that he will no longer be running for that seat and that he was has dishonored his supporters through his actions, I politely request a refund of my donation.” After more than a month, she sent another email. “Your actions have destroyed our trust in your ability to make good decisions. Please refund my hundred dollars at the earliest possible time.” And then another. “I have stated my reasoning previously and do not intend to let this go. Please save us a lot of time in additional heartache by just refunding my contribution now.” In her fourth and final email, Elkin threatened to go to the media and the county Democratic party with her grievances. “There are other candidates running for office this cycle that need and deserve that hundred dollars and it should be my choice as to which of them receives the donation.” That got the Fletcher camp’s attention. The next day, the campaign dropped Elkin’s refund check in the mail. Fletcher’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. It’s unclear if Fletcher declined refund requests from other small-dollar donors. But campaign finance reports do show that Fletcher returned tens of thousands of dollars to influential people and organizations who asked for a refund. It appears they had a much easier time. “You know we'd actually never done a refund before and it was I think my first time doing that for a candidate.” Jason Paguio is CEO of the Asian Business Association of San Diego. The group’s political action committee contributed $5,000 to Fletcher’s campaign. “We contacted the campaign's treasurer and they were very quick to get back.” About a month later, they got their refund. Paguio says the political action committee reinvested the money. “At that point we decided who else we would be supporting, either locally or statewide.” California election laws give candidates a lot of discretion when it comes to refunding campaign contributions. But when they drop out of a race…should they keep the money? John Pelissero says no, they shouldn’t. He’s the director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. “They really have to have more of an ethical awareness that they have an obligation to go back to their donors and ask if they'd like to have their money refunded.” Pelissero says in a situation like Fletcher’s …there’s an even clearer obligation. “If you keep the funds just for legal purposes, for your own personal behavior, that's inappropriate and really unethical.” The California Fair Political Practices Commission declined to comment on its investigation into Fletcher. It could take months for the commission to reach a decision. Scott Rodd, KPBS News.
Local ballot measures that fund children's programs passed in several California counties. Reporter Tania Thorne says the initiatives raise hopes for San Diego’s own measure currently in the works.
The county of Pomona, and cities of Sonoma and Santa Cruz succeeded in passing ballot measures that fund childcare and youth programs. Some of the measures create a dedicated bucket of funding while others tax sugary drinks- like sodas to pay for the programs. They fund childcare, mental health services, parks, and youth and recreational programs. San Diego could have seen an expansion in funding with Measures E and G, but they failed. “Clearly there's broad support for for children and youth and had, you know, some of those efforts, you know, meaningfully included like a child than youth component or focus, I think it would have they would have stood to a much better chance of passing.” Erin Hogeboom is with San Diego for Every Child. It is just one of the many organizations that make up the Children First Collective. They are working together to tackle the challenges of having affordable child care and paying providers fairly. And that work includes a future ballot measure to fund local programs. They are still working on deciding when the measure gets introduced to voters and their ballots. Tania Thorne, KPBS News
Balboa Park’s Botanical Building is back open to the public. Reporter Katie Anastas says it’s reopening after a three-year, 26-million-dollar renovation.
All of the redwood and most of the steel frame had to be replaced after years of wear and tear. New windows follow the building’s original design. Edgar Lozano is the city’s senior civil engineer. “In the 1950s, there was a major renovation where they practically removed all of the window arcades, including the doorways, and replaced it with wood lattice coming all the way down. Our job was to bring it back to the original 1915 design. So all of the window arcades came back.” Nan Sterman designed the garden. On the western side of the building, she picked plants that can survive in brighter light and drier air. “I chose those thinking 100 years ahead.” She says it’s a new garden for people to grow up with. Katie Anastas, KPBS News.
The Botanical Building is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day except holidays.
That’s it for the podcast today. As always you can find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org.
I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great Monday.
