Kevin Faulconer and the Republicans Really Don’t Want Liberal Voters at the Beach to Vote for Nathan Fletcher

by Frank Gormlie

It’s very clear – Kevin Faulconer really doesn’t want you – the liberal voter at the beach – to vote for Nathan Fletcher.  Faulconer, of course, is OB’s current City Councilperson and sole Republican candidate for mayor of all San Diego.  And of course, Nathan Fletcher is one of his Democratic opponents.

Two recent, slick campaign fliers have recently hit the beach area and tell the story.

One of them shouts out that “Nathan Fletcher is a trusted conservative.” as a quote from liberal nemesis, Karl Rove.  Natch, there’s also a nice color photo next to the quote showing Fletcher and Rove standing together – and Karl has a huge smile.

So, get the picture so far? Up at the return address, you see “Paid for by The Lincoln Club of San Diego County”, and think, okay, the Lincoln Club is generally a pro-business GOP group and they just want you to know that Fletcher is indeed “a trusted conservative.”

You turn over the glossy flier and see this: the back end of a big, ol’ truck with half dozen right-wing bumper stickers plastered all over it.  There’s (clockwise) a McCain – Palin sticker, a pro-NRA sticker, a Romney one, a Bush-Cheney relic from 2004, it has a nice touch with a Randy Duke Cunningham sticker looking a bit torn, also the GOP elephant logo, and finally a Meg Whitman one from 2010.   In case, you’re missing the point, the truck  has a California license plate that says simply “FLETCHER”.

The top of the flier screams: “Where is Fletcher?” accompanied by the answer just below, “Hiding from his Extreme Right-Wing Record.”

Whoa, you might add. What is this?  And then you read the talk balloon coming out of  the driver’s side window – obviously supposed to be Nathan; and it says:

“I stood and voted for an all-cuts budget, not one that reduced welfare but one that eliminated it.”

We’re told that this was stated by Fletcher at the GOP party in 2012.

It’s clear that whoever published this flier really doesn’t want you to vote for Nathan Fletcher because he’s way too conservative, – “extreme right-wing” even.  Is this a liberal advocacy group putting this out? The ACLU? Disgruntled Democrats?  The Alvarez camp?

Then you check out the second flier – also very glossy and slick with lots of color. On one side you have a large, smiling image of Kevin Faulconer – obviously outside with the sun’s glow on his broad forehead and checks, collar unbuttoned.  The headline gives the message: Kevin is a streets guy. You’re told, “Kevin’s Plan for Street Repairs: Fix Them NOW.” With the “now” underlined.

Next to the photo are the stats: “more than 100 miles of city streets already repaved. with hundreds more to go.” Sounds like Kevin was out there himself, shovel in hand, fixing those potholes.

“$76 million in funding identified than can only be used for streets.” Did Kevin find this money all by himself?

At any rate, turning the flier over, you see another photo of Kevin, this one he’s sitting down and talking to a nice couple.  Are they constituents? Staff members?

We’re told that Kevin has “a plan to fix them now,” – the streets.

Okay, you understand this flier.  Kevin Faulconer is the ‘go-t0-guy’ for street repairs. You glance up to see who sent it to you and you read “San Diegans to Protect Jobs & the Economy”. That’s a mouthful for the name of any group.

You’re about to throw the fliers on the table when you take another glance at the addresses.  And then you see it.  Both fliers came from the same return address – the “7185 Navajo Road Suite P” San Diego address.

Both fliers are published by the same people and the same PAC – just different names. The Lincoln Club, San Diegans to Protect Jobs blah blah blah … Same folks. And they really don’t want you to vote for Fletcher.

These are Republicans, doubtlessly.  They’ve done their homework.  They know that a lot of liberals, progressives, independents – and Democrats – live and vote at the beach, who live in the 92107 zone. If they can’t get your vote for Kevin’s conservative policies, then at least they can get you to vote for someone they think Kevin can beat.

This is politics these days.  A politician figures out who her or his most formidable opponent would be in the general election, and then tries to manipulate opposition voters into voting for a lesser opponent, in an effort to force the weaker one in the run-off.

San Diegan Republicans have taken polls.  From their results, they believe Faulconer would have an easier campaign against David Alvarez – or Aguirre – in the general election, and those same polls tell them that Kevin would have a harder time against Fletcher in the general.

This is why Republicans and Faulconer don’t want you to vote for “conservative” Fletcher. They think they can beat Alvarez but perhaps not Fletcher in the run-off.

Now, Fletcher is no more “conservative” than Faulconer. Probably less so these days.  Fletcher at least says he likes unions.  Yes, Fletcher used to be a Republican. We’re aware of his “metamorphoses”.

Faulconer is much more of a traditional GOP’er, anti-union, pro-managed competition, pro-outsourcing basic municipal services kind of guy.

Faulconer you can say is a mild-mannered version of Carl DeMaio. They both sing from the same hymn book, just have different voices.

Faulconer has a new TV ad out these days with former mayor Jerry Sanders smiling and espousing Kevin’s virtues.  Jerry Sanders? His term as mayor is nothing to be proud about – talk about Sunroad – do you recall the REAL Sunroad scandal? Sanders wanted to shut down our libraries and rec centers. It was under Sanders that the City started having problems with maintaining the police force.

It’s now very apparent where these fliers are coming from. Don’t fall for them. Don’t be manipulated.

We’re not advocating for Fletcher here but just wanted to note the current and sleazy tactics that we see during this “Special Mayor Election”.

Oh, yeah, Kevin can claim he knows nothing about any of this.