On Jan. 22, 2017, during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” White House aide Kellyanne Conway introduced a phrase into the zeitgeist in defending the claim that President Donald Trump’s inaugural speech came before the “largest audience to ever witness an inauguration.”
Though thousands of photos and videos showed that President Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural address drew a much bigger crowd, Conway said White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had the right to present Americans with “alternative facts.”
Was San Diego County Board of Supervisors’ Chair Terra Lawson-Remer taking notes? This question came to mind Thursday after the board voted to put what she insists is a comprehensive reform package before county voters in November. In a Tuesday blast email sent to thousands of her constituents, Lawson-Remer called it “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make county government more transparent, accountable and responsive to the people it serves.”
This claim is beyond laughable. What’s transparent about Lawson-Remer’s call for ballot language meant to trick voters into believing her proposal “set” term limits for supervisors instead of weakening them by allowing her and her colleagues to seek third terms?
How is it accountable for Lawson-Remer to falsely assert that her proposal would create three “independent” watchdogs?
Members of the county ethics commission would either be picked by individual supervisors or by the county counsel, who is appointed by board members. The budget analyst and auditor would “be hired and fired by the same board they are supposed to hold accountable,” as local political scientist Carl Luna detailed on May 15 on these pages.
When Conway made her instantly notorious comment, “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd immediately responded that “alternative facts are not facts — they’re falsehoods.”
Thankfully, Lawson-Remer’s similar “alternative facts” are increasingly being treated as such in reporting on her power play, which is supported by board colleagues Monica Montgomery Steppe and Paloma Aguirre.
Alas, the same is not true of another key measure on the November ballot: a countywide half-cent sales tax measure pushed by labor groups allied with the county board’s Democratic majority, which is projected to raise at least $350 million a year. The measure is being pitched to voters as a way “to address key issues — childcare, health care, the Tijuana River sewage crisis and public safety.”
But this claim is much closer to an “alternative fact” than reality. New sales tax revenue can be used for any purpose by the county, whatever voters are told in coming months. And what is the only certain result if the sales tax hike is approved? It’s not — as unions say — “keeping local children safe, fed and cared for.” Because of past labor deals, if voters OK a measure that increases county revenue this year, the county would be required to reopen pay negotiations with both SEIU Local 221 and Teamsters Local 986, which represent more than 10,000 county workers.
Shouldn’t this certainty be mentioned at least as often as talking points that won’t necessarily come true, given the long history in California of sales-tax-hike promises being broken? We’re pretty sure Chuck Todd would agree.