(DD: This email went out earlier today to activists throughout San Diego)
Did you see the news last night? KUSI(!) broke down the political ads of the cycle and called our Ask Carl This commercial a "very effective" ad! We've been pushing hard to make sure Carl gets the tough questions, and we've gotten here because of your help.
You know the facts, and maybe you’ve seen the ad:
We've talked a lot about how Carl DeMaio is openly running as the candidate bought and paid for by private corporate interests, but not as much about what that actually means in practice.
Sure, it means that DeMaio openly admits that you should give him money in order for him to care about you (always an admirable trait in an elected official), but it says even more about how he thinks government should work.
It isn't just that he thinks government should run more like a business (debatable). It's that he thinks government should be bought and paid for by rich corporations (in this case through him), and they're the ones who should, in turn, receive all the benefits.
When he talks about workers having too much influence on government, DeMaio generally leaves out the second part: too much influence relative to whom? To the rich lobbyists, developers, and city contractors who are supporting and funding DeMaio; the private interests who want to make sure that any money government might bring in goes directly to those companies and not to providing services to the general public. Indeed, DeMaio got rich in his younger days doing exactly this: Taking tax dollars and re-routing the money to private corporations and his own pockets. He knows how to pull off that hustle.
Carl DeMaio still hasn't come up with a good explanation for his stance on taxes. He's a leading advocate for a new billion dollar tax increase that the public will pay directly to private businesses without having a public vote.
Developers have been major financial backers of DeMaio's campaigns, and he says he owes them in return, but it isn't just a recent phenomenon to support his mayoral aspirations.
DeMaio been working on subsidizing developers for a while. Back in 2009 as the city was wrestling with some of the toughest budget struggles, city staff pointed out that taxpayers were subsidizing 14% of developer fees. Staff analysis explained that "the recommended fees presented in the study reflect the full cost of providing the individual services"
It was a clear enough issue for every other member of the council when it came to a vote that in tough economic times, taxpayer subsidies for developers may not be the best use of money. But Carl DeMaio was the lone vote to continue the subsidies.
As the airwaves heat up with expensive TV ads, there's been renewed attention on how Carl DeMaio initially made the fortune that's allowed him to pour half a million dollars of his own cash into his campaign.
(DD: This email went out earlier today to activists throughout San Diego)
Cinco de Mayo is one of San Diego’s favorite holidays – and it’s always a good reason for a party. But there simply won’t be much for San Diegans to celebrate if Carl DeMaio ever becomes our mayor. In fact, it would be the worst hangover our city’s ever had.
For just $5, $10 or $25, you can help make sure that never happens!
It's never been so important to make sure that this “Cinco DeMaio” is one without Carl! That's why we're giving you a first look at the TV ad we want to show San Diegans before they cast their ballots:
Carl DeMaio's campaign has been thrown off a bit in recent weeks, losing the initiative and being forced to react as other candidates set the topics for debate. The response from Team DeMaio has been a series of stunts in the hopes of seizing some of that initiative back -- but they just keep backfiring.
First, DeMaio tried for a dramatic 'gotcha' moment against Nathan Fletcher in the first televised debate of the election. DeMaio triumphantly asked Fletcher whether he was currently the subject of any ethics investigation, and seemed surprised when Fletcher said no. Team DeMaio distributed copies of an ethics complaint after the debate, but it turned out that the complaint had already been dismissed and, according to the city's ethics chief "It's 100% correct that Nathan had no way of knowing about this unless the complainant told him."
Oops. Big moment to shine, but the ethics commission moved too quickly on the bogus claim. Maybe this is another reason that DeMaio tried to de-fund the ethics commission after it fined him for bad ethics.
He tried again today, criticizing Nathan Fletcher for receiving a donation from former San Diego City Manager Jack McGrory, who served during the early years of the pension underfunding. This presents a tricky standard for DeMaio, since it would make him responsible for the record of every one of his donors, past, present and future. But as it turns out it also makes him a hypocrite, since the first reaction from Team DeMaio was to... also ask McGrory for money.
