SDNR Commentary

Last month, I explored efforts by San Diego City Councilmembers Carl DeMaio and Donna Frye to extract the city from its cavernous fiscal hole, including DeMaio’s attempts to revive the moribund “managed competition” endeavor.

Now DeMaio’s at it again, announcing a new ballot measure he’s hoping to place on the Nov.  2010 ballot that would jumpstart the process of putting out city contracts for private bids.

Recall that in 2006, San Diego voters overwhelmingly passed Prop. C, which for the first time opened up San Diego’s city services to non-city outfits.  Private contractors were to be given the opportunity to compete with existing city departments to perform all manner of different tasks.

But that process languished for more than three years, as labor unions mounted obstacle after obstacle to managed competition.  The Independent Review Board established specifically to review competitive bids has never analyzed, let alone accepted, any outside bids for city services.  In fact, the group hasn't even met since August 2009."

So the irrepressible DeMaio has launched a “Competition and Transparency in City Contracting” initiative that aims “to hold city government accountable for following fair and open competitive bidding rules for all city contracts.”

The measure targets accountability for efficiency reforms by requiring competitive bids on various support services within the coming three years; everything from trash collection to auto maintenance would be put out to bid, a process DeMaio believes will save the city tens of millions of dollars each year.

The initiative also strives for open and fair competition, i.e. “equal opportunity for both union and non-union workers to apply for jobs.”

It would foster transparency in city contracting, requiring the city to post every single one of its contracts online, along with the number of bids presented, while mandating that the mayor and city councilmembers disclose all campaign contributions from the bidders before awarding them contracts.

DeMaio has lined up what he calls “a broad coalition of taxpayers, small businesses, and trade groups” in support of the measure.  “We expect to see the same intensity of coalition support that we had back in 2006 when we advanced Proposition C,” he told me.  The coalition thus far includes Associated General Contractors, Associated Builders and Contractors, and the National Association of Minority Contractors.

I asked DeMaio what this new proposal adds to Prop. C and why it’s needed now.  He explained that the initiative “is obviously necessary because it has been more than three years since the passage of Prop C and not one single city program—not even one single taxpayer dollar—has been subjected to competitive bidding using this reform.”

He emphasized that “we need to hold city government accountable for implementing this cost-saving reform—and this initiative does just that.”

Labor groups, unsurprisingly, have vowed to fight the measure tooth and nail.  Lorena Gonzales, head of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, claimed the proposal would harm city workers by undercutting their wages and benefits.  In her opinion, “I couldn’t imagine that somebody in these economic times would put such a give away to corporations on a local ballot initiative.”

Her spokesman, Evan McLaughlin, was even more blunt: “I think there is something for everybody to be disgusted by in this initiative, starting with the dishonesty of trying to label this as competition and transparency.”

But DeMaio is having none of it.  He reiterated to me that “this initiative helps all taxpayers because it will result in significant savings in how the city government carries out important programs.”

It won’t benefit private sector employees alone, says DeMaio.  Instead, “city workers will also benefit by seeing a reform that will help restore the city’s financial health long-term.”

DeMaio also regards this issue as one of fundamental fairness:  taking indirect aim at the grotesque “project labor agreement” that the San Diego Unified School District board conferred on its labor supporters, the councilman fears that without his proposed charter amendment, the city, too, could indulge in massive giveaways to union members.  He wants to ensure that, if major new city infrastructure projects (e.g. a new Chargers stadium, a rebuilt City Hall) wind up getting funded, “all San Diegans are allowed to apply for the jobs they would create.”

So as you stimulate your Tryptophan receptors this weekend, be thankful that some folks in our fair city are working hard to fundamentally improve it, even as entrenched interests stand in their way.

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , a News Room contributor, is an attorney in Carmel Valley and the Secretary of the Republican Party of San Diego County.  The views expressed are his own.

                                        

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