Martinez not incumbent, but has political benefits of one

Quick! Who’s the sheriff of San Diego County?

If you had to think about it for a moment, or even look it up, you’re probably not alone.

Anthony Ray, a lowprofile, 30-year veteran of the Sheriff ’s Department, has been interim sheriff since he was appointed in April.

Not much has been heard from or about him since a spate of articles following his selection by the county Board of Supervisors.

Well before and after his appointment, there’s been a lot more attention focused on Undersheriff Kelly Martinez, who is running for the job in Tuesday’s primary. People would be forgiven if they thought she was the sheriff. That seemingly was part of the design.

In February 2021, Martinez became the first woman to serve as San Diego’s undersheriff, the department’s second in command. In July, she filed official papers stating her intent to run, two days before thenSheriff Bill Gore announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2022.

As if on cue, Martinez was quickly endorsed by much of San Diego’s political establishment, including elected officials and civic leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties. Four of the five supervisors — three Democrats and one Republican — are backing her.

When Gore unexpectedly retired in February before finishing out his term this year, Martinez became acting sheriff.

Many San Diegans had seen before what appeared to be unfolding now and cried foul. A top law enforcement official retires early, elevating their heir apparent to the top post; the supervisors formally appoint them, and they win subsequent elections as incumbents.

That’s how Gore became sheriff and Summer Stephan became district attorney.

This time a different board decided it would not appoint an interim sheriff

chair of the board. He led the county’s pandemic response and has championed vaccine drives and mask requirements as tools for reducing COVID-19 transmission. Fletcher earned both accolades and opposition for his role in the COVID-19 response, and his position placed him on the front lines of battles over lockdown orders and vaccine and mask mandates.

That’s where Reichert came in. A Republican who helped found ReOpen San Diego, she’s a first-time candidate who became involved in politics through activism against the county’s COVID-19 policies. Reichert said she decided to challenge Fletcher after county redistricting efforts placed her in his current district.

Campaign disclosure reports show both Fletcher and Reichert collecting numerous small-dollar donations from hundreds of individuals.

Fletcher’s biggest contributors include $1,800 donations each from a La Jolla pharmacist, a Los Angeles real estate financier and an executive with a San Diego women’s soccer league. He also received more than 350 contributions through ActBlue, a Democratic fundraising platform.

Reichert also tallied hundreds of donations, with top contributions of $900 to $1,000 each from a La Mesa tech company, former Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, a VA case manager and a number of retirees.

Hooker did not respond to multiple inquiries from The San Diego Union-Tribune, but her website lists her as a native San Diegan who grew up in City Heights and works as a diversity and inclusion coordinator for LinkedIn.

Her campaign filings list a total of 11 donors who contributed seven $100 donations, one $524 donation, three $900 donations, and $300 in unspecified smaller donations.

Although she declared later and has far lower visibility and campaign contributions than the other two candidates, her entry in the race forces Fletcher and Reichert into the June primary. Any race with more than two candidates must hold a primary to select two run-off candidates for the general election.

Hooker’s support from DeMaio’s group has also led to accusations of racism from both the right and left.

Reform California, a political action committee with a war chest of nearly $1 million, spent some of that money on texts and mailers to 4th District voters. The committee disclosed spending $30,433 in opposition to Fletcher, along with $21,433 in support of Hooker, who is Black. In those missives, the organization accuses Fletcher of supporting a new mileage tax along with increased utility and sales taxes, and praises Hooker for opposing the mileage tax.

Dan Rottenstreich, a campaign spokesperson for Fletcher, said the campaign mailers and texts distort Fletcher’s record, and predicted voters would not be persuaded by them.

The committee endorsed Reichert for the 4th District seat, but didn’t list any expenditures on her behalf. DeMaio said he sought to promote Hooker to Democratic voters as a better candidate than Fletcher. Hooker doesn’t cite a party affiliation on her campaign website, but the Registrar of Voters Office confirmed that she is a registered Democrat, though she previously registered as a Republican.

Fletcher’s wife, former Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher, took aim at the Reform California spending in support of Hooker, asserting that DeMaio is propping up a Black candidate to divide people of color. She claimed in a series of tweets that Hooker is a right-wing activist and called DeMaio’s contributions to her campaign an attempt to “siphon off progressive votes in this diverse district.”

“It’s local politics at its ugliest & relies on the idea that Black & Brown voters are stupid,” Fletcher-Gonzalez wrote in the tweet. “We aren’t.”