{"id":223334,"date":"2015-05-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/republican-vs-republican-whats-driving-the-unusual-fight-for-east-county-supervisor\/"},"modified":"2015-05-22T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T07:00:00","slug":"republican-vs-republican-whats-driving-the-unusual-fight-for-east-county-supervisor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/republican-vs-republican-whats-driving-the-unusual-fight-for-east-county-supervisor\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicano vs. Republicano: \u00bfQu\u00e9 est\u00e1 impulsando la lucha inusual por el supervisor del Este del Condado?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Randy Dotinga<\/p>\n

County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, a firebrand local politician if there ever was one, has developed quite an enemies list during more than two decades in office.<\/p>\n

The local Red Cross can\u2019t be a fan: Jacob scorched the charity over its diversion of wildfire donations and even went on \u201c60 Minutes\u201d to describe its ineptitude. On energy \u2014 a hot topic in the backcountry areas she represents \u2014 Jacob has repeatedly tangled with SDG&E. She\u2019s also wrangled with tribal casinos, property owners and county pension officials. Jacob even got into it a bitter spat with the then-owner of the L.A. Times.<\/p>\n

Throughout it all, she\u2019s preserved her reputation as a conservative Republican who is willing, able and eager to make a political stink when needed.<\/p>\n

Now, she has a fight on her hands.<\/p>\n

\"State<\/a>
(l to r) County Supervisor Dianne Jacob and state Sen. Joel Anderson
(Photos courtesy of Jacob and Anderson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jacob, who wants to be elected to her seventh term next year, will face a notable opponent for the first time anyone can remember. And, as they say in horror movies, the call is coming from inside the house: Her rival is another Republican, state Sen. Joel Anderson, and he\u2019s successfully wooed the local GOP establishment to stand behind him. More importantly, the county Republican Party is giving him a whole lot of money after itself raising tens of thousands from Jacob foes like SDG&E and construction companies.<\/p>\n

The question is: Why is she facing opposition now? There doesn\u2019t seem to be a single definitive answer. The best explanation may be that a combination of factors \u2014 her votes, her refusal to play footsy with the GOP establishment \u2014 has put Jacob in the firing line.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know.<\/p>\n

Jacob has teed off GOP power players \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

While she\u2019s developed a reputation as a rock-ribbed Republican, Jacob hasn\u2019t been a full-fledged defender of property rights: In 2011, she and three other county supervisors voted to make it harder for some rural property owners to develop their land. That has apparently alienated some of her conservative base, although the vote didn\u2019t spawn a significant challenge for her in the 2012 election.<\/p>\n

Indeed, many of Anderson\u2019s fans work in the construction industry, a fact that could work against him. He\u2019s sure to get attacked in campaign mailers for an April 30 fundraiser that was co-hosted by more than two dozen representatives of construction-related companies along with a long list of Republican current and former politicians. The event was held at a construction company\u2019s offices in Lakeside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not saying that every project should be approved. Some projects are not good,\u201d said Anderson supporter Laura Nelson, who formerly worked as an administrator at El Cajon\u2019s Cass Construction, now owned by her son. \u201cYou need someone with an open mind and will consider all of the possibilities: How many jobs is this going to bring, the economic impact. Not just, \u2018No, we don\u2019t want any development.\u2019 All I\u2019m looking for is a balanced approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacob and the local Republican Party are hardly bosom buddies. When the county Republican Party\u2019s Central Committee endorsed Anderson in February, former San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio tweeted that Jacob \u201chas ignored the central committee,\u201d and added that \u201cthe story is a simple one of neglect.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 who are spreading money around<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January, the county Board of Supervisors \u2014 with Jacob in support \u2014 voted to cap donations from political parties to supervisor candidates at $25,000. Just a day before that new limit took effect, the county Republican Party dumped a hefty $200,000 into Anderson\u2019s campaign coffers. That\u2019s a lot of scratch, especially considering that the party spent about $2 million in all of 2014, according to the California secretary of state\u2019s office, a bit more than it made in contributions.<\/p>\n

The party\u2019s donation came on March 4. Just a week before, SDG&E gave Anderson\u2019s campaign a whopping $25,000, disclosures reveal. Among the other late February donors are a Lakeside construction company, a Santee real-estate firm, Lakeside\u2019s Barona Band of Mission Indians, the Cornerstone Communities developer firm and a La Mesa company called Davisson Enterprises. Lakeside, Santee and La Mesa, of course, are in Jacob\u2019s district; Jacob has had fights with Indian tribes and SDG&E.<\/p>\n

Her campaign cash vote didn\u2019t help<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did Jacob masterfully plot to put campaign limits in place to avoid big donations against her by the county party? At least one GOP honcho is hinting that she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think Dianne helped herself with that stunt she pulled,\u201d griped county Republican Party Chairman Tony Krvaric to the U-T, as he expressed suspicion about the timing of the limits.<\/p>\n

But Jacob wasn\u2019t the prime mover behind the limit on donations. That was Supervisor Ron Roberts, another Republican.<\/p>\n

To make matters even more complicated, Republican Kevin Faulconer diverged from his party in 2013 as a San Diego City Councilmember and supported low political party campaign contribution limits in the city of San Diego. He didn\u2019t face retribution from the GOP for failing to follow the party line; the party endorsed his campaign for San Diego mayor.<\/p>\n

Some GOP types may stay out<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Lincoln Club, a \u201cpro-business\u201d San Diego political action group, is a good friend to have if you\u2019re a Republican. It spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the 2012 race for San Diego mayor, much of it on harshly negative political advertising that seemed to play a significant role in dashing the hopes of legislator Nathan Fletcher, the Republican-turned-independent-turned-Democrat.<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t seem likely that the Lincoln Club will take a side in Jacob vs. Anderson. Many of its members like both candidates, said executive director Ryan Clumpner.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the standpoint of someone seeking our endorsement, that makes it hard to convince the membership that this is a race where we should focus our limited resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Still, the Lincoln Club did commission a poll about the race; Clumpner wouldn\u2019t reveal the results.<\/p>\n

The race is already personal<\/strong><\/p>\n

The war of words has already begun. Krvaric, the party chairman, told U-T San Diego that the GOP\u2019s $200,000 donation is designed to push Jacob out: \u201cWe think it\u2019s time for Dianne Jacob to retire. We think (the contribution) might help her in that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response, Jacob snapped back: \u201cI won\u2019t be bullied out of office by somebody who cares more about partisan political games than he does the residents of my district.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note the suggestion of bullying, an especially powerful accusation when the alleged bully is a man and the target is a woman. You may see more along these lines: The Jacob campaign is hinting that sexism is afoot, taking note of the GOP\u2019s failure to stand behind veteran County Supervisor Pam Slater-Price in 2012. The story of the end of her political career, however, is complicated.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the matter of the county GOP\u2019s pox-on-all-their-houses approach to the Board of Supervisors, which now has four Republicans who\u2019ve been in office since the 1990s and one fairly new Democrat: \u201cThey\u2019ve been ruling like royalty so long,\u201d Krvaric told the U-T. \u201cFrankly, most of them have gotten arrogant. People are ready for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it will get worse<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anderson has been in state politics since he was elected to the Assembly in 2006 (he joined the state Senate in 2010), but he\u2019s much lesser-known than Jacob. The race is now on to define him in the public eye.<\/p>\n

It helps that he\u2019s gotten endorsements from U.S. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter, two local assemblymen and the mayors of El Cajon and Santee. Jacob\u2019s campaign will have two easy shots at him, though: campaign contribution misconduct and coziness with the construction industry.<\/p>\n

In 2009, Anderson, then an assemblymember, was fined $20,000 by the state\u2019s Fair Political Practices Commission for soliciting and accepting campaign contributions in excess of the legal limit.<\/p>\n

The fine followed reporting by U-T San Diego about the nearly $150,000 that flowed from Anderson\u2019s 2008 Assembly campaign committee and business interests in eastern San Diego County to Republican central committees in Fresno, Placer and Stanislaus counties. Those committees, in turn, made donations in similar amounts to Anderson\u2019s 2010 Senate campaign committee.<\/p>\n

Anderson gave the money back and blamed confusing rules.<\/p>\n

Dems (yes, Dems!) may play a role<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whatever happens in 2016, a Democrat is very unlikely to sneak in and win the county supervisor race in District 2. The district is home to 329,456 voters: 39 percent Republican, 31 percent Democrat and 24 percent independent. It gets even less friendly for Dems in some parts of the region (looking at you, inland North County). The only even remotely feasible scenario: The two Republicans bloody each other so much that a run-off pits a right-leaning Democrat against a devastated Republican.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, District 2 is not as much of a rural district as you might assume from Jacob\u2019s heavy focus on backcountry issues. It includes the cities of La Mesa, El Cajon, Santee and Poway, plus a significant chunk of the eastern stretches of San Diego, including Rolando, the College Area, San Carlos, Del Cerro, Allied Gardens and Grantville.<\/p>\n

City-dwelling Democratic voters, in fact, could swing the 2016 election (or elections, if there\u2019s a run-off). This fact will put both Anderson and Jacob in an awkward position: They must appeal to their conservative Republican bases but will need to peel off some Democratic and independent votes. That means only one thing: painting themselves as mavericks who don\u2019t fall in line when the GOP tells them what to do. On this front, Jacob has the early lead.<\/p>\n

\u2014Randy Dotinga is a freelance writer and president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors. Write to him at randydotinga@gmail.com<\/a> and follow him on Twitter: twitter.com\/rdotinga<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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