FLETCHER EARNED A SECOND TERM ON BOARD

The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board launches its primary election endorsements today by weighing in on the race for the District 4 seat for the county Board of Supervisors. It’s the only race on the June 7 ballot for the five-member board that oversees $7 billion of annual spending on everything from sheriff ’s deputies and jails to mental health programs and services for the county’s homeless residents. In past years, supervisorial races were snoozers. A Republican majority controlled the board for more than 20 years until term limits took effect, forcing incumbents out and giving new candidates a chance to call shots that affect 17,000-plus county workers and 3.3 million county residents.

Democrat Nathan Fletcher, elected four years ago and in his second year as chair of the board, is up for re-election in District 4. Because of rules governing two-candidate county races, the District 5 race between Republican incumbent Supervisor Jim Desmond and Democratic challenger Tiffany BoydHodgson will be on the Nov. 8 ballot but not on the ballots that voters are getting by mail this week.

As we’ve stated in the past, political party doesn’t factor into our recommendations. In general, we judge candidates on their community experience and personal history, their character and ability to work with others, their insight into the issues and their commitment to the public. More generally than that, we ask have they done the job, can they do the job, will they do the job? In years past, we haven’t applied litmus tests for particular issues.

But this campaign season, a more specific statement of our views is needed. The editorial board believes the COVID-19 pandemic is real — and ongoing — not a crisis invented to expand government power. We think it’s fair and appropriate to secondguess judgments made about school and business lockdowns — we have done so ourselves — but we have no patience for those who argue against all evidence that vaccinations are more dangerous than the virus — or for those who dismiss 1 million American deaths by blithely likening COVID-19 to just another variant of the flu. Similarly, on the climate emergency, there is a wide range of pertinent issues on which reasonable people can differ — how far should government go in discouraging the use of fossil fuels or whether the state needs to make fundamental changes that limit the vast amounts of water going to agricultural uses. But as the megadrought deepens and the Southwest bakes and burns, we have no patience for those who pretend humans aren’t causing climate change.

With this framing and his achievements, Fletcher is the clear choice in District 4, which covers much of central San Diego, including City Heights and North Park, then extends east to Lemon Grove, La Mesa, Rancho San Diego, Campo and part of Spring

Valley. He is a Marine who has found new ways to lead. As chair of the Board of Supervisors, Fletcher took one of the main roles in detailing how the county was handling its public health responsibilities after the pandemic exploded in 2020 — emphasizing vaccinations, outreach to underserved communities and cautious behavior in public settings. He was unfazed by the personal attacks and namecalling he faced. He never lost sight of the fact the great majority of county adults were getting vaccinated and not buying disinformation campaigns.

He has two opponents. Sidiqa Hooker is hardly campaigning. Listed by voting officials as a diversity inclusion coordinator, she never replied to repeated interview requests of ours. That makes it likely that Fletcher and his main opponent — Republican state licensed investigator Amy Reichert — will advance to the Nov. 8 runoff election. In some ways, Reichert offers valid criticism of pandemic decisions, especially on school closures. But the ReOpen San Diego leader scorns Fletcher for “not listening, not caring and not respecting his constituents.” What Fletcher, a former state lawmaker, respects is the need to treat COVID-19 as a real threat — not a prop with which to advance anti-government views.

It’s not the only issue upon which Fletcher can count achievements. On climate change, he has led the push for county policies that are much bolder and more forward-thinking — starting with an acknowledgment that previous planning practices need to be rewritten to reflect new realities. He has worked with other board members to open a standalone mental health crisis center in Vista; to limit offensive comments and ban incendiary language at public meetings; to improve and make more accessible the behavioral health care provided by the county; and to work more closely with the city of San Diego and smaller cities in responding to homelessness. His pledge to establish an “Outdoor Experience Program” to make it easier for families to enjoy the county’s many superb parks at little or no cost could become a national model.

No politician is perfect. On housing, the policies he touts on his website and in public remarks are relatively small-scale at a time when they can’t be. They offer none of the game-changing proposals California needs to increase the availability of shelter and decrease its cost. And on the Sheriff ’s Department’s atrocious record of jail deaths, Fletcher and the board could have used budget maneuvers to force Sheriff Bill Gore to make the profound changes he resisted until retiring in February.

But in the big picture, Fletcher has earned high marks. A county board which for years seemed only distantly interested in residents’ needs has been transformed. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board recommends Fletcher be re-elected.