Breaking Down the Early Mailer in Support of Kevin Faulconer
Usually, mailers don’t start arriving at homes much until the mail ballots arrive. The concept of chasing ballots with mailers was actually a political innovation 20 years ago and now it’s just what they all do.
But this week, several readers and followers who know how obsessed I am with mailers sent me pics of an early one: The California Restaurant Association and the Associated General Contractors sent out a mailer in support of former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer who is running to try to oust County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer.
We got the mailer at my house as well.
It uses two quotes from Voice of San Diego. The first is from Dec. 7, 2020. “While other large California cities have in recent years reported spikes in homelessness, San Diego’s 2020 point-in-time count documented a more substantial 12% decrease in San Diegans living on the street.”
It goes on.
“There are also far fewer tents and makeshift shelters on downtown streets than there were four years ago,” it says, quoting us.
His designers left out the next sentence: “But changes in the way the annual point-in-time count is carried out and the methodology the group that leads it uses to arrive at its final tally, plus city crackdowns that have made homelessness less visible, complicate historic comparisons that Faulconer has made.”
The full story: We wrote the definitive collection of stories of Faulconer’s impact as mayor as Faulconer prepared to run for governor. The most important was on homelessness and that’s where they pulled that quote.
The piece in full does a good job of recapping Faulconer’s lack of attention on the homeless crisis until it became a public health crisis and his frenzy to both crack down and provide temporary shelter after that.
The other side of the mailer seeks to pin the increase in homelessness since 2020 on Lawson-Remer, citing another Voice story.
“The number of families counted sleeping outside countywide rose from 2023 to 2024, increasing from 24 to 43. And the number of unsheltered veterans also spiked for the second year in a row, increasing 15 percent despite bolstered efforts to aid that population.”
Faulconer’s bet: He seems determined to blame Lawson-Remer for the spike in homelessness. It has increased in the four years but is that on her and other county supervisors?
I believe that all public leaders should be demanding emergency-like action in the face of the crisis and she certainly hasn’t done that or managed to make the county nimble and reactive in a way that has alleviated it. She has led on an effort to prevent homelessness.
But the county has been slow in providing shelters of its own, as we wrote about last week.
In 2021, the county, led by then Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, tried to mobilize. The Board of Supervisors passed a motion demanding a new plan and new department to take up the homelessness crisis. It later approved a plan to increase shelters in East County.
But it has largely failed.
“Since then, the county has expanded a hotel voucher program that has provided shelter to over 1,800 people at participating hotels since 2020. It has also opened two safe parking lots with a total of 44 spaces and access to services for people residing in vehicles in unincorporated El Cajon and Spring Valley. Although the county considers these lots shelter options, most experts do not.”
That’s it. Lawson-Remer herself has been frustrated by the glacial pace of county action in the midst of the crisis.
The question is, would Faulconer be able to do better?
Unlike at the city, he would not oversee the police or be able to unilaterally do much, if anything at all. The county is driven by staff, more so than ever since Fletcher left abruptly. Faulconer has no demonstrated skill at mobilizing staff to make major change as just one of five legislators. Perhaps he is better at building consensus and rallying county officials than Lawson-Remer is but we don’t have any evidence for that.
That would be what I would test him on.
Politifest: I asked both Faulconer and Lawson-Remer to attend Politifest for a debate. I think it’s the key race of the year in San Diego County. But he declined. Lawson-Remer wanted me to let her debate a chair. I declined but I did agree to interview her for a session. This will be the heart of our conversation: What exactly can a county supervisor do to get the county to treat this like an emergency?
What they are each doing, it ain’t working.
If you get political mailers, any mailers, from anyone, please send them to me. You can snap a photo and email them or post them via X. I have a collection of actual mailers now going back 15 years.
Like it or not, mailers are the battleground of local elections. And the way their designers decide, using data to hone the perfect attacks, select the perfect quotes and tip-toe to the line of decency is endlessly fascinating to me and illustrative of how they view the electorate. So help me collect them and we can build a little museum someday.
If you have any feedback or ideas for the Politics Report, send them to scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.
