By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper
As March 5th is rapidly approaching, local attention is divided with this being a Presidential Primary. What that means is that there will be more names on the ballot.
The problem is that with that arrangement comes an effort to group candidates together that various political interests have decided to support. That means that while you might see some candidates that you know and really want to support, their names are often on mail outs to you with people you either don’t know or would not think of supporting.
Such is the case with the San Diego Fourth District City Council race where Henry Foster III is running as Monica Montgomery Steppe’s hand-picked replacement to take her seat on the City Council since she has moved on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Chida Warren-Darby, former Co-Publisher of this newspaper, former Executive Director of the original San Diego County Black Chamber of Commerce which her late mother, Gerri Warren, started, and Director of Boards and Commissions for San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria with a track record of her own for working with distressed girls and fighting human trafficking before it was ever funded as a program of interest, has been running on a platform for the community and is visible in the community. She was hands-on working with seniors long before she ever thought of running for office. She has made herself available to serve and help those in need without waiting for a directive from City Hall, because this is her community. She has not been endorsed by Monica or the Secretary of State with her daughter running for State Senate, nor the coalition of unions and organizations who believe that because we support our Secretary of State and the slate of people running with her daughter’s race for the State Senate, that everyone on that slate should be a free ride.
We believe that Henry Foster III should be running on his own just as Chida Warren-Darby is doing. But instead, Henry appears to believe that he has the Fourth District election in the bag and that’s why he is skipping television interviews and candidate forums without trying to understand the difference between a “Candidate’s Forum” which is a chance for people to see and hear you as opposed to a “Candidate’s Debate” which is much different.
While Henry boasts about family roots and the work done in Monica’s administration, he really can’t point to much he has personally done in the community. Chida comes with a program and agenda for the District. Henry can only boast of how well he will hold the Mayor and others accountable as if he can do all those things alone.
The reality is it takes five votes. Since he has been at City Hall in his role as Chief of Staff for Monica, one only needs to conduct a survey to see how people at City Hall really feel about Henry. Then ask yourself how effective you think he will be.
Yes, unlike Chida, who is still working to get the people’s vote, Henry thinks he has already won the election because he is on a “SLATE” of people who can’t lose even though he is the one loser on the slate.
The solution to this problem is for you, the voter, to make your own decision when marking your ballot, which is private and your business alone. Even with the list of endorsements presented in this paper by the Voice & Viewpoint, we have once again, as we have always done, indicated that our list is just our recommendations because people continuously ask us to make such a list. We encourage you to make your own decisions.
We support Chida Warren-Darby, not just because she comes from a life of service with us, her family, but because she is the best qualified to continue our tradition of service.
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