In 22 months San Diego will be voting once again in elections that promise to change the complexion of politics in America’s Finest City. The question is whether the Democrats can marshal the intestinal fortitude to make the hard decisions early.
Now that Francine Busby has been re-elected the chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party, it remains to be seen whether she can lead. Busby’s recent leadership forays have been anything but stellar. Let’s see, she allowed greenhorn David Alvarez to become the Party standard bearer in the 2014 special mayoral election and was absent in the Gloria Council president debacle. Hardly a record that engenders confidence among rank and file Democrats but the Party stalwarts re-elected her nonetheless.
Someone in the Democratic Party will have to mount a campaign against Republican Mayor Kevin Faulconer, the question is who. One thing is for sure, the voter deserves to know who that candidate is quickly. So let’s take a look at our choices.
First up, Assemblywoman Toni Atkins. As chair of the California State Assembly, Atkins has the support and financial backing of many influential Democrats across the state. That means she can mount a formidable campaign against Mayor Faulconer by drawing upon her vast network of supporters. The question is whether Atkins wants the job. Toni, please do not mull over your decision, make it by June 1 to let other potential candidates know the lay of the land. You owe that much to San Diego and your fellow Democrats.
Councilman Todd Gloria is also a potential Democratic mayoral candidate in 2016. While Faulconer and the Republicans thought they were hobbling Gloria with their Council president shenanigans, the opposite occurred. Gloria emerged more powerful and respected than he was before his ousting.
Unfortunately, Councilman Gloria is sometimes too respectful for his own good. He needs to go to Toni Atkins and say, “Are you running for mayor or not. I will be making my decision by June 1 regardless of whether you have made up your mind.” I believe Gloria will allow Atkins to be in the driver’s seat because that is the kind of politician he is. Todd, learn your lesson from the Council president debacle and become the master of your own destiny. There is a reason conventional wisdom says the only true friend of a politician is his dog. All others cannot be trusted and can turn on you in a minute. Just ask the good friend you campaigned for, Councilwoman Sherri Lightner.
There are also dark horse candidates like Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber and former School Board President Kevin Beiser, but they don’t stand a chance against Gloria or Atkins.
Francine Busby, do your job. Bring the speculation to a close; get Atkins and Gloria to sit down to decide who will run for mayor in 2016. If both bow out then it’s your job to recruit the most formidable candidate possible. Busby, while you are at it find out if Congresswoman Susan Davis is retiring or running for another term in Congress. After all, Davis is the first domino that affects all other potential Democratic candidates in major races. Congressman is the other job several leading, local Democrats covet. Time is a wastin’.
STAMPP CORBIN
PUBLISHER
San Diego LGBT Weekly
Excellent editorial. But let’s not place all the blame and onus on Busby. It was a combination of all forces within the San Diego Democratic Party that created the Alvarez debacle and potentially a future Governor Faulconer. My real problem with this is I would hate to see Atkins lose to Faulconer. At this time, barring something unforeseen, I don’t see how Faulconer is defeated by any Democrat in 2016. The left-wing purists in 2013-14 made a years-long mistake in nominating Alvarez over Fletcher and now the real focus should be on winning council seats to buttress a second Faulconer term.
Interesting editorial. I agree that Francine needs to attempt more control over the potential candidates. Not sure I agree with the assessment that TG looks better after he lost Council President. One can blame Sherri for getting more votes, but that seems a tad petulant. The real reason Todd lost is because the party,labor and, yes, Todd, failed to work hard enough to help Sarah Boot get elected in D2, so that Todd could have gotten more votes. While we are on the rewriting of history, I would also posit that had Nathan Fletcher been actively campaigning for David instead of climbing some mountain in South America, his personal charisma might have swayed the relatively small number of votes needed to elected David. Equally, if Todd had come out early and strong for David it would have been more helpful than his tepid, after the mail-in ballots endorsement. Those who fail to learn from history repeat it. Those who promulgate a version of history only tangentially related to what actually happened certainlycover for some friends and make some ideological points, but I am not sure it really addresses the actual problems facing the Democratic Party.
Not to defend Francine Busby, but she in no way “allowed greenhorn David Alvarez to become the Party standard bearer in the 2014 special mayoral election.” She was firmly behind Nathan Fletcher. It was the rest of us on the Central Committee who wanted David Alvarez for Mayor. David has OUR values. Who knows Nathan’s values? One day he’s a republican, one day he’s non-partisan and the next day he’s a democrat. His big mistake was not getting to know us. He was busy with polo ponies in Rancho Santa Fe instead of slumming at meetings and letting us get to know him.
That said, I’m not so sure Francine is up to the task. Again, we had a candidate with all the right values and intelligence run against her, but the Central Committee saw it more as an election for Homecoming Queen rather than a party chair. I kept hearing people say, “she’s so nice.”
And yes, Francine is nice — to your face. If she doesn’t agree with you she will stab you in the back so quickly you won’t even know it before you die. Her strategizing is what cost Sarah Boot the city council seat. And I’ve heard other horrendous stories that have not been verified about what she did to Carol Kim, but I’m inclined to believe them.
This woman is not qualified to lead a classroom full of kids let alone a political party.
Listen man, when David was in that beaten down warehouse in the Barrio with his supporters including myself…during the first round…man dude, it looked like a homeless camp…those MTV cats on Vermont and University were nowhere insight…”The little />!,” and the new jet airplane” Dire Straits” Those boys did nothing for David except Kevin..and they certainly defeated me in 2010….I’m still sticking with my girlfriends and they can take their reverse discrimination to the political graveyard..