San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
AMY REICHERT: WE MUST DO BETTER
Evaluate the county’s response to the pandemic. How would you have led differently?
My campaign has a chief medical adviser, Dr. Mariah Baughn, M.D. Dr. Baughn is a pathologist at a major hospital group here in San Diego County. I have consulted with Dr. Baughn to create a targeted response to COVID-19 that takes public health, mental health and personal freedom all into account in creating future county policies on this issue.
With it, I would:
1. Keep schools open. Even Dr. Anthony Fauci said schools should be the last to close and the first to open. Closing schools for over a year has already led to a significant amount of damage to children and society as a whole, with particular harm done to underserved students who do not have the option to attend private schools, which largely remained open. Zoom school is deeply inferior and should not be considered as an alternative.
2. Protect elderly and vulnerable populations. Ensure that these populations have access to early treatment and are given accurate, unbiased medical advice.
3. Keep beaches, trails, parks and playgrounds open. Although it may seem elementary, it still remains true that fresh air, sunshine and exercise are some of the best ways to maintain a healthy immune system and ensure your body is in an optimal condition to fight off a virus.
4. Recognize natural immunity. We should never mandate that somebody inject a vaccine into their body for a virus they have already contracted and already have immunity for. Attaining zero COVID-19 is not possible. Our county has a high vaccination rate as well as a significant level of natural immunity. People debate how many shots natural immunity is equivalent to, and they look to antibody levels to decide — that’s the wrong way to look at this as it does not consider T-cell memory. The pandemic is now transitioning to endemic, and at this point, vaccines should not be mandated, given our combined natural and vaccine-induced immunity.
Going forward, how will you balance public health concerns amid other county issues?
When I speak with people in District 4 at neighborhood markets, I always ask, “What is the No. 1 issue you are concerned about?” People across my district are saying the same things: the cost of gas, the cost of energy, the cost of housing, inflation, violent crime, homelessness and mental health. It seems that for every one of these extremely important issues San Diegans are facing, my opponent has pushed policies that made these already-challenging issues far worse. Nathan Fletcher said he is open to the San Diego Association of Governments’ mileage tax and a “tire tax.” He passed resolutions that make the cost of energy even more expensive and the dream of owning a single-family home even further out of reach for the average San Diegan. His high taxes, high cost of energy and high cost of housing policies are pushing working-class families into poverty. Some of the people hit hardest by my opponent’s mandates were working-class restaurant employees and small business owners. Reopen San Diego, which I co-founded to reopen schools and businesses, hosted fundraisers and donated groceries and diapers to struggling families who could not get through to the government because it was not answering their calls. I will always answer the call to help people, and I will never hide behind a social media account and attack my own constituents as Nathan Fletcher did over the past two years.
What do you think of the supervisors’ attempts to limit disruptive speech at public meetings? Hypocritical. Nathan Fletcher actually banned clapping at Board of Supervisors meetings. Fletcher bangs his gavel and threatens to remove people from the audience, but then he allows and encourages clapping on his own items. On several occasions, I used my vacation time off from work so I could testify in person at Board of Supervisors meetings. I can remember one meeting in particular where hundreds of people showed up to speak on a single agenda item. Rather than give these members of the community priority or at least a time to return, he made us all wait for over seven hours before even the first person could begin to speak on the issue. Nathan Fletcher as chair intentionally delayed that same controversial agenda item by allowing another agenda item out of order knowing that hundreds of people wanted their elected officials to hear them out and many had to leave to pick up children from school. When I speak to address the board with my 10-year-old son by my side, Nathan Fletcher won’t even make eye contact with us — instead, he appears to be playing with his phone.
Nathan Fletcher also took shots at the many highly intelligent, well-prepared members of the community (including physicians and registered nurses) who spoke that evening, sharing a meme on Instagram that read: “Please stop saying you ‘researched’ it .... You didnt [sic] f------ research anything.” Melissa Grace testified in front of the Board of Supervisors that she is a Democrat and that she voted for Nathan Fletcher, but that she does not feel represented by him. Others have told me they no longer believe he listens to, respects or represents them. I agree.
Donald Trump says that he won the 2020 presidential election. Do you believe him? Why or why not? Election integrity is a bipartisan issue. Democrats have concerns about election integrity in 2016, and Republicans have concerns about election integrity in 2020. Let’s bring people together to create election policies that give everyone confidence in the process and let’s be known as the county with the highest election integrity in the country and a model for the United States.
How, specifically, will you address the high cost of housing in San Diego County?
The government is benefiting from the extremely high housing prices San Diegans are facing through property tax revenue, developer impact fees and affordable housing bureaucracies.
The government is using taxpayer bonds for affordable housing for outra