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Barry Jantz

San Diego Winners & Losers

In the spirit of Jon Fleischman, our illustrious FRFL (Flash Report Fearless Leader), here’s my election list of San Diego’s Winners and Losers:

Mayor-Elect Jerry Sanders – THE BIG WINNER

Duh.  A no brainer.  Not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination, yet over several weeks Sanders went from the guy who didn’t even request the County Party endorsement in the primary, to the anything-is-better-than-Donna-Frye Party-endorsed candidate a few days later, all the way to apparent GOP darling and ultimate winner.  That had much more to do with the local Party closing ranks than Jerry making strides toward a strong GOP philosophy.  Sanders proves that nice guys can win.  Interestingly enough, former Mayor Dick Murphy was viewed as too nice.  Sanders effectively cast aside any comparisons with Murphy by combining decisiveness and effectiveness with a nice-guy image.

Tax Increases – LOSER

San Diego Metropolitan Magazine may have said it best in yesterday’s Daily Business Report, and even that was being nice: “It is hard to underestimate Frye’s support of a 10-year, half-cent sales tax to pay for funding City Council decisions in 1996 and 2002 to boost wages and benefits for city employees.”

Donna Frye – NOT AS MUCH OF A LOSER AS IT APPEARS

Even with her support for a huge tax increase, Frye – over the course of three elections – went from surfer council-gal, to near-mayor spurned only by unmarked bubbles (as opposed to hanging chads), to actually having some national recognition.  Garnering 46% of the vote may not get you a mayor’s seat, but it guarantees you star status in your council district, and makes you a strong contender in just about any state legislative seat you want … as long as it’s within the City of San Diego and near the beach.  She’s set for the next decade … watch for her to be raising taxes in Sacramento some day.

Kevin Faulconer – WINNER

How do you get over 34% in a primary field of 17 candidates?  With a darn good campaign and strong GOP backing.  Faulconer, the SD City Council District 2 primary winner, now faces Democrat Lorena Gonzalez.  Labor and the GOP will battle here unlike anything we’ve seen since … well, Tuesday.  Hang in there, Kevin.  The run off will be way more of a ride than this.

Luis Acle – YET TO BE DECIDED

What’s the best thing for the GOP in a heavily Democratic, minority district?  A minority Republican school board president, with great credentials like Acle.  What’s the worst?  A minority Democrat opponent, Ben Hueso, who led the primary field in votes and dollars.  Acle previously beat out Hueso for the San Diego Unified school board seat, but the District 8 council seat is considered something less than competitive for Republicans.  Hueso has strong ties to former Councilman Ralph Inzunza, found guilty in the “stripper-gate” scandal (in case you lost track of which San Diego fiasco led to open council seats in the first place).  With that said, it will take money to point out the Inzunza connection.  Victory for Luis will ride solely on his ability to raise dollars.

Republican Party of San Diego – WINNER

The train keeps on rollin’… despite the statewide results.  First Ron Nehring led the way with an outstanding precinct organization.  Combining that success with Prop 34’s boost to Party organizations and the business community feeling totally assaulted by the City of SD, you end up not with a perfect storm, but a perfect fundraising machine.  Unprecedented play in the mayor and council elections.  The next test, perhaps even the truer test, will be the council runoffs next January.

Organized Labor – LOSER, FOR NOW

With Donna Frye your candidate in a city-wide (not just the beach), this may be unfair.  But, the mayor’s seat was the ultimate goal, and labor lost.  See the last sentence of the previous paragraph.  Ditto.

Datamar – WINNER

Raul Furlong and Richard Babcock at Datamar produced daily polling in the mayor’s race for what seemed like a week straight, showing little change in the percentages between Sanders and Frye.  And, they called it.  No paying clients, it appears, they just did it … I even saw Richard being interviewed, saying “It was for the good of the community.”  The media outlets couldn’t stop talking about the data(mar).  These guys may not be rich after this election, but they sure are smart.

Mike Aguirre – LOSER

The volatile San Diego city attorney has loved being in the leadership vacuum, running his brand of a “Strong Attorney” form of government.  Now he is faced with the City’s first stab at “Strong Mayor” governance, but without the person he endorsed for the position.  Will “nice guy” Sanders put up with the shenanigans?  This may be be like a Chargers-Raiders game.

Hey, tell me what I’ve missed (barry@flashreport.org), and even if I don’t agree, I may post it … if I like what you have to say.  Please remember:  Brevity is the soul of wit.