No one in the Republican Party likely expected Mayor Jerry Sanders and Councilman Kevin Faulconer to ever be what a conservative refers to as "hardcore." The City of San Diego doesn’t exactly have a history of breeding conservative politicians, and many ideologues seem to have settled with the fact that "centrist-right" elected officials in SD will, for the most part, at least hold their own on fiscal issues (the small issue of the pension debacle aside).
Sure, those registered as Reps may stand up for the Mt. Soledad Cross (while watering down the core argument by noting they are defending a War Memorial, not a religious symbol), and most back the Boy Scouts fairly consistently, but Republicans on the San Diego City Council are typically a fairly moderate crew.
But, needle exchange?
As noted on these pages, the program was recently reinstated in San Diego at the urging of Mayor Sanders, passing the city council on a 6-1 vote. (Find the SDUT story here.) Councilman Faulconer’s support for the program garnered some "back-handed" praise (their words) from the left-wing CityBeat this past week. Not known to typically EVER support ANY Republicans, CityBeat noted in Feeling fine about Faulconer their own "hold the nose" endorsement of him in June, then had this to say:
"…when we urged (Faulconer) to vote in favor of renewing a needle-exchange program in his own district, he assured us that he was going to see a demonstration of the program with his own eyes and promised to genuinely consider its merits when it came time to vote.
"After the close of last Tuesday’s public testimony, (Ben) Hueso beat Faulconer to the microphone to pledge a yes vote, guaranteeing the go-ahead for needle exchange and offering the latter a chance to pull an audible. Faulconer could have sided with the opponents, with whom he probably shares ideology on other matters. It could be that the mayor’s people did a good job of convincing Faulconer that he should maintain an alliance with Sanders. We’d like to think it was because Faulconer saw the obviousness of the program’s public benefit and simply did the right thing.
"Either way, we thank him for his vote. Now if Faulconer can vote against developers and builders when the public interest makes a compelling case, we just might give him a friendlier endorsement when he stands for reelection."
Perhaps in the City of San Diego, the definition of being "conservative" to a GOP politician is garnering insulting praise from a leftist publication.
Now, I know some will tell me that the demographics of Faulconer’s council seat, held by Democrat Michael Zucchet until the stripper-gate scandal, is one where a GOPer literally has to vote for needle exchange programs and other things…like seals — not children — having exclusive rights to the Children’s Pool in La Jolla.
Coastal and environmental politics aside, a politician voting against needle exchange programs in his district is probably not going to result in a slew of junkies opposing him in the next election (with all due respect to junkies, if not politicians). So, my guess is that CityBeat hit the mark on Faulconer’s support being based more in loyalty to the Mayor than out of an affinity for an available supply of clean needles.
But, as the offer is always open, I invite Kevin to send me a missive in his own words, which I would be more than happy to publish here.
By the way, as for seeing the "obviousness of the program’s benefit" and accordingly doing the right thing, it should be noted that Brian Maienschein was the lone dissenting vote on the needle exchange issue. Also, although he was legitimately absent for the vote, Jim Madaffer has been openly opposed to needle exchange for some time, having voted against it in the past.
Speaking of doing the right thing.