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The 2020 Council president’s race was already not like every other. Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe and Councilwoman Jen Campbell publicly introduced – with press releases – their intentions to hunt the seat, one thing we’ve by no means seen.
And now the race has grow to be one thing of a harbinger of what the cut up on the left could appear like as the town adapts to Democratic dominance.
We requested them each to come back on the podcast: Solely Montgomery Steppe wished to, and we requested her why this had become so important for her and her supporters.
“As a result of I witnessed a Council president that supported me and I need to supply that very same help,” she stated. “It’s actually arduous to get issues by the town.”
Feeling like a marketing campaign: The general public nature of the competition ended up roping in conventional public features of a marketing campaign. On the left, for instance, candidates normally vie for the help of labor unions and the Democratic Occasion.
Apparently, this is identical deal.
First, the San Diego County Democratic Occasion’s central committee held an endorsement vote Tuesday night time.
Wonky digression: There was a protracted procedural debate throughout the listening to, whereby the occasion finally declared — crucially — that they had been voting to help one candidate, simply as they’d a bit of laws, and never voting to endorse anybody. This mattered as a result of the choice didn’t observe the occasion’s formal endorsement course of. OK. Maybe that’s an necessary distinction for the occasion’s bylaws. However two Democrats had been vying for a public place, and the occasion voted to mobilize to help considered one of them. That’s an endorsement.
Again to the information: The occasion went forward and put its collective ideas right into a Twitter thread the following day, which became an extended encomium for Montgomery Steppe.
Elected officers joined the occasion assembly’s Zoom to tout Montgomery Steppe, together with Councilwoman Vivian Moreno (that’s one vote she will be able to rely on, it appears).
Council President Georgette Gómez argued for the significance of getting a real progressive within the function. Assemblywoman Shirley Weber acknowledged it was new for the occasion to weigh in on the Council president choice, however argued that was an excellent factor as a result of many traditions are simply instruments for entrenching the established order.
Then issues bought attention-grabbing: On Thursday, Montgomery Steppe instructed us the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council had additionally voted to help her for Council president. This is able to be large information. We had heard, and it was sort of an open secret, that labor supported Campbell.
If they’d voted the opposite means, it might be an enormous deal. Montgomery Steppe’s supporters shared the information on social media.
However on Friday, we tried to verify that call with Laura Fink, who has usually served as a press contact for the Labor Council. She stated the Labor Council had no touch upon the race.
Backside line: The race continues to be very a lot up within the air, by all accounts. As their first order of enterprise upon becoming a member of the Metropolis Council, 5 newly elected Democrats might want to select between two of their colleagues who’re, in keeping with the occasion, “Democrats in good standing.” In her enchantment to the occasion to not take a place, Campbell stated splitting the Council’s 8-1 majority so early would threaten the physique’s potential to realize massive issues.
A Loss, However We’ll Nonetheless Preserve Combating for COVID-19 Knowledge
Friday we bought the ultimate ruling from a Superior Courtroom choose about our lawsuit searching for the info about outbreaks in San Diego County. The county argues that its contact tracing efforts would break down if individuals discovered that their administrative center or different location could grow to be public because the spot of an outbreak.
We level out that different locations, like Los Angeles and Oregon, launch that information.
However our managing editor Sara Libby famous one other attention-grabbing a part of the disagreement. It facilities on a regulation Assemblyman Todd Gloria bought by the Legislature after the hepatitis A outbreak.
“That regulation requires the county to offer outbreak information to cities. The county argues that because it doesn’t *expressly* say they need to additionally present it to the general public, they don’t should. However all authorities data are by nature public data until they match a selected exemption,” Libby pointed out. You may learn the county’s brief on that here.
Gloria, who’s now the mayor-elect, responded.
“There could also be the explanation why the County feels it’s within the public curiosity to withhold this info, however I don’t agree with them utilizing my laws, supposed and designed to extend transparency, as a way to restrict transparency,” Gloria wrote.
We’ll be out subsequent week giving thanks and all that. You’re the neatest readers on the town so be pleased about that. In case you have any suggestions for the Politics Report, ship it to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org or andrew.keatts@voiceofsandiego.org.
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