There was a question asked at the April 7 forum: it went something like “the past has shown that candidates who take developer money vote to support developer interests…if developers have given you money, how will that influence your decisions?”

Gloria responded with chagrin that the question was aimed at him, and then just joked that he takes money from everybody. He missed a good chance to explore the whole idea of donors, expectations, and retail politics. What he could or should have said, I don’t know. But he had better give it some intellectual space in his game plan: the actively interested voters who are judging who is the best candidate are not stupid, and are starved for intellectually honest discussion from their elected reps.

I must have missed Gloria making an urgent issue of helping the homeless. No doubt he would like to help, he’s a good guy, but … will he really make it an issue and frame it in the way that Whitburn has?

There is a possibility of San Diego emerging as a shining and admired city, with a new progressive, developer-lobbyist-realtor-influence-free council roster (Pres Frye, plus Whitburn and Emerald). Others, “buyables” such as Hueso and Young, would be less buyable, perhaps. It’s exciting. It’s not so much who takes and gives election money, but what it practically represents. Everyone understands what it represents. Everyone. It is a signal, a scent laid down and marking a path to the future.

Whitburn months ago was endorsed by the Sierra Club, the grandaddy of environmental advocacy groups. The Sierra Club of San Diego has about 10,000 members in San Diego — a big chunk of them in District 3. ( See http://www.stephenwhitburn.com/files/Sierra%20Club%20Endorses%20Whitburn%20News%20Release.pdf ) Will their shoe leather counter Gloria’s Republican developer money? Stay tuned….

In last night’s forum, Whitburn importantly emphasized finding ways to help house the homeless who live in canyons. This is another way to protect the canyons (from negative effects of campsites: fire, plant destruction, waste contamination) and also represents what I want San Diego to be: a great city, one in which the government speaks loudly for compassion for the unfortunate and shows concern for the safety and quality of life for everyone.

Gloria cannot diffuse the reality of who is giving money exclusively to him. Unless the long list of lobbyists and other groups that will have their infill projects in front of the city council over the next 4 years are all lifelong friends, I’d say they have chosen the one they know will side with them when it the choice is to listen to community residents or listen to the Land Use-connected developers. He is an investment, and his developer donors are looking for a return.

Whitburn and Frye, his council endorser, have incredibly good creds as environmentalists, in more ways than one. Gloria’s vow that he will protect canyons is an easy promise: Kehoe has pretty well done that already, no? Last night at the forum, his environmental promise was only about the canyons. But the “environment” is much more than already protected open space: it is also noise, pollution, and stress induced by crowding too many people into too large buildings in small neighborhoods, resulting in too many vehicles on too little roadway. It is also too much infill for too little water. That is why Gloria’s environmental creds are more than suspect, and way too simplistic.