Politics & Government

Petition Workers for San Diego's DeMaio Seek La Mesans' Signatures

"Not many people know La Mesa is [within] San Diego city," said Kenneth Owen, manning one of two tables in front of the Albertson's on Fletcher Parkway.

Carl DeMaio, a San Diego councilman running for mayor, is touting a pension reform measure that would allow San Diegans to vote on whether city employees should be moved into 401(k) plans.

Kenneth Owen III of Fresno—collecting signatures on DeMaio’s behalf outside the Albertson’s market on Fletcher Parkway—says La Mesans should support the effort as well.

“Honestly, I hear La Mesa is part of San Diego,” Owen said after collecting “quite a few” La Mesa signatures on the DeMaio initiative as well as another San Diego ballot measure to “level the playing field for nonunion contractors.”

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Not many people know La Mesa is [within] San Diego city,” said Owen, 24, who greeted shoppers going into the store’s southern entrance while a male partner covered the north entrance.

(La Mesa is one of 18 cities in San Diego County, and celebrates its centennial of incorporation on Feb. 16, 2012.)

Find out what's happening in La Mesa-Mount Helixwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Standing at a table where a sign said “San Diego Pension Reform now,” Owen didn't appear to realize that people who signed the DeMaio petition had to be San Diego voters.

According to a posting on San Diego Rostra attributed to Carl DeMaio: “Mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio will spend every weekend at local San Diego stores collecting signatures for the Comprehensive Pension Reform Ballot Measure until the required 95,000 signatures from San Diego voters are collected, his campaign announced [Saturday].”

When contacted Tuesday morning, Jeffery Powell, a spokesman for DeMaio’s council office at San Diego City Hall, said he couldn’t comment on the signature collector since this matter was “outside city issues.”

He directed questions to DeMaio’s pension reform campaign, where a voice mail message was left.

His District 5 represents Rancho Bernardo and other northeastern parts of the city.

No San Diego city laws were broken, however, according to the San Diego City Attorney’s Office.

“They can gather signatures anywhere they want on public property”—even outside city limits, said Gina Coburn, spokeswoman for the office. “The issue is whether they are collecting valid signatures.

“The only signatures that are counted toward the total to qualify a measure for a city of San Diego ballot are those from people who are registered voters in the city of San Diego. There may be city voters that shop at that Albertson’s, so those signatures would be fine.”

Owen said he wasn’t assigned to the Albertson’s—“I sent myself out to this store,” he said. “I find the best spots are grocery stores” because they serve local residents.

Asked by a reporter whether the DeMaio pension effort would be on the state or San Diego ballot, Owen said: “That’s a great question. Want to wait two seconds? I’m almost positive it’s a statewide ballot.”

A second petition opposing so-called project-labor agreements also aims for a San Diego ballot presence. Shoppers at Albertson's were invited to sign that petition as well. The committee behind that effort  is headed by Bill Baber, a member of the La Mesa-Spring Valley school board (see attached).

Responding via email late Monday night, Baber of Fair and Open Competition—San Diego wrote: “This poor guy needs a map.”

He noted that a signature collector is an independent contractor who works for a firm hired by the campaign.

“As such,” Baber wrote, “the campaign [has] no direct control over an independent contractors' choice of locations. The campaign pays for only valid signatures, and these La Mesa signatures are not valid.

“Collecting La Mesa signatures for a San Diego initiative is stupid, but not illegal.”

Owen, interviewed about 5 p.m., said he had been at the store since 2 p.m. but was in only the third day of his signature-gathering work.

He was enjoying the weather, albeit humid—and scoffed at locals who bemoaned Monday’s warmth. Fresno was frying in 108-degree temperatures, he said.

“You’d have to be a damn fool not to come here,” he said. “This is about perfect weather if you ask me.”

Story updated at 2:48 p.m. Aug. 2, 2011.


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