This week, scandal prone Democrat San Diego City Councilwoman came under fire yet again. This time it was for forming an “Advisory Council” and having that group meet with representatives from the Mayor’s office on two very controversial topics which Emerald supports — building a downtown library and a new City Hall (controversial because the city is about broke). Then the 20 member Advisory Council voted to support both projects, and Emerald was so ‘surprised’ by the vote by these unbiased members of the community she issued a press release crowing about it.
Then the problems started. When bloggers and the press started asking who the 20 were, Emerald wouldn’t answer. Instead, she mysteriously answered that she was talking to the City Attorney about the matter. Then, under pressure, four days later on Friday night her office released the names of a larger 34 person group. On inspection on Saturday, one of the bloggers on www.sdrostra.com found some 70% of this group were Emerald contributors. Emerald still hasn’t answered exactly which of the 20 people were at the meeting… and no doubt the legitimate community leaders of this neighborhood are wondering exactly how much it costs to ‘advise’ Marti Emerald.
Emerald’s best line in the Voice of San Diego, in which she rather misled the reporter on a number of issues before they became public, is that she she set this group of her donors up because it was a little more ‘independent’. One wonders what the follow-up questions from the Voice of San Diego will be today to this little gem?
Several posts from a number of writers are worth reading at www.sdrostra.com.