A happy Jen Campbell election night, Nov.8. Cropped photo from Voice of San Diego
Editordude: Here Scott Lewis reminds all of us of how during the Primary, Campbell and her allies came up with a plan to ensure she only had a Republican to run against in the General Election by helping that Republican, Linda Lukacs, knock out Campbell’s chief Democratic rival, Lori Saldana. Mailers tied to Mayor Gloria flooded District 2 mailboxes spreading lies about Saldana. And it worked. Read Lewis’ very interesting theory about why the San Diego establishment backed Campbell.
By Scott Lewis / Voice of San Diego / Nov. 10, 2022
When the Union-Tribune editorial board endorsed Linda Lukacs in her race to oust City Councilwoman Jen Campbell, it offered a strange logic.
Campbell, the paper said, had laudable positions: She had resolved the long, torturous dilemma about how to regulate vacation rentals and she supported major investments in housing and development in the Midway area. In contrast, the paper wrote, Lukacs had “disappointing” views on housing and “seemed too inclined to Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) thinking.”
But ultimately, none of that mattered and the U-T endorsed Lukacs. Why? Campbell had refused to debate her challengers all but once. Her constituents see her as not responsive (seems accurate to me). And, her worst sin? She didn’t do an interview with the editorial board.
Yet Campbell woke up Wednesday morning a comfortable 10 percentage points ahead of Lukacs in the latest vote counts. She will win re-election without ever having to face tough questions and her opponent. Her and her consultants and the independent groups that spent sizably on her behalf ran an audacious campaign based on the simple theory that the best way for her to win was to face a Republican that they could tie to former President Donald Trump. They helped Republican, Lukacs, defeat two Democrats in the primary. She did and then they executed the final part of their plan and delivered Campbell another four years.
But the audacity of Campbell is more interesting than just how she engineered her re-election. All the things the U-T and the labor unions and the business community and others like about what she accomplished came not despite her lack of connection to her community, her unwillingness to engage her constituents. Those achievements came because of her unresponsiveness to the community.
For the balance of this article, please go here.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s disgusting and disgraceful how they conspired to deprive D2 residents of a viable alternative. Just one of many examples of Jen’s disregard for us lowly constituents. I would not be surprised if they put Linda up to it in the first place – she appeared out of nowhere.
Jen’s backroom STVR deal with VRBO will also soon reveal itself to be a fraud when it doesn’t restore any long- term housing. Conveniently they pushed its implementation until after the election. We’ll see how they try to spin or deflect from that huge mistake when the numbers come out.
But alas, here we are. 4 more years, she isn’t leaving and she isn’t getting recalled. So let’s try and play nice and get whatever table scraps we can.
That article shows Scott going full fascist fanboy without a hint of self-awareness or care whether it damages his brand of ‘journalism*.’ This endorsement of politics as a game, winning at all costs, and ‘owning’ your opponents, is no different from Trump-worship.
* “We seek:
– Government transparency, open meetings and accountability.
– A well-informed, well-educated community ready to participate in civic affairs.
– Government agencies that are just, efficient and excellent….” https://voiceofsandiego.org/about-us/what-we-stand-for/
Whatever you said and it is not clear… That fellow, he is not as deep as he thinks he is and shares very skewed opinions already and seems not aware, even in his podcast he got checked on a basic point non election numbers, fascinating to observe a considered political person being the way he/vosd is. All in on the system at root
Impeach Jen Campbell.!