In case there was any doubt, members of the Ocean Beach Planning Board (OBPB) now have confirmation that political campaigns in the age of social media are no longer just about shaking hands and kissing babies. Board meetings are often low-key affairs, but this time it was lights, camera and action when Lori Salda\u00f1a, one of the two prominent Democrats running in the 52nd Congressional District, pitched her candidacy May 2 at the board\u2019s monthly meeting. With the June 5 California primary election just weeks away, board members and a handful of audience members got an idea of just how high campaign stakes have become when, at one point, four video-recording devices \u2014 including two from the campaign of rival Democrat Scott Peters \u2014 were trained at Salda\u00f1a in the small meeting room at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. The OBPB, like all community planning boards, is made up of elected officeholders and operates under the Brown Act, or California\u2019s open meetings law, which specifically allows anyone to video-record a meeting. Salda\u00f1a apparently recognized the pair from the Peters campaign and acknowledged them at the beginning of her remarks. Later in her talk, she addressed the Peters team directly, and had a brief exchange with one staffer who disagreed with the way Salda\u00f1a portrayed Peters\u2019 vote against the living wage ordinance in 2005 when Peters was a member of the San Diego City Council. In addition to staffers from the Peters campaign, there were two others with video-recording devices in the audience: a man with a tripod and camcorder who said he was a student at UCSD, and a Salda\u00f1a staffer, who said he needed the footage in case he had to refute something from the Peters campaign. Despite the high-tech trappings of the environment, Salda\u00f1a described her campaign in retail and grassroots terms. She said she would draw on her experiences as a college educator and three-term member of the California Assembly to fight in Congress for the middle and lower classes. “I\u2019ve been doing my best to get out and walk and talk in the community,” Sanda\u00f1a said. “It\u2019s real important to look someone in the eye and say, \u2018Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve done and here\u2019s what I want to continue to do for you.\u2019 ” She listed her authorship of AB 1103, which mandates energy benchmarking and energy disclosure for nonresidential buildings; and co-authorship of AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act, as two of her biggest legistlative acheivements. “We now have more clean tech jobs in California as a result,” she said. Salda\u00f1a also cited her committee assignments in the Assembly, serving on the Veteran\u2019s Affairs Committee and chairing the Housing and Community Development Committee as she drew a contrast to Brian Bilbray, the Republican incumbent in the 50th District who now resides in the 52nd District because of redistricting. “I have a very good sense of what it takes to be in a leadership position,” she said. “Even in 14 years, Brian Bilbray has never had a leadership position or chaired a committee.” Salda\u00f1a said she decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives partly because of the effects of cuts to education she noticed after returning to teaching two years ago, when she was termed out of the Assembly. “I decided to leave the classroom because I couldn\u2019t do my job as an information technology instructor when these cutbacks started to happen,” she said. In addition to education, Salda\u00f1a said she would fight to protect Social Security and Medicare, and warned of cuts to those programs if Bilbray or Peters were to be elected. She said the tax burden had shifted from corporations to wage earners and said she would fight to close tax loopholes. “Especially in California, corporations are paying less than what they have historically,” she said. “It\u2019s very important that we balance the budget not on the backs of seniors (and) not on the backs of working class people \u2026 but we make sure everyone is paying their fair share.” She said she meets middle-class constituents on the campaign trail who have suffered a “generational loss of wealth” because of the collapse of the housing market in recent years, and she vowed to hold accountable “the people who took their savings away. Those are the people on Wall Street who engaged in predatory lending.” Salda\u00f1a said it is important to bring a middle-class background to diversify Congress, which she said has too many millionaires among its ranks. “With 40 percent millionaires in Congress, it\u2019s easy to see why they have tax codes that favor millionaires,” she said. OBPB board member Ronson Shamoun said he wondered if Salda\u00f1a was bashing the rich. “I got the inference that that\u2019s a bad thing,” he said. Salada\u00f1a said it is a matter of legislative perspective. “What I\u2019m concerned about is people forget what it took to acquire that wealth and sometimes pass policies, especially the tax code, that favor the wealthy,” Salda\u00f1a said. “I feel very good about being connected with the 99 percent. I\u2019m one of them. I grew up in a middle-class family in Clairemont. My father was a 20-year Marine Corp vet.” The exchange with the Peters campaign staffer resulted from a question from board member Giovanni Ingolia, who asked Salda\u00f1a about her view on labor unions. Salda\u00f1a said she became a union carpenter when she graduated from college and was unable to find a teaching job, and said carpenters today are making about the same amount she made 30 years ago. Addressing the pair from the Peters campaign, Salda\u00f1a said, “Why are wages stagnating? \u2026 You guys still videotaping this? Scott Peters voted against the living wage.” The reply drew immediate response. “That\u2019s false. That\u2019s totally wrong,” replied a Peters staffer. Contacted after the meeting, Maryann Pintar, communications director for the Peters campaign, conceded Peters did, in fact, vote against the ordinance because of budgetary concerns when it was approved by the City Council in April 2005. But later in his term, he was persuaded by labor groups to take on an effort to expand and strengthen it, Pintar said. His efforts were a big reason Peters has gained the endorsement of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, she said. The Peters campaign has taken to record Salda\u00f1a\u2019s public appearances to document her “many, many false and misleading statements” having to do with Peters\u2019 positions on Social Security, Medicare and funding for veterans, Pintar said. “Our intent is to have a record of her comments so any false statements can be corrected. We\u2019ve never posted her videos,” Pintar said. Salda\u00f1a likewise sends people to record Peters\u2019 campaign speaking events, Pintar said. “It\u2019s part of what goes on in a federal campaign,” she said. But Salda\u00f1a said she didn\u2019t send anyone to record Peters when he addressed the OBPB in April. “He (Peters) is very nervous about me,” said Salda\u00f1a after the meeting, adding she ranks second in polling behind Bilbray but ahead of Peters. In California\u2019s new open primary system, the top two vote-getters in next month\u2019s congressional primary will advance to the November election, regardless of party affiliation. OTHER OBPB NOTES<\/b> \u2022 Pete Ruscitti is the newest board member. Ruscitti, who lives on Del Monte Avenue, was appointed to represent District 6. Ruscitti described himself as a native New Yorker who came to San Diego as a naval recruit and has lived here ever since. He works as a transportation planner for a company which contracts with several local and regional government agencies. A total of two vacancies still exist in districts 3 and 7 and are available by board appointment to any Ocean Beach citizen, property owner or business owner over 18. More information is available at www.oceanbeachpb.com. \u2022 The board voted 9-0-1 to approve the upgrade of an existing liquor license to allow the addition of spirits to be sold at Newport Quickstop, 4921 Newport Ave. The store is owned by board member Ronson Shamoun, who recused himself from the vote. \u2022 The inaugural flush at the public restrooms under construction south of Dog Beach is still on schedule for Memorial Day, reported Michael Patton, aide to District 2 City Councilmember Kevin Faulconer. The city holds weekly meetings with the contractor and no delays are on the horizon, Patton said, for the project officially known as the Brighton Street Comfort Station.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In case there was any doubt, members of the Ocean Beach Planning Board (OBPB) now have confirmation that political campaigns in the age of social media are no longer just about shaking hands and kissing babies. Board meetings are often low-key affairs, but this time it was lights, camera and action when Lori Salda\u00f1a, one […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Salda\u00f1a, Peters\u2019 staffers spar over issues ahead of congressional race","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-300954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300954\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}