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Contenders clash on budget solutions, jobs, housing, and religion in politics
By Miriam Raftery
How should El Cajon address its budget shortfall? Should public jobs be privatized, or services cut? Or can new revenues and employment be created with an industrial park, green jobs, a new hospital, a university, or other innovative solutions? Candidates differ sharply on these and other issues. They also disagree on whether to assist struggling renters and homebuyers, how to fill vacant buildings downtown, and whether voters should approve Proposition J to raise sales tax by half a cent per dollar.
Constitutional principals are also at stake. The current Council was forced to remove religious videos posted at a city-owned TV station and has been accused of mixing politics and religion. Yet incumbent Councilman Bob McClellan stated bluntly in a recent candidate forum, “I do not believe in separation of church and state. I think the court got that wrong. The church needs to be brought back into the public square.”
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| Jillian Hanson-Cox |
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| John Martes |
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| Marge Carlson |
Incumbent Dick Ramos is retiring. McClellan seeks a fifth term and Jillian Hanson-Cox hopes to win reelection for a second term to a Council dubbed “the Good ol’ Boys Club” in a recent San Diego Union-Tribune editorial. “They are people who consider City Hall to be their personal club, responding to calls from the public or media only if they feel like it,” observed the editorial. “They are the people who have gotten the city into trouble, $6 million into trouble…Tales of cut-rate land sales to favored developers or churches are standard cocktail party fare…The Good Ol’ Boys Club has invested the city’s redevelopment money into downtown while Bostonia and east El Cajon have fallen off the map.”
The newspaper called on voters to oust McClellan, but for the sake of continuity on the Council supported Jillian-Cox, who chairs the City’s Mother Goose Parade and was voted El Cajon’s Citizen of the Year in 2007.
Nine challengers hope to win seats on the Council. Six of them turned out at an October 9th debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women. Incumbent McClellan also attended. Statements by debate participants are in alphabetical order below.
“I’m running because I’m needed,” said Margaret Carlson, a retired teacher from the Cajon Valley District with a strong resume in public service. Former chair of the El Cajon Parks and Recreation Committee, she has also served on the El Cajon Goals 2000 Citizens Committee and is a graduate of the El Cajon Citizens’ Police Academy. “I’m looking ahead so we can survive these difficult times…I want to see an industrial park bloom with innovative businesses, good schools, and healthcare access for everyone,” said Carlson, who hopes to create green jobs in renewable energy production. “We need a university extension. We need a new hospital; a teaching hospital. It would have all kinds of jobs….How do you judge a city? You judge it by its parks and its schools. We need great schools—not good schools.”
Carlson seeks to have an industrial park manufacture kits to recycle grey water. Responding to local water district warnings that water rationing may be needed next year because of the drought, Carlson said she has met with public works officials in El Cajon to discuss ways to save water. She also called for better utilization of the East County Performing Arts Center, including higher caliber performing arts on a par with Escondido’s Performing Arts Center. She supports Proposition J, believes in separation of church and state, calls for creation of a citizens’ oversight panel for city finances, and strongly opposes privatizing public jobs.
“We tried privatizing our hospital,” she said, noting that the experiment proved a fiasco and that the hospital has recently come under fire for preventable patient deaths. “You cannot make profit privatizing and if you put people out of jobs, that is not solving our problems.” Carlson, a Democrat, has been endorsed by the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Sherry Casper, a real estate agent, wants to see large vacant buildings broken up into smaller space to accommodate Mom and Pop businesses. “Ninety-eight percent of businesses in the city are one or two man businesses,” she said. Casper, who stated in the debate that she is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, said she is working with businesswomen to develop new businesses to bring to El Cajon. Asked if she would support subsidies to help first-time homebuyers, she said it was a tough question but added, “I don’t see it happening in El Cajon.”
Anthony Chuisano, a former El Cajon Parks Department employee, has run for the Council several times in the past. He noted that the City’s problems are tied to a broader economic crisis. “It’s not just El Cajon’s problems. It’s the world’s problem,” he observed. He said he is running because residents “need a safer place to live and work.”
To address the budget shortfall, Chuisano opposes layoffs but would support reducing salaries or asking employees to take a few days off without pay. He supports Proposition J, which would raise sales tax by half a cent on the dollar.
He spoke out for renters and proposed offering long-term loans and other assistance to help renters buy their residences when they are converted to condominiums. “I’ve been a renter, and I know how hard it is to raise $30,000 or $40,000,” he said. Chiusano said he is a Democrat but not a partisan.
Robert Isham, an oncology nurse at Grossmont Hospital, believes the City is in serious condition. “The pulses on a lot of my patients are better than the pulse of downtown El Cajon,” he said. He proposed offering a “big carrot” to induce new businesses into vacant buildings, including a two year waiver on rental charges. A Republican, he pledged to “reason together” with others and added, “If the Lord wants me to win, I’ll win.”
Isham opposes the sales tax and proposed belt-tightening instead, such as not postponing repairs on potholes. He would like to see more local performers at the East County Performing Arts Center to better utilize the facility, which he praised for its excellent acoustics. “People in the music industry, in performing arts would love to be exposed,” he said. “Once it gets known, people will want to come here.”
John Martes, an accountant/controller, said he is running to bring a new direction to the Council, with respect for all citizens. “I am fiscally responsible. I am not beholden to special interests,” he said, adding that when business thrives, the city’s financial situation will improve. “We can’t afford an El Cajon bail-out,” said Martes, who opposes the sales tax initiative and does not believe the City can afford subsidies for new homeowners. “I have the tools needed to resolve a financial crisis…Budgets are my trade. I’ve done millions of those. We are in a new world,” he said, citing the crashing stock market values. “People’s 401 Ks are disappearing almost instantly. We must make every dollar count to come out with our hide on.”
Martes described himself as “fiercely independent”, noting that this race is nonpartisan and that he is endorsed by retiring Councilman Ramos, described by the Union-Tribune as a “voice of reason” on the Council. Martes said he believes in separation of church and state, adding, “I believe in the Constitution.”
McClellan, the incumbent, suggested the City’s economic problems are beyond Council’s control. “I’ve never seen a meltdown like this. You can compare it to the 1929 stock market crash, though I don’t think people will be selling apples on the street,” he said, adding that people in El Cajon have a good standard of living. A conservative Republican, he believes El Cajon has “made progress taking rundown apartments and turning them into condos,” and said the city previously had many apartments and a high crime rate. He pledged to continue supporting conversion of more apartments to condos and would support asking landlords to cut large storefronts into smaller ones.
McClellan voted to put Proposition J on the ballot but said the Council has an alternative budget approved in case the proposition fails. He would support using redevelopment money as silent second loans to help first time homebuyers. McClellan has expressed concerns over subsidization of the East County Performing Arts Center.
Bill Wells, Chair of the El Cajon Planning Commission, said the City should worry about the domino effect of too many empty buildings. He called for streamlining permit applications and lowering taxes to make the City more attractive for businesses. He proposed bringing in developers to build a hotel and utilizing the East County Performing Arts Center for conventions as well as concerts.
A self-described conservative Republican, Wells opposes raising taxes even though he noted that “California has systematically, year by year, starved and choked our cities.” He proposed privatizing the Parks and Recreation Department and cutting jobs to balance the budget. In addition, he said, “We have to look at ways to bring in business—and send people to Sacramento who will take back our state.” He warned that government in the wrong hands can be dangerous and added, “The role of City Council is to protect the public from government.”
Wells’ financial oversight has been called into question by the Union-Tribune, however, which noted that he formerly chaired the Citizen Bond Oversight Committee for Grossmont Union High School Board. “On his watch, the panel was in violation of state law for not having a taxpayer representative on board,” the newspaper noted, adding that the committee seldom met. “On his watch, construction funds seemed to disappear with paperwork woefully lacking.”
Wells said he does not believe it is government’s job to evangelize, but added, “Our nation was established as a Christian nation.”
For additional information on this race, including financial contributions and facts about candidates who did not attend the debate, visit www.smartvoter.org/2008/11/04/ca/sd/race/144/.
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