You own a widget factory, you’re hiring a new CEO, and you have two applicants. One has worked with widgets for decades, believes in them, and wants to make them better. The other doesn’t like widgets and wants to shrink the company to produce fewer of them. Who do you hire?
I’m taking the applicant who understands the widgets and believes in them. That’s why Politically Aware is endorsing Rep. Bob Filner for mayor. Filner better understands why we need government, and how to make it work better.
Lincoln said government was “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Filner has put people first in government. An administration led by Councilmember DeMaio, in contrast, would be of, by, and for the corporation. Nowhere is this clearer than in their approach to jobs.
Click the “Job Creation” tab on DeMaio’s Web site, and the first bold points are “Resist all fee and tax increases” and “Streamline city processes.” In the related paragraphs, business is mentioned four times before jobs are mentioned once. Nowhere does DeMaio address two of the most basic questions San Diego’s unemployed want answered: How many jobs and what do they pay? While Filner’s Web site is sparse, he started with those numbers in releasing his jobs plan: 50,000 jobs at $50,000/year.
DeMaio believes the money businesses make will create jobs. Maybe it can. It can also lead to Gov. Mitt Romney’s inexplicably large IRA, which isn’t driving consumer spending or job creation. Filner’s focus on people is more likely to be effective.
To paraphrase a Sorkinism, government is a place to come together to do things that we can’t do alone. Despite argument over what those things are, most put public safety at the top, where it is on Filner’s Web site, and not last, where DeMaio’s issues page has “Clean and Safe Neighborhoods.”
Promoting arts and culture is No. 2 on Filner’s list and absent on DeMaio’s.
Government can also strive to level the playing field to provide everyone a fair shot. Filner was fighting for racial equality before I was born, continues to support the labor community and communities of color, and has been a reliable advocate for LGBT rights. While I laud DeMaio for his work to combat homelessness, he has villainized organized labor in his budget reform process, and expressed opposition to the Dream Act. While supportive of some LGBT issues on the City Council, DeMaio’s opposition to needle exchange programs is bad policy, bad medicine and bad business.
Michelle Obama said that when you’ve “walked through that doorway of opportunity … you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that helped you succeed.” I hope a Mayor DeMaio would prove me wrong, but his plan seems to reach back for businesses, merely hoping workers trickle through in their wake. Filner has spent decades reaching back for working people, LGBT people and people of color. Because he is more likely to make government a place for San Diegans to come together to keep the door of opportunity open until we’re all through, Filner is the best choice for mayor of San Diego.
