Truth and Character Matter in Race for County Supervisor
We’ve been told it’s the year of the woman in politics, again. Although more women are serving in Congress, 29% in the house and 25% in the Senate, women are 50.4% of the US population. We are still greatly underrepresented in elected offices on a local and national level. There has never been a female governor of California and only two women have been elected mayor of San Diego.
Today, we have three women running for the special election in the fourth district for the Board of Supervisors to fill Nathan Fletcher’s vacated seat. Two of the leading candidates are Democrats; City Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe and nonprofit leader, Janessa Goldbeck.
The manner in which a campaign is run is reflective of the candidate. Candidates have been known to rely on third party PAC organizations that are theoretically, not coordinating with their campaign, to do their dirty work. “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.” In other words, the candidate takes the high road and third parties take the low road. That is exactly what is happening in Janessa Goldbeck’s campaign.
The San Diego Police Officers Association PAC and the San Diego Deputy District Attorneys Association have sent multiple mailers attacking Monica Montgomery Steppe on behalf of Janessa Goldbeck, that are blatantly false, borderline slanderous and can be described as racist.
First let’s look at the obvious, Montgomery Steppe is a champion for safe and livable neighborhoods and has voted to increase spending in the police budgets. Stating otherwise is a flat out lie.
Secondly, the design of the flyers is meant to provoke fear in voters. They intentionally use language and images to present Montgomery Steppe, who would be the first African American woman on the San Diego Board of Supervisors, as a threat to public safety. Goldbeck appears in color smiling, while Montgomery Steppe is shown in black and white frowning. This plays into the stereotype and racist trope of Black women being angry.
Janessa Goldbeck knows better. She came before the two African American affinity Democratic Clubs; The Martin Luther King, Jr. Democratic Club and the Black and African Women Rise Democratic Club and professed her admiration for Montgomery Steppe and acknowledged her opponent’s great track record and accomplishments. However, when asked by Alyce Pipkin-Allen, co-president of the Black and African Women Rise Democratic Club and Susan Peinado, former Democratic Woman’s Club President, to denounce the slanderous mailers, Goldbeck failed to address them as she had promised.
The two chartered San Diego Democratic women’s clubs in San Diego; The Democratic Woman’s Club of San Diego County and Black and African Women Rise Democratic Club have both endorsed Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe for County Supervisor.
In light of the tone, false statements and disparaging mailers circulating on Janessa Goldbeck’s behalf, both organizations are urging Goldbeck to publicly denounce the mailers and apologize to Montgomery Steppe.
We don’t believe that Goldbeck’s campaign was involved in the creation of the misleading mailers, but silence is implied consent. It isn’t enough to say you have no control over the outside groups. If your name and face is on the mailer that is defamatory, you must denounce it. We appeal to Janessa Goldbeck’s better self and urge her as a woman candidate and a member of a marginalized group herself, to step up and protect other women candidates even if they are running against her for the same elected office.
Women have the choice to practice politics as usual or to raise the bar and adhere to civility and run an honest campaign. Truth and character matter and we plan to vote accordingly.
Black and African Women Rise Democratic Club
The Democratic Woman’s Club of San Diego County, Executive Board
Know The Facts!
MONICA MONTGOMERY STEPPE RECORD ON PUBLIC SAFETY:
• Voted for every budget since she’s been in office. Each one had a year over year increase to the police department budget. As a matter of fact, the only people to vote against those increases were Republicans Chris Cate and Scott Sherman.
• Worked with community members to lead the creation of the “No Shots Fired” program to fight gun and gang violence, and as a result gang violence is down 65% across the city. Between 2021 and 2022 SDPD Southeastern division reported homicides were down over 50% year over year. Gun homicides were down nearly 55%.
• She has sought increased funding for wrap around services, housing, and jobs for unhoused San Diegans because our jails should not be our shelter system – and cleaning up our neighborhoods makes them safer.
• She has worked arm in arm with SDPD to recruit officers from our communities who reflect and understand our neighborhoods.
• She has fought for more funding for firefighters, lifeguards, and park rangers– because public safety is more than just policing.
Law enforcement reform/transparency:
• Led the push to ban the carotid restraint that killed George Floyd. After her push in San Diego, it was banned statewide.
• Worked with San Diego community leaders to craft and pass the Commission on Police Practices and Privacy Advisory Board to increase civilian oversight of the police and surveillance technology.
• Worked to reform systems used to disproportionately criminalize Black, Latino, AAPI, and LGBTQ+ San Diegans.
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