SDNN Article: Cox, Castaneda continue to trade blows in Chula Vista mayoral race
April 10, 2010 at 10:15 PM
San Diego News Network
By Khari Johnson
April 8, 2010
A year before the city’s centennial, Chula Vista will consider its future in what may be a pivotal election.
Though several candidates are vying for two council seats, the most heated race is for mayor with three candidates—the current Mayor Cheryl Cox (Republican), Councilmember Steve Castaneda (Democrat) and Southwestern College trustee Jorge Dominguez (Independent).
While it’s a three-way race, the apparent rivalry between Cox and Castaneda has taken center stage in this South Bay city of 220,000, the second largest in San Diego County.
“She’s got a political machine with her husband, and they’re powerful people, and she’ll go after anyone coming after her with a vengeance,” Dominguez said of Cox, who is married to San Diego County Supervisor Greg Cox, who represents South County cities including Chula Vista and was the city’s mayor for most of the 1980s.
Not surprisingly, all three candidates believe the economy to be the biggest issue on voter’s minds. All plan to make the Bayfront Master Plan development project a priority, as have previous mayoral candidates. All three talked about ways to diversify the city’s economy like improving main business corridors, recruiting green jobs to the area or a college or university.
Since Cox entered office in 2006, the number of city of Chula Vista employees has declined from 1,250 employees to 991 while city funds have fallen from $172 million to $129 million. City general fund reserves fell to 6.1 percent, below the city mandated eight percent of operating budget. Attempts to raise the city sales tax by 1 percent also failed.
The City Council has taken steps toward financial reform but the city is still “heading into some treacherous times,” she said.
In a situation faced by local governments all over California, property and sales taxes both decreased while foreclosures went up. Paying off the bond for a new police station and city hall and finding money for city employee raises were all decisions made prior to her time in office but the city’s now paying the price, Cox said.
“People who came in 2006 had to look over their shoulders and say ‘dang, how are we going to pay for that,’” she said. “This is an opportunity for people to do better by facing the reality that the money stream is not endless,” Cox said, who is endorsed by the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce.
Her opponent, Castaneda, has served on the City Council for the last six years. He was on the City Council when contracts were signed with city employees for a 20 percent raise over five years with city employees, just before the economy began to slip.
Both Castaneda and Dominguez argue the mayor’s style or lack of leadership got in the way of city business during economic downturn.
“It’s always the responsibility of the leader. Period. Be it glory or the bad stuff,” Dominguez said.
Cox agrees there has been friction and that the City Council isn’t always unanimous, but claims ” I’m not the bad guy in this.”
“I don’t think anybody could have seen this economy hitting us,” she said. “Now that we’re in tough straits so it must be the mayor’s fault,” she said.
Related Links: Chula Vista Mayor Cox offers optimistic words in city address [1] | Elections 2010 [2]| Politics [3]
“So I’m going to be blamed for the disaster of Lehman Brothers and Wall Street?”
The mayor’s approach to the economy, Castaneda said, “is to treat it with chicken soup.”
“I want to start CPR and go on the prescription drugs ‘cause we need decisive action now and we can’t just wait around for it to get better.”
When he announced his candidacy — his second run at mayor of Chula Vista — Castaneda said, ”I’m running to get the snakes out of the pit.”
“The city can’t recover until people who have had a stranglehold on this community for generations are gone,” Castaneda said.
For years, Castaneda has accused Cox of playing political games.
While running for re-election to his seat on the city council in 2008, Castaneda was indicted by San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis’ public corruption unit for perjury He was accused of lying to a grand jury in the course of the investigation about his intentions to buy a condo, but was found not guilty or acquitted of all 13 charges.
Castaneda expects to be exonerated in a current investigation, led by a special prosecutor appointed by Cox to review his last campaign’s finances.
“The system does work,” Castaneda said of being found not guilty. “It was the most ridiculous waste of taxpayer money and could have ruined me and my family and ruined my business for over two years.”
Castaneda also made news for failing to pay his taxes, a problem he said stemmed from financial troubles after a divorce and has since been worked out with the IRS.
“Her husband’s Dumanis’ boss and they’re doing investigations of a councilman she’s having issues with? It’s just too much of a coincidence in my opinion for this kind of stuff to be going on,” Dominguez said.
“He gets into a little bit of trouble and blames it all on me and my husband,” Cox said. “Quit blaming people.”
Ed Herrera is the CEO of the San Diego South Chamber of Commerce and president of the Chula Vista Civic Association, which co-hosted the election’s first debate two weeks ago. Castaneda was the only candidate to attend.
A little over a year old, the Chula Vista Civic Association has quickly become the largest organization of its kind in the city, Herrera said.
He said the Civic Association doesn’t make endorsements but Chula Vista needs someone who won’t be timid about making the kinds of changes the city needs.
“We really need a change in the tone of leadership. Both Castaneda and Cox are incumbents who have had opportunities to address the issues,” said Herrera who believes the city hasn’t gone far enough in making financial reforms.
To sever its dependency on the housing market, Herrera believes the council’s priority needs to be job creation and finding ways to make the city a niche industry’s capital. In addition, he said, the city needs to begin to appreciate and earn back the trust of its small businesses while enticing others to the area.
“We need a mayor who will ask ‘are we doing enough to help small businesses?’”
The Northwest Civic Association will hold the next mayoral debate or candidates forum April 12 at the Chula Vista Civic Center library at 6 p.m.
Southwestern College trustee Dominguez doesn’t have the money or backing of the two incumbent candidates but is confident he can still win the June 8 primary and November election.
After the economy, his first priority would be to make sure the council works together.
He also thinks charges against Castaneda were political maneuvering and said he’s not running against Castaneda so much as he is running against Cox. There’s no skeletons in his closet to dig up, Dominguez added.
“I’m so squeaky clean I squeak when I walk,” he said. However, he said, he isn’t sure what to expect. ,
“It’s scary going up against Cheryl Cox.”
As of the March 22 campaign finance filings, Cox received $36,450 in campaign contributions while Councilman Castaneda raised more than $6,700. Dr. Dominguez was loaned $800 by his wife.
View article at San Diego News Network
