We’re less than a week away from Tuesday’s statewide primary election, and in most ways, the field for California superintendent of public instruction seems as wide open as ever. What’s more is that, amid a fractured and contentious race for governor, voters barely seem to be paying attention to the similarly fractured race for state supe. 

That may end up playing in favor of longtime San Diego Unified Trustee Richard Barrera, whose longshot candidacy was given fresh life by an endorsement from the state’s No.1 schools power player: the California Teachers Association.  

Now, as the union pours millions into the race, it’s clear they’re not leaving his election up to chance. 

It’s not hard to understand why voters aren’t plugged into the state supe race. The position’s powers can be more symbolic than practical. The state supe doesn’t develop educational policies, but they do implement them. They also don’t create budgets, but they do disburse funds. Much of what they do is advocate for positions. 

The race is also a bit of a black box. More flashy races are getting all the attention and there’s little public polling on the state of the race. Fundraising offers a peek behind the curtain.  

According to an EdSource tracker, Barrera has raised about $220,000. That lands him in fourth place behind California State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, conservative Chino Valley Union Trustee Sonja Shaw and former California State Senator Josh Newman who’ve each raised between $284,000 and $330,000. 

Muratsuchi and former Speaker of the House Anthony Rendon, also transferred boatloads of cash from past campaigns they’d run – over $350,000 and $1.1 million, respectively. That gives them way more money to work with than the other candidates. 

Bad news for Barrera, right? Not really.  

His personal fundraising doesn’t really seem like it will matter. That’s because Barrera had the backing of the California Teachers Association, which for at least 40 years has acted as a kingmaker in the race. 

This cycle had the chance to upend CTA’s staggering win streak. While labor organizations have often coalesced around a single state supe candidate, this year support splintered, with various unions supporting different candidates. 

So, Barrera’s hopes hinged on just how much support he’d get from CTA. Turns out, a whole lot. 

Over the past two months alone, the union’s independent expenditure group has dropped nearly $5 million into the race. CTA President David Goldberg told me there will likely be more where that came from.  

“We are planning to spend as much as it takes for him to win,” Goldberg said. 

It’s not hard to see why CTA put their considerable weight behind Barrera. He’s a true-blue labor guy who came to the board not from the classroom, but from organizing spaces. Over his nearly two decades on San Diego Unified’s board, he’s played perhaps the largest role in charting the district’s course. That includes the development of the district’s now tight-kit relationship with labor, its embrace of progressive programs like community schools and its unprecedented leap into workforce housing.  

Even so, his labor history has earned him enemies. Those inside the labor movement have called on CTA to rescind its endorsement due to Barrera’s once-close connection to Mickey Kasparian, who was accused of sexual impropriety by a host of women. Those outside of the movement have alleged his close labor ties constituted a conflict of interest. 

Those concerns haven’t swayed current CTA leadership, who’ve dominated the independent expenditures in the race. Of the nearly $5.6 million spent by independent expenditure committees in the race, more than $5 million has gone to support Barrera.  

Even so, what little polling we have doesn’t show a clear favorite. A Public Policy Institute of California poll released in April showed just 7 percent of voters said Barrera was their pick. That placed him tied for second with Shaw.  

Ahead of them were San Francisco Unified teacher Ainye Long, a virtual nonentity in campaign fundraising, and Anthony Rendon, a former speaker of the California Assembly, each of whom had 9 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the shoulder shrug of “don’t know” far outpaced every candidate, with 32 percent of the vote.  

That poll, though, was functionally conducted an eon ago as far as electoral politics are concerned. After all, then-Congressmember Eric Swalwell was voters’ top pick for governor. By the time the poll was released, Swalwell had dropped out of the race and even stepped down from Congress after women accused him of sexual assault and harassment. 

All but $50,000 of the outside spending on Barrera’s behalf came after late March and early April, when voters we’re being contacted for the poll.  

And Goldberg, for his part, said he feels good about how the race is shaping up. 

“These races that are bottom of the ballot are often hard to break through. That’s very true this year, with so much going on with the governor’s race,” Goldberg said. “But I’m starting to see [Barrera] break through.” 

There has been some momentum for his campaign. He’s pulled in a host of newspaper endorsements, like the San Francisco Chronicle and the McClatchy group, which includes the Sacramento, Fresno and Merced Bees. Barrera has also long counted current state supe, Tony Thurmond, for whom he works as a deputy, as a supporter. 

Even the California Charter Schools Association, once the sworn enemy of the CTA, is backing Barrera who, despite his union bona fides, has long struck a more measured tone about the system than some of his compatriots. The group has dropped nearly $40,000 on television and web ads for Barrera. 

One interesting wrinkle in the race is just how volatile the state supe position is in this moment. While it’s long been an ill-defined position, that could become even more true if proposed changes advanced by Gov. Gavin Newsom and then, in a much different form, by the state legislature, become law. Those changes would strip even more powers from the state supe role and award them to the governor, or the legislature, depending on whose version of the changes win out. 

Needless to say, Barrera, like the other state supe candidates, oppose the changes. So too does Goldberg and the CTA. In any case, Barrera, who’s long been a more behind the scenes figure than an in-front-of-the-camera one, could potentially thrive in the soft power role of the state supe. 

That potential dealmaking ability is part of why the CTA endorsed him. For Goldberg, Barrera also reminds him of another candidate the CTA has endorsed this cycle. 

“Some of the reasons we’re supporting him are also why we endorsed (Tom) Steyer,” Goldberg said. “He’s talking about raising revenue in a way no other viable candidate is doing,” he said, referring to Steyer. 

That’s true.  

The billionaire is one of the few gubernatorial candidates who’s come out in favor of proposals like the controversial billionaire tax. Even CTA hasn’t spoken directly in favor of that proposal, likely because it would require new revenue be spent on healthcare costs. Barrera, similarly, has told me he supports taxes on the rich but would want the revenue to be put back into schools. 

What We’re Writing 

Officials at the wealthy North County Del Mar Union School District suspected an elementary student lived outside the district’s boundaries. So, they hired a private investigator to surveil the child’s home and follow them to school. The child’s mother was so frightened by the sight of a car tailing them, she called the police.  

The post The Learning Curve: Unions Drop $5 Million on Barrera for State Supe appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a bill that would make it easier to build a planned sports arena in San Diego’s Midway District. The bill, authored by Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, passed the Senate in a unanimous vote. It awaits a floor vote in the Assembly.

About Senate Bill 958: The bill would clarify that building height alone could not be subject to the Environmental Quality Review Act, the state’s preeminent environmental law. An earlier version of the bill exempted the entire project from CEQA but Weber Pierson made changes to narrowly focus on a state Supreme Court ruling that struck down a previously approved ballot measure to lift the 30-foot coastal height limit in the district.

“If everything else is fine, your project should not be stopped,” Weber Pierson, who represents the Midway District, said about exempting the stadium’s height from environmental review. 

Earlier versions of the bill were never meant to be final, Weber Pierson said, and its scope could still change as negotiations continue.

Council Back in Session for Budget Talks

This section has been updated.

Tonight, the San Diego City Council will hold a public hearing on this year’s proposed budget, which seeks to close a $118 million deficit. 

The meeting is the latest deliberation following Mayor Todd Gloria’s May revision. He restored some library and recreation center hours after Councilmembers pushed back, saying those cuts pose a threat to public safety.

But there are still some tense conversations ahead.

About the police budget: Despite pushback from the Council and public, Gloria wants to increase the police budget by $15 million.

Those increases include about $2 million for license plate reading technology that city officials say helps prevent and solve crimes.

Police officers used the technology during last week’s attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego. According to a timeline released by the police department, the license plate reader system got a hit that showed the suspects were in the Mission Valley area, and officers were dispatched.

Eleven minutes later, calls of shots fired at the Islamic Center came in, police said.

Some bathrooms restored: An earlier version of the mayor’s proposed budget would have also slashed public bathrooms by about half in many of the city’s most highly-trafficked areas. The May revision restored services at five of the beach restrooms slated for closure.

Homelessness facing consequential cuts: Gloria still plans to move forward with cuts to the Neil Good Day Center, a downtown center where homeless San Diegans can shower, rest, and pick up their mail. City officials would cut spending to the center, leaving nonprofit Father Joe’s Villages to maintain operations.

In an op-ed for Times of San Diego, president and CEO of the organization, Deacon Jim Vargas, wrote that the “closure will deepen our ongoing homeless crisis and shift costs elsewhere.”

Arts and Culture still on the chopping block: Even though breakdancers, artists, and musicians flooded City Hall late last month, Gloria still plans to cut $11.8 million from the Arts and Culture Department. In an open letter, leaders of San Diego’s arts organization ask the City Council to restore the funding.

Related: Times of San Diego reports that one of the positions also on the chopping block is the city’s filming program manager, who helped the crew of the Oscar-winning film “One Battle After Another,” secure the necessary permits to film in San Diego. 

Without a dedicated filming program manager, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department will handle such permits, Times reports. 

Tonight’s public hearing will be held in Council Chambers starting at 6:30 p.m.

Clarification: We added more information to this section about the information SDPD used from its license plate reader system and a timeline of when the shooting occurred.

Region’s Rural Residents Pushing Back on High Tech Projects

Residents across the region’s more sparsely populated hinterlands have for years pushed back against sprawling high-tech developments. Many of them feel like they’re living on the frontlines of these developments. And they often are. 

The frustrations seem to boil down to a couple of concerns: Are locals meaningfully included in the decisions? And what will the long-term impacts of these developments be?

Over the past year, for example, a proposal to build the largest data center in California in Imperial County has roiled the community. Many are concerned that the energy usage of the nearly 1-million-square-foot facility may drive up electricity costs, or that its hulking presence may change their quality of life. But despite fierce opposition from locals every step of the way, officials have continued to advance the proposal.

But it’s not just projects connected to the AI-economy’s ever-increasing hunger for data storage and computation that have worried locals. 

Residents of the communities that make up the southeastern-most tip of San Diego County have consistently raised concerns about projects that would expand green energy production as California seeks to go all in on renewables. Much-needed battery storage facilities have been particularly controversial because of their propensity to catch fire. 

“I want to be clear, we are not against renewable energy,” Thomas Wall, a resident of the east county community of Boulevard, told the Union-Tribune. “Our concerns are about an industrial-sized project in people’s backyards without any consideration for the community.”

In Other News

• Local leaders warn state cuts to behavioral health services will have lasting impacts on school crisis response. San Diego County’s Mobile Crisis Response Team, which is primarily backed by Medi-Cal and state funding, could be on the chopping block. (KPBS)
• San Diego County superintendents are raking in big bucks. Data shows David Miyashiro, from Cajon Valley Union School District, and Anne Staffieri, from San Dieguito Union High School District made well over half a million dollars in 2024. (Union-Tribune)
• Law enforcement officials investigated a threat to the San Diego Zoo but determined the threat was a “hoax,” Zoo officials said. 
• Get your umbrellas out. It’s going to rain. (Union-Tribune) 

The Morning Report was written by Nadia Lathan, Mariana Martinez Barba and Jakob McWhinney. It was edited by Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. 

The post Morning Report: Midway Rising Height Exemption Movin’ On Up appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

When Mayor Todd Gloria first proposed eliminating grants that support arts institutions and community programming in the city’s budget, many of us in the arts community were deeply concerned. The proposed $11.8 million reduction to arts funding—an 86.6% cut—would have a significant impact on organizations and programs that serve hundreds of thousands of San Diegans each year.

Arts and culture contribute so much to the economic vitality and civic life of our region, but these proposed cuts threaten the ability of arts organizations to continue to play that role into the future.

When the mayor later released his revised budget in May, however, no funding was restored for arts and culture. Indeed, as funds were found for other areas of the budget, the arts were left behind. For many in the sector this was profoundly discouraging and intensified fears about the future stability of arts programming. It raises significant concerns about the city’s priorities and our collective future.

City arts and culture funding does not bankroll lavish galas or extravagant productions. It supports community theater in neighborhoods that otherwise have little access to the arts. It supports programs inside public schools, where arts education has already been hollowed out. It exposes families to museums, nature programs and hands-on discovery. It makes possible writing and performance workshops for veterans, youth music programs, cultural festivals, and free performances in public spaces.

It sustains the smallest organizations—grassroots groups operating on limited resources that could not continue without this support—while ensuring larger institutions that anchor the sector can continue to provide jobs and partnership opportunities to smaller organizations.

Cuts of this magnitude would reverberate far beyond the arts community, reducing access to education, cultural experiences, and community programming in neighborhoods throughout San Diego, while weakening a sector that plays an important role in the city’s economic and civic life.

The May Revise identified additional Transit Occupancy Tax revenue of $13.5M, just larger than the arts funding cut. But despite this identification of new revenue, no money was added back into the arts. This is a brutal bit of irony. Historically, the fiscal principle behind the budget has been to sustain arts and culture organizations with a small fraction of the very tourism economy that they help create and sustain. Visitors come here not only for sunshine and conventions. They come for the vibrancy of this city’s culture—its theaters, museums, music, festivals, galleries, public art, and creative life.

Instead of supporting the arts, the $13.5-million increase is going toward an additional 44 full-time city employees. It is going toward purchasing dozens of new cars for the city fleet. And it is going to a new club house at the Torrey Pines golf course. This is where city leadership has prioritized our limited dollars.

According to the city’s own figures, arts and culture represent a nearly $1.2 billion sector in San Diego—an extraordinary return on a modest public investment. Yet despite the economic impact and broad community benefit, the proposed budget would dramatically reduce support for one of the very institutions and industries that help make San Diego globally competitive, economically dynamic, and culturally vibrant.

The responsibility shifts to the City Council, now. And with it, the hope of our creative ecosystem that together we rectify this budget and what it says about our city’s priorities.

Arts funding is not ornamental spending. It is an investment: in education, public life, neighborhood vitality, tourism, and civic identity. It is an investment in people.

America’s Finest City should not be the one retreating from arts and culture. The Council still has time to restore these critical funds before permanent and irreversible damage is done, and we plead with them to help us keep this critical programing alive for all of San Diego’s families.

Signed,

Barry Edelstein of the Old Globe, Jessica Hanson York of the Mingei International Museum, Todd Schultz of The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, Debby Buchholz of the La Jolla Playhouse, Martha Gilmer of the San Diego Symphony and Radys Shell at Jacobs Park, Judy Gradwohl of the San Diego Natural History Museum, Steven Snyder of the Fleet Science Center, David Bennett of the San Diego Opera, Rekha Kapania of the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, Tim Shields of the Old Globe, Roxana Velasquez of the San Diego Museum of Art

The post Open Letter: Restore City Arts Funding appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

It’s no secret that San Diego’s Republicans haven’t been unified over the past couple of years. But this election season, the infighting has reached a new high with the race to replace County Supervisor Jim Desmond on the Board of Supervisors.

Desmond is termed out and is now running for the 48th Congressional District. San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, Vista Mayor John Franklin, and Democrat Kyle Krahel are the top candidates vying for the open seat.

The San Diego County Republican Party didn’t endorse anyone this year, but Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio did. He and his group, Reform California, endorsed Jones, even though the majority of the party’s Central Committee actually voted to back Franklin (the party requires a super majority for endorsements). Now some party leaders like Rep. Darrell Issa support Franklin and others, like DeMaio, support Jones.

The split contributed to a mailer war that had both sides accusing the other of misleading voters.

Insiders say the split is part of a deeper power struggle. Former local party chair Corey Gustafson told our Tigist Layne that DeMaio is using this race to sideline the traditional party structure and establish Reform California as the primary gatekeeper for local Republican politics.

It’s also personal: Franklin helped Darrell Issa defeat DeMaio in a 2020 congressional race, and some party members view DeMaio’s stand against Franklin as a calculated vendetta.

The top two vote getters in next week’s primary will go on to the General Election.

Read the full story here. 

Politics Report: More on the Trash Deal 

If you read the Politics Report last week, it’s likely you weren’t surprised that city leaders reached a deal on the city of San Diego’s trash fee. 

This week, our editor Scott Lewis writes that Mayor Todd Gloria didn’t seem to have played a role. 

Also, Gloria made a brief, 10-minute appearance at a live event hosted by the Bulwark podcast at Balboa Theater. Here’s how Will Huntsberry described Gloria’s performance. 

“His remarks showcased his political talent — and the reasons so many in his own party have been disappointed by the mayor,” he wrote. 

Read more in the Politics Report here. 

Want more trash talk? On the latest episode of the VOSD Podcast, our hosts talk about the deal to lower the city of San Diego’s trash fee and remove parking fees at Balboa Park. They also have an update on a county government reform measure. 

Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Family of Shooting Suspect Breaks Silence

The parents of one of the suspects in last week’s shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego broke their silence Thursday, issuing a statement decrying the shooting and calling their son, 18-year-old Caleb Vazquez, a “lost, troubled and misguided soul.” Last year, police sought a court order to confiscate up to 26 guns from the Vazquez household, writing in a court filing that Vasquez had been “involved in suspicious behavior idolizing Nazis and mass shooters.” The statement from Vazquez’s parents said Vazquez was on the autism spectrum and had received treatment for “mental instability.” (Union-Tribune)

Also last week, thousands gathered Thursday at a park next to Snapdragon Stadium for a funeral prayer service for the three men killed in the shooting: Amin Abdullah, Mansour Kaziha and Nadir Awad. After the service, a smaller group of mourners buried the three men at La Vista Memorial Park cemetery in National City. (Union-Tribune)

The San Diego Police released a timeline of the attack. The Union-Tribune has more here.

Sacramento Report: Detention Commissary Price Drop 

A bill by state Sen. Steve Padilla to cap commissary markups at immigration detention centers is making its way through the Legislature, reports our Nadia Lathan. 

Senate Bill 941 would cap all store goods at detention centers at 35 percent of the vendor price. (Right now a notebook goes for $1.44 but could be 75 cents, for example.) 

Padilla has support from advocates who say these markups “take advantage” of families trying to support individuals in detention. The Riverside Sheriffs Association, which has no love for private detention centers, is also supporting the bill. 

Read the Sacramento Report here. 

May Gray Rolls On

Our collection of gray Voice of San Diego tees, sweats and hats is made for cool coastal mornings, overcast afternoons and wherever the day takes you. Comfy and easy to style, these cozy layers are a great way to show your support for independent local journalism.  Shop the collection today.

In Other News

• Last year, permanent supportive housing programs for homeless people narrowly escaped federal cuts. Now, the programs are back in the crosshairs. (inewsource) 
• The Democratic candidates running for the 48th congressional district are all skirting campaign finance rules disallowing campaigns from coordinating with political action committees. Just check their websites. (KPBS)
• Harold K. Brown, a transformative civil rights leader who founded a San Diego chapter of the Congress on Racial Equality in the early 1960s, died this month. His work shaped the local struggle for racial equality. (KPBS)

 Tigist Layne, Jim Hinch and Jakob McWhinney wrote the Morning Report. Editing by Andrea Sanchez-Villafana and Scott Lewis. 

The post Morning Report: The Republican Battle for a Supervisor Seat appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones and Vista Mayor John Franklin have a lot in common. 

They’re both Republicans with similar policy beliefs. Both are mayors of neighboring cities in inland North County. And now, they’re both battling for the same seat on the County Board of Supervisors.  

Besides their different political styles — Jones distances herself from polarizing political issues, while Franklin leans into them — there’s not much else that sets them apart.  

But this race has implications far beyond Jones and Franklin, at least from the perspective of San Diego County Republican Party members. It represents a deeper power struggle between the party and someone who threatens its very foundation, Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio. 

“What’s at stake in this race is the future of the County Republican Party,” said Corey Gustafson, the party’s former chairperson. 

DeMaio’s goal, Gustafson said, is to sideline the County’s Republican Party and make Reform California the only source for Republican politics in the region. Winning this election would bring him one step closer to doing just that. 

That’s why the race for District 5 County Supervisor has shaped up to be one of the key races of the year. Jim Desmond, who currently holds the seat, is termed out. He’s now in the race for the 48th Congressional District.  

That leaves Jones, Franklin and Democrat Kyle Krahel (the former chair of the county Democratic party) as the top candidates for the seat. Other candidates in the race are Norma Contreras, a Democrat and former chair of the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, and Sasha Miller, an independent endorsed by the Green Party. 

In February, a majority of the County Republican Party’s Central Committee attempted to endorse Franklin for the District 5 Supervisor seat, but DeMaio convinced the committee they should not keep voting until a candidate gets a super majority of votes. Bylaws recently put in place by DeMaio and the party’s chair, Paula Whitsell, indicated votes would continue until there was an endorsement, but DeMaio advocated that if no candidate could get a super majority from the start, then the “people should decide.” 

Franklin, along with other candidates, failed to garner enough votes, and the party didn’t endorse anyone. DeMaio and his political action committee, Reform California, endorsed Jones.  

“There are more than 90 Republicans – from elected officials to grassroots leaders – almost the entire spectrum of Republicans in the county is supporting John Franklin except for one, and that’s Carl DeMaio,” Gustafson said. 

Why? Well, one reason is spite, he said. Franklin is supported and endorsed by 48th Congressional District Rep. Darrell Issa, who has been on the outs with DeMaio for years. 

“This goes back to 2020 when Franklin helped Darrell Issa defeat Carl DeMaio in the 2020 Congressional race,” Gustafson said. “DeMaio is essentially launching a personal vendetta against Franklin, and really Darrell Issa at the end of the day … he’s spending millions of dollars against Republicans to exact his revenge.” 

The second reason, according to Gustafson?  

“Carl wants to control the process to select Republican candidates. He wants it to be only him who decides it,” he said.  

The County Republican Party didn’t officially endorse anyone or send out a voter guide. So, the only voter guide available for Republican residents this year is Reform California’s, where every endorsement is determined solely by DeMaio. 

Mason Herron, a political consultant, told Voice of San Diego that without the Republican Party’s resources and outreach, voters could be missing information about the race, especially because it’s a large district. 

“I think without the party getting involved, there’s not really an institution that voters trust that they can turn to,” Herron said. “It could take extra effort for voters to kind of parse through what the difference is between these two candidates, especially if the candidates seem kind of the same for the most part.” 

Recently, DeMaio’s voter guide landed him in hot water with the California Republican Party. 

He received a cease-and-desist letter from the party’s attorneys on May 14 demanding he stop distributing his voter guide because it claimed to be the “official Central Committee Slate” and the “REAL San Diego County Voter Guide for Republicans.” It also featured the Republican Party’s elephant emblem.  

In the letter, Ashlee Titus, general counsel for the California Republican Party, accused him of misleading voters, deception, misconduct and more.  

DeMaio has since changed his website to read “Carl DeMaio’s Reform California Voter Guide for Republicans” instead of “Official Republican Voter Guide.” 

The Candidates 

Franklin told Voice that he is proud to receive the majority of votes from the County Republican Party’s Central Committee. And regarding DeMaio’s endorsement of Jones, he was surprised. 

“Given [Jones’] record of voting three times in the last 24 months to raise taxes, it’s very surprising,” Franklin said. “And that’s supposed to be Carl’s issue.” 

DeMaio has historically opposed tax increases of any kind, as do most Republican politicians. 

In 2024, Jones and the San Marcos City Council voted to place a sales tax increase on the San Marcos ballot, and voters approved it. And in 2025, she voted in favor of SANDAG’s regional transportation plan, a plan that identifies projects SANDAG wants the region to build in the next 30 years and includes an assumption that voters will approve two separate sales tax increases within the next 10.  

Jones told Voice she voted to put a tax measure on the San Marcos ballot because San Marcos had the lowest sales tax rate in the county, and she wanted to let the voters decide for themselves. As for SANDAG’s regional transportation plan, she said she voted for it with the understanding that it would need to be updated in four years and sent to the state for approval before any tax measures are introduced. In the meantime, she is in favor of finding grant dollars and other methods to fund the plan, not tax increases. She added that she led the effort to remove the proposed mileage tax from that same regional plan and brought an efficiency department to SANDAG to identify waste and cut costs. 

As supervisor, she would reject any efforts to impose tax increases for county residents, Jones said. She added that DeMaio’s endorsement, as “one of the biggest tax fighters,” proves she’s against raising taxes. 

“I’m proud to have their support,” she said, referring to DeMaio and Reform California. 

It’s not the first time DeMaio has supported a candidate that wasn’t the party’s preferred pick. Voice previously reported that DeMaio controversially endorsed former Poway City Councilmember Tony Blain in 2024, who was running for the seat at the time, instead of the party’s preferred candidate Jared Wilson, president of San Diego’s police union. Blain was later recalled from office before resigning from his seat. He’s now facing criminal charges. 

That endorsement created the first rift, and this one created a deeper divide. From the party’s perspective, Gustafson said, DeMaio is spending millions of dollars against members of his own party, a party fighting to survive while its presence in San Diego County rapidly shrinks.  

DeMaio declined a request for comment. 

Soon, voters will decide which two candidates will advance to the General Election for the District 5 Board of Supervisors race. If a Democrat wins the General Election, Democrats will have a fourth seat on the board, creating the first-ever supermajority where they’ll be able to pass key items like budget amendments without needing Republican support. 

And if a Republican wins, it will determine who wins the battle for the local party: DeMaio or the party’s traditional guard. 

The post How the Race for County Supervisor Became a Battleground for Republicans  appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

Two years after Shelltown residents scrambled onto rooftops to escape rising flood waters, community members are still dealing with trauma and health impacts.

Environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer and intern Rami Alarian spent time in the neighborhoods checking in on how survivors were doing. The pair quickly noticed a trend: A lot of residents were talking about health issues.

In a new story, our reporters reveal that January 2024 flood survivors are dealing with skin infections that won’t go away, bone pain and breathing problems.

“Medical care often falls by the wayside in the chaos of disaster recovery, leaving survivors vulnerable to worsening health conditions over time,” one expert writes.

Residents organized a march this month to bring attention to the emotional, financial and physical issues they are dealing with two years later.

You can read the full story here.

Quick Recap: Trash and Parking Fees

San Diego’s single-family homeowners will pay a lower fee for trash collection thanks to a new deal city officials approved this week.

As our editor Scott Lewis predicted, opponents of the trash fee agreed to drop a lawsuit and repeal efforts, in exchange for city officials lowering the fee. This deal enables the city to avoid a meteor-sized hole in the budget and saves the opponents from a messy and expensive fight.

One interesting addition: The deal also includes getting rid of the fees to park in Balboa Park. Lewis explained on the VOSD Podcast that the addition was likely made to sweeten the deal. Someone get Lewis a Walter Mercado cape already.

Speaking of Messy …

One City Council race in South County is getting extra dirty.

For his latest newsletter, Jim Hinch gave readers a sneak peak at some of the rumors and allegations he has heard as the June 2 primary election inches closer.

One race especially is getting a lot of attention because of one candidate’s campaign tactics, Hinch writes. This is in the Chula Vista City Council District 2 race.

Councilmember Jose Preciado is running for re-election. His opponent, Angelica Martinez, recently circulated a poster that featured a photo of Preciado from several years ago when he weighed more than 600 pounds.

He has since lost half that weight, Hinch writes. The poster backfired on Martinez.

“Is a disagreement on a policy matter so much that I have to be…belittled?” Preciado told Hinch. “I find it despicable.”

You can read more in the South County Report.

More from Hinch: San Diego is mourning the deaths of three beloved Muslim community members who were killed during Monday’s shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. The alleged shooters, two radicalized teenagers, were found dead in a vehicle after the attack.

Hinch attended a vigil for the victims. Here’s what he witnessed.

More Chisme to Start Your Week

• Friendship Park has become a sort of graveyard for dead birds. Voice contributor Kate Morrissey has more in her latest Border Report.
• Our readers are really loving this story about how a school district hired a private investigator to spy on a student’s family. If you missed it, you can read it here.
• County Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer’s proposal to reform county government is inching closer to your November ballot. She made a key change to her pitch and has to get one more vote before it’s on the ballot. Read more here.

The post Cup of Chisme: After the Floods appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

On the one hand, the deal struck this week to lower the trash fee, abort the effort to repeal it entirely and restore free parking to Balboa Park felt like a special moment – the first step toward restoring trust in city politics. To see the former city attorney and former mayor, the leader of the largest union of city employees smiling and joking about how well the leader of the conservative Lincoln Club golfs felt extraordinary.

On the other hand, compromises that help us move past disputes and provide more certainty as we move on to bigger challenges and progress should not be so remarkable.  

Certainty matters. We called the potential repeal of the trash fee a “meteor” heading toward the city’s budget. As Council President Joe LaCava told the Politics Report last week, talking about a deal, even if rejecting it, would at least force the city to finally start talking about this meteor.

Now, with the deal, the city knows for sure the fee will be in place and how much it will be. They know paid parking at Balboa Park will not be in place and they can plan around it.

And just like that the dealmakers vaporized the two biggest complaints about the city right now: the implementation of the trash fee and paid parking at the park.

Mayor nowhere: At the press conference announcing the deal, Mayor Todd Gloria’s name came up just once. Michael Zucchet, the general manager of the Municipal Employees Association, started his remarks thanking the mayor.

But that was it. Gloria doesn’t appear to have had a role in one of the biggest deals the city has made in years or if he did, nobody mentioned it and he didn’t want to talk about it.

Todd, at His Best and Worst

On Wednesday night, Mayor Todd Gloria made a brief, 10-minute appearance at a live event hosted by the Bulwark podcast at Balboa Theater. His remarks showcased his political talent — and the reasons so many in his own party have been disappointed by the mayor. (Hat tip to the friend of The Politics Report who shared a recording.)

Gloria started by speaking about the shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego. 

He called the three men who were killed “absolute heroes” because of their actions to defend the mosque and people inside of it. “It’s unquestionable that they saved at least 140 kids lives,” Gloria said. 

But it wasn’t just the words he used. It was the empathy he channeled with his tone that made the moment stand out. It wasn’t exactly Obama-esque — but it wasn’t not. 

“Our city is not defined by those two shooters,” he said. “We’re defined by those brave men.”

After talking about the shooting, Gloria addressed just one other topic. A host noted that some in the audience had been shouting at Gloria since he came on stage.  

“Some people are clearly pissed about some things,” the host said. “You probably know better than I do what some people are pissed about. Talk to them. Tell them what you want for the city.”

Gloria dug up a quote from former president Lyndon Johnson, supposedly made during the height of the Vietnam War. 

“When the weight of this office is heaviest on my shoulders and the day is darkest and the hardest, I always remember it could be worse: I could be a mayor,” Gloria quoted Johnson as saying. 

That line brought a few scattered laughs. 

It was reminiscent of something I reported in a story about Gloria back in January that examined his tenure as mayor. Gloria so often made jokes about how being mayor sucked that some people started advising him against it. It was getting awkward. (His deputy chief of staff disputed he ever made those jokes.)

On stage, Gloria also blamed the internet for radicalizing people to violence and pushing them to “harass elected officials.”

Gloria said his agenda is vital but uncontroversial to most people. He wants to keep the city safe, build affordable homes, reduce homelessness and “fix the damn roads,” as he often says. 

“Invariably, someone is gonna say you missed that pothole. There’s that shop that was just broken into and it’s your fault,” he said.

Gloria seems to have decided it’s his job to keep the city on track. The problem is that poll after poll shows most people don’t think the city is on the right track. What has brought so many people across so much of the political spectrum so much disappointment is that they feel he should be striving for more. 

Political Money, in Charts

Our pal Mason Herron put together some charts for us on money races. Here’s the independent spending on City Council races.

Big money is flowing in to help Gerardo Ramirez in the San Diego City Council District 8 race. And independent spending is heavy both for and against Richard Bailey in District 2.

From Herron: These are low-turnout primaries with widely distributed fields. District 2 turned out about 50,000 voters in 2022; District 8 only about 20,000. That puts IE spending at roughly $10 per voter in D2 and closer to $15 per voter in D8 (assuming similar turnout this year) — before any of the candidates’ own spending is counted.

Once you stack that on top of what the candidates themselves have already spent, the marginal dollar of IE spending in these races likely has near-zero ability to move a vote. It probably has for a while.

In other words: there are realistically only a few thousand votes truly up for grabs, and there’s about $500k chasing them in D2 and $310k in D8.

And here’s the cash-on-hand totals for the big congressional race featuring Jim Desmond, Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar.

Jim Desmond sits on $1.09M in cash on hand — more than the entire Democratic field combined. On the surface, that’s a commanding head start.

But the dynamics behind the number complicate the picture. Desmond is effectively the only Republican in the race, which means he doesn’t need to spend much to clear the field. He can sit on his cash and carry the bulk into the general. The Democrats don’t have that luxury — they have to spend down what they’ve raised just to win their primary.

The bigger caveat is what happens once the race is set. In a competitive congressional general, the amounts the candidates themselves control are typically dwarfed by outside money: party committees, super PACs, and aligned IEs.

Desmond’s cash-on-hand advantage isn’t as impressive as it looks right now — especially once the Democrats coalesce around one candidate and national money starts moving.

The post Politics Report: Done Deal appeared first on Voice of San Diego.

In this weeks episode of the VOSD Podcast we tackle some tough subjects and reveal a surprising deal over San Diego’s trash fee.

Islamic center tragedy: Our hosts discuss the horrific attack at an Islamic Center in Clairemont, where two teenagers killed three men before taking their own lives. The attackers were driven by white supremacist ideology and the “great replacement” theory. The victims — a security guard, a neighbor, and a store manager — were praised as heroes for stopping the shooters from hurting more people.

Major City Hall compromise: We break down a massive political deal regarding the city’s contentious trash fee and paid parking at Balboa Park. The city agreed to return free parking to Balboa Park by the end of the year and reduce the planned trash fee increase. In exchange, the Lincoln Club and local attorneys agreed to drop their ballot measure repeal campaign and end their ongoing litigation against the city.

Listen Here Now

Listen: Apple | Spotify | PodLink

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Nine dollars for an eight-ounce jar of coffee. Single bars of Irish soap for $1.50.

These are some of the prices detainees in immigration detention centers face at the commissaries inside, where prices can be as much as 50 percent higher than in grocery stores.

A bill backed by criminal justice advocates and a sheriffs’ association seeks to change that. 

Senate Bill 941, authored by Chula Vista Sen. Steve Padilla, would cap all store goods at immigration detention centers at 35 percent of the vendor price. This would make items like a single notebook, which costs an average of $1.44 in private detention centers, to be closer to the 75 cents market value, according to a 2023 UCLA study.

It comes amid a nationwide backlash against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement as immigration raids have swept the country — the ICE detainee population ballooned by 162 percent to more than 6,000 people in California since 2023 — and lawmakers have introduced a slew of anti-ICE bills in response.

Padilla’s bill received bipartisan support during a Senate floor vote and is supported by the Riverside Sheriffs Association. California has seven ICE detention centers, including the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County.

Otay Mesa, like other facilities, is run by a private company that contracts with the federal government to house its roughly 1,500 detainees. It has been plagued by deaths, sexual abuse and reports of subpar medical conditions.

Six people died at ICE detention centers in California last year as the detainee population boomed and basic medical care became even more scarce.

Criminal justice advocates point to the UCLA study that shows most detainees rely on family to purchase from the commissary, as detainees typically earn no more than $1 a day for prison work. GEO Group, one of three private companies that operate facilities in California, contracts with for-profit vendor Union Supply to distribute products not provided by the jail. That includes chicken, Nutella and baking soda marked up by 22 to 58 percent compared to the average California store price, according to the study.

Supporters of the bill say, if enacted, the law would stop families that are trying to provide necessary products for their loved ones from being exploited by the companies.

“These places are taking advantage of underprivileged communities,” said Kent Mendoza, a policy director at Anti-Recidivism Coalition. Mendoza said he’d experienced the pricey hygienic products and poor medical treatment at a detention facility in 2014.

Ryan Sherman, a longtime lobbyist for law enforcement groups, said the Riverside Sheriffs Association is philosophically against private detention centers and has a long history of opposing them.

“We just think private prisons are really bad for the corrections profession,” he said, because of poorer training and lower work standards compared to state prisons. 

“I truly believe that the private prison industry is a complete scam to taxpayers,” Sherman said.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is also backing the bill. It awaits a committee hearing in the Assembly.

Lawmakers have previously sought to regulate commissary markups.They voted in  2023 to cap canteen markups at 35 percent of market price in state prisons. 

In Other News

Lawmakers face a key deadline next week for their bills to win approval or die. Here are some of the delegation’s biggest bills facing the deadline: 

As Voice readers know, the San Diego Midway Rising Project has faced a slew of legal challenges in its effort to override the district’s zoning laws. Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson’s bill, Senate Bill 958, would exempt the 165-foot planned arena alone from the California Environmental Quality Act. It needs a floor vote in the Senate by May 29 to proceed.

Senate Bill 1016, by Encinitas Democrat Catherine Blakespear, would make it harder for those with a severe mental illness to decline treatment in CARE Court, California’s mental health program. CARE Court has helped far fewer people than initially promised, a CalMatters investigation found, and Blakespear’s proposal would let judges determine if someone is too mentally ill to reject treatment. 

Companies use shoppers’ personal data in real-time, such as their location or age, to determine how much they’ll charge them in a practice known as surveillance pricing. Assembly Bill 2564 is Democratic Assemblymember Chris Ward’s second attempt at banning surveillance pricing, after a previous bill of his was watered down to only apply to grocery stores.

What I’m Reading Now 

The Islamic Center of San Diego reopened after three people were killed in a suspected hate crime, KPBS explains.

Religious leaders and practicing Muslims in San Diego remain on edge in the wake of the deadly attack, from The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Utility companies are Democrats’ latest target amid rising electricity rates, Politico reports.

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A company that has recently been sued for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act recently won a no-bid contract to continue operating a vital wastewater treatment plant on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Veolia has been operating the plant for years. The U.S. government initially opened a public bidding process for other companies to offer their services to run the plant. But then U.S. officials cancelled that bidding process and awarded a new no-bid contract to Veolia — at twice the annual cost of its previous contract. 

Veolia representatives said there are perfectly good reasons for that: The Trump administration has asked them to increase sewage treatment by 40 percent and other costs to operate their business have risen substantially. 

But lawyers suing the company say the contract stinks, reports our MacKenzie Elmer. 

“We believe very strongly Veolia has done a crap job,” said one lawyer. “It seems like a terrible business decision [to rehire Veolia.]”

Also: Two leaders on either side of the contract — one at Veolia and one with the federal government — previously worked together at the Environmental Protection Agency. A spokesperson said their relationship is “professional and collegial.” 

Read the full story here. 

A New Spin on Radicalization

Amy Reichert, a local woman with a private investigator license who styles herself as an independent researcher, has dived into the middle of the mosque shooting story.

Reichert claims she interviewed the mother of one of the alleged shooters last year. 

Here’s the twist: Reichert implies heavily that the boy may have become radicalized because he was forced to take an ethnic studies class. 

In an interview with One America News, Reichert said the boy was of mixed ethnicity and felt he was being “painted as a victim” by the curriculum. 

An OAN host then attempts to define ethnic studies and how it affected the boy. “[It’s] where they say anybody of color is a victim and White folks are all the oppressors. And he was torn because he’s half and half.”

Ethnic studies is a mandated part of the high school curriculum in California. 

Reichert herself dislikes being called a conservative. But it’s easy to see the wheels of conservative media turning in real time on this story: Teaching children ethnic studies leads to violence and radicalization. Reichert, despite what she claims, is on the bus.

South County Report: Campaign Season Hits a New Low

San Diego’s border region has a reputation for dirty politics.

But even veterans of the region’s political scene said they were appalled by what they called one candidate’s recent attempt to fat-shame her opponent.

Angelica Martinez, a Republican seeking to unseat Chula Vista City Councilmember Jose Preciado, did not respond to questions about an attack ad that features a years-old photo of Preciado from a time when he weighed more than 600 pounds.

Preciado, a Democrat who said he has struggled with his weight for years, recently shed many of the excess pounds and no longer resembles the photo Martinez used.

“Is a disagreement on a policy matter so much that I have to be… belittled?” he said.

Also: National City eyes cuts to close a $16 million deficit. And the Chula Vista Elementary School District agreed to pay a former principal $3.3 million to settle a workplace lawsuit that alleged the district hired a private investigator to tail the principal, then retaliated against her after she took a leave of absence for carpal tunnel surgery.

Read the South County Report here. 

Take on May Gray in Style 

Our collection of gray Voice of San Diego tees, sweats and hats is made for cool coastal mornings and overcast afternoons.

Comfy and easy to style, these cozy layers are a great way to show your support for independent local journalism. Shop the collection today.  

In Other News

• North County residents: Prepare to see a lot more American Airlines flights coming in and out of McClellan-Palomar Airport following a Wednesday county board vote. (Union-Tribune)
• 10 News reported that the San Diego Police Department’s northern division didn’t have minimum staffing on the day of the Clairemont mosque shooting and that one of the suspects had prior contact with Chula Vista police.
• A Chula Vista cop pleaded not guilty to vehicular manslaughter after allegedly running a red light while on duty and hitting and killing someone on a motorcycle. (NBC 7)

The Morning Report was written by Will Huntsberry, Jim Hinch and Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. It was edited by Will Huntsberry and Andrea Sanchez-Villafaña. 

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