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San Diego WATCH About the San Diego Board of Supervisors May 2008 The current members of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors have been together since 1995 and have proven a very resilient group. Much has been written about them over the past few years. We have collected a few interesting articles that we thought you might like to read. Articles are arranged in ascending date order.
For Supervisors' Opponents, Cash is Scarce Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007 With significant campaign funding already on hand, the supervisors have an added advantage against prospective opponents. They're incumbents, they have name recognition and they are well-funded. The supervisors' coffers have benefited from a lack of opposition in previous elections. The trio had no serious challengers in 2004 and cruised to reelection, allowing them to hold onto money raised then. The money works to their advantage. It's expensive for opponents to canvass districts that often represent about as much sprawling territory as congressional seats. With many voters unfamiliar with the 17,000-employee county government, the race for supervisor can be lost amid more high-profile races. Read the whole article here: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/08/15/government/681supes080807.txt
Covering the County April 09, 2008 @ 01:04 pm by Alison St John (KPBS) The business of the day is usually safely decided before the five supervisors take to the dais. Of course a reporter can always catch a supervisor in the hall afterwards and get the party line. But the fun of covering government is the cut and thrust of public testimony -- and the tussle when decision makers disagree with each other! San Diego spends $8.5 million a year on firefighting resources. Orange County, with a similar population and a lot less land, spends $250 million. The way fire protection is organized in the two counties is different. San Diego supervisors, who slipped out of the fire protection business in the 1970s, take less responsibility than any other large populated county in California Read the whole article here: http://www.kpbs.org/blogs2/index.php/offmic/comments/covering_the_county/
Board of Supervisors Approve $5.15 Billion Budget for Fiscal Year Last Update: 5/13 /08 The San Diego County Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a draft $5.15 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year that increases spending by 8.8 percent The spending boost comes despite a souring economy that has left California with a budget deficit, which could decrease the amount of state money that will be directed to counties and other local governmental agencies, said Walt Eckard, the county chief administrative officer. Read the whole article here: http://www.fox6.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=53fb2180-60e7-494a-9e27-60a83a39f826&rss=tick
The Car Allowances Published: Thursday, April 3, 2008 What is it? The Board of Supervisors each get $12,000 a year in an automobile allowance. This was boosted a year and a half ago from $8,000. But this is considered compensation for the Supes. And that means, it factors in their salary when you go to calculate their pension. So that means, when County Supervisor Ron Roberts suggested, and his colleagues agreed, to boost their automobile allowances in 2006, they also boosted the pension they would eventually receive from the county. This belies any argument they can ever make that all they are doing is reimbursing themselves for all the travel they're doing. It's just another benefit -- another way to boost their salaries and pensions without calling it that. Without the automobile allowance, the supervisors earn $143,000 a year. With it, more than $155,000 a year. And it's that total that will be used to factor the pensions that they'll collect for the rest of their lives after they retire. Unless, of course, they get another raise. Read the whole article here: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/04/24/opinion/slop/372cruising040308.txt
Board members have job security Slater-Price, Jacob near two-decade mark By Craig Gustafson UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER May 4, 2008 If re-elected to a fifth four-year term on the county's Board of Supervisors next month, Dianne Jacob and Pam Slater-Price will join an elite club of supervisors to serve two decades. Don't bet against it happening - no incumbent supervisor has lost a re-election bid in 22 years. Critics say it's past time to bring fresh blood to the board, but supervisors say their lengthy tenure has helped fuel a financial turnaround that has made the county the envy of local governments. Jacob and Slater-Price, along with board Chairman Greg Cox, each face a challenger in the June 3 election who is pushing for term limits, criticizing their response to 2003 and 2007 wildfires, and chastising them for forgetting about regular folks. Read more here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080504-9999-1m4supes.html
County Fire Planes Emerged Out of the Blue Monday, May 5, 2008 When county Supervisor Ron Roberts stood in front of a podium last month and unveiled a proposal to lease three firefighting planes for the county, it came as a complete surprise to many of the county's top fire protection experts and local politicians. Indeed, despite leading a committee tasked exclusively with assessing the region's wildfire preparedness needs, Roberts had not brought the proposal to the committee for discussion before docketing it for the Board of Supervisors' approval. Nor had he confided in his committee co-chairman, Mayor Jerry Sanders, whose spokesman said the mayor was surprised by Roberts' proposal In essence, Roberts bypassed the official process set up in the wake of last year's devastating wildfires to assess the region's firefighting needs. In doing so, he rankled local fire protection experts and some of his political colleagues, who questioned Roberts' motives in unveiling the plan and said San Diegans have been denied the opportunity to properly discuss and debate the proposal. Read More Here: http://voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2008/05/05/news/01fireplanes050508.txt
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