Editorial:
Mid-term elections are done, with the exception of the Jim Janney and Serge Dedina race for IB nayor, seperated by 33 votes, which won’t be decided until next week. We would like to congratulate all those individuals who chose to run for public office.
Most of the candidates ran based on a desire to bring about change for the betterment of the community. They believed in themselves and the job they could do. Running for public office is time consuming, difficult, and can be very expensive. And for almost all candidates, running for office becomes personal, which makes all of the endorsements, flyers, rumors, and final vote count hurtful!
Running for public office is a process that most folks would not even consider. So we congratulate all of the candidates who took on this noble effort. It is because of you that democracy works. Win or lose, these candidates are our community leaders. They will continue to be involved in local politics and will make their voices heard.
One of those leaders who we must acknowledge is Olga Diaz who ran for mayor of the City of Escondido. Diaz went into the race understanding that she faced a historical disadvantage. She is a Hispanic candidate in a right-wing community that has often raised its biased head. Further, in Escondido, the Democratic voting base has been dwarfed by Republican voters.
Despite these disadvantages, Diaz had the courage to take on the challenge and put together a more than credible campaign, winning support and raising money from the community. Diaz lost this race but she has signaled a change that is coming to Escondido, a demographic and electoral change coming in the near future to Escondido.
Mary Salas was elected mayor of Chula Vista, which makes her the first Latina Mayor in San Diego County. This is a significant milestone and she should be congratulated for this accomplishment. La Prensa San Diego did not endorse her candidacy but now that she is the elected mayor we will support her in her tenure. We believe that leaders grow into their position and can take that mantel and become great leaders. It is our greatest hope that Mary Salas will be that type of Mayor.
A new day is coming to the school boards in the South Bay. This election brought about some significant changes to the school boards of San Ysidro, Chula Vista Elementary, and Sweetwater Union High School Board.
The San Ysidro school district is beset with major challenges. It has been operating on a deficit and has had to borrow money the last two years with no end in sight. In addition to financial woes, the board needs to hire a new superintendent. These responsibilities will fall onto the shoulders of Marcos Diaz, Rodolfo Linares, and Luciana Corrales who along with board member Antonio Martinez have an opportunity to break away from old habits and spending and work to bring about change. Time will tell.
With the election of Francisco Tamayo, Leslie Bunker, and Eduardo Reyes this will be the first time in a long time that the Chula Vista Elementary school board will have a majority of board members that will have been truly elected by the community. This will break up the good old boy system that permeated throughout the board and will bring a breath of fresh air to the board.
There is a new day for the Sweetwater Unified High School District with the election of Arturo Solis, Kevin Pike, Frank Tarantino, Nicholas Segura, and Paula Hall. The voters sent a clear message that they wanted change from the days of corruption, as both Bertha Lopez and Jim Cartmill, past board members, lost by wide margins. Now this school board has the task of returning credibility back to board meetings and the responsibility of hiring the next superintendent for the district.
The newly elected officials have a couple of months to prepare and will be sworn into office in January. Then the real work starts. We wish all the newly elected public servants good luck and God speed.