Podcast appearances and mentions of mara elliott

San Diego City Attorney, Mara Elliott is misleading the public by refusing to release potentially damning parts of a forensic report that reviewed the 101 Ash Street building deal, even after the report was promised to be an independent and comprehensive analysis of what has now become one of the City's worst financial debacles in its history. (Originally aired on 22March21)

It's been four years since City Attorney Mara Elliott joined the podcast. VOSD's Scott Lewis has been waiting eagerly. Now, as Elliott faces reelection for her job as top lawyer for the city, she joins Lewis to talk about the race, the job and some other high-profile items, including her endorsement of Todd Gloria for mayor. Local environmental attorney Cory Briggs is running to unseat Elliott; he denied our request for an interview. We've got you covered on ballot measures, too. Listen to "San Diego Decides" wherever you're hearing this show. Or go to vosd.org/sddecides Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @voiceofsandiego

It's been four years since City Attorney Mara Elliott joined the podcast. VOSD's Scott Lewis has been waiting eagerly. Now, as Elliott faces reelection for her job as top lawyer for the city, she joins Lewis to talk about the race, the job and some other high-profile items, including her endorsement of Todd Gloria for mayor. Local environmental attorney Cory Briggs is running to unseat Elliott; he denied our request for an interview. We've got you covered on ballot measures, too. Listen to "San Diego Decides" wherever you're hearing this show. Or go to vosd.org/sddecides Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @voiceofsandiego See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We had the best time sitting down with the other candidate running against incumbent Mara Elliott for San Diego City Attorney. Cory Briggs, aka the Taxpayer’s Advocate has spent nearly two decades fighting special interests at City Hall.In this episode we talk about how Cory went from aspiring rockstar to attorney to ultimately launching his political campaign for San Diego City Attorney. With a background in accounting and philosophy and having the ultimate goal of pursuing a life of academia, Cory was actually encouraged by professors and mentors to pursue law and he has had quite the impressive career thus far. In 2002 he founded the Briggs Law Corporation and has a very successful track record in helping to advocate for the interests of the San Diego taxpayers. His ultimate reason for running for San Diego City Attorney is to move the city attorney’s office away from a culture of secrecy to a culture of transparency, effectively seeking to remove politics from government. We talk about Why the taxpayers in San Diego should have a voice and be able to vote on issues that concern them, like Qualcomm stadium.How the current city attorney’s office is pursuing an agenda contrary to the will of the voters.Short term vacation rentals like Air BnB and what Cory Briggs will do if elected.The issue of homelessness in San Diego and how we can work combat the different reasons for homelessness.How Briggs will work to protect children and the ways in which Mara Elliot has failed to do so. If you’re a San Diego voter you need to listen before sending off your ballot or going to the polls. You can contact Cory Briggs and learn more about his campaign on his website. https://corybriggs.com/ Yesterday we released our other interview with San Diego City Attorney candidate Pete Mesich which you can listen to here. https://www.podbean.com/eu/pb-ywg9z-d42e3e

State Sen. Ben Hueso and San Diego City attorney Mara Elliott dropped their proposed changes to the California Public Records Act. Before that happened, the City Council and the mayor both announced they opposed the measure. City Councilman Chris Cate joined us on the podcast this week to talk about that bill, the state of the GOP and more.   The interview with Cate starts at minute 23.   Voice's Lisa Halverstadt and Adriana Heldiz broke down what happens to affordable housing fees in . That feature starts at minute 49. Get tickets to our Wednesday live show at voiceofsandiego.org/events. We'll have  of SANDAG and of the Climate Action Campaign as guests (as well as audience games and plenty of VOSD staffers you can hang out with). Help us make the show better with this 2-minute survey: vosd/podsurvey.

Unlike presidential debates that are watched by millions, local political debates are rarely televised, yet they offer some of the only chances for voters to hear city and county candidates who will have direct say over so much of their lives. This week we talk about those debates. Local debates happen more than you’d think. Podcast co-host Sara Libby, for instance, moderated a city attorney debate last Monday between Mara Elliott and Robert Hickey. Then Hickey and Elliott met again two days later for another candidate forum in City Heights. As a result, there’s a debate circuit that forms, as our colleague and frequent debate host Andrew Keatts explains. Opposing candidates who see each other night after night become familiar with each other’s talking points and maintain collegial bonds. Unless they don’t: Keatts talks about one of the wilder local debates he’s hosted, our Politifest debate over a ballot measure that will change city election law. We also talk about the U.S. Senate “dabate” between state Attorney General Kamela Harris and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, and share other observations about the history of debating in San Diego. Favorite Things Andy’s favorite thing is the new HBO series “Westworld.” My favorite thing is normal people who far outnumber reporters even though reporters often end up fetishizing working-class Americans, like Ken Bone, the accidental star of the recent presidential debate. Sara’s is Sutter Brown, California’s first dog, as well as a touching Sacramento Bee editorial on mortality and our pets.

San Diego Decides is Voice of San Diego’s elections podcast. Hosts Sara Libby and Ry Rivard break down individual races and ballot measures San Diegans will weigh in on this year, as well bigger issues like the mechanics of voting, state-level drama and more. ♦♦♦ In this week's episode, hosts Sara Libby and Ry Rivard talked about three big races this week: the race for mayor, the race for city attorney and the race for the District 9 City Council seat. Sara and Andrew Keatts interviewed mayoral candidate Ed Harris, and share some excerpts of that conversation. Harris addresses why he decided to get in the race, and what separates him from Mayor Kevin Faulconer even though they seemingly have a lot in common. Next up: the race for city attorney saw some verbal sparring between Rafael Castellanos and Gil Cabrera, as Voice of San Diego’s Andrew Keats wrote about recently. Both candidates have been preparing to run for several years, so they both have a lot invested in winning. A third candidate, Mara Elliott, has not received as much attention or money, but she may have a built-in advantage with her title, “chief deputy city attorney.” The race for City Council's District 9 is also starting to heat up, with three main candidates contending for the position: Ricardo Flores, chief of staff for outgoing Councilwoman Marti Emerald, Georgette Gomez, associate director at the Environmental Health Coalition, and Sarah Saez, program director for the United Taxi Workers. KPBS reporter Megan Burks, who's covered City Heights and surrounding communities for years, stopped by to talk about the unusual dynamics at work in D9. Two neighborhoods separated essentially by just a roadway are actually a world apart: Kensington has a 60-70 percent voter turnout and its median income is about $90K a year. By contrast, City Heights’ voter turnout can be as low as 14 percent, its median income is $21K a year. Crazy Ballot Initiatives Sara plans to highlight a few of the strangest measures vying to make the November ballot in each episode. First up: A measure that would require candidates and lawmakers to take regular lie detector tests, and another that would restrict any speech that has to do with Holocaust denial. Our Favorite Things This Week Sara: Acting as VOSD's pop culture ambassador, Sara selected Rihanna's new album, Anti. Ry: Bruce Lightner, who's running to replace his wife, Sherri Lightner, as the City Council rep for District 1, compared their combined power to one of the great American political dynasties. Asked if he'll get a name-recognition boost, he told the Union-Tribune:  “It won’t be the first time. Look at the Kennedy dynasty.” Megan: A city in New York has created a Hamsterdam to address the heroin epidemic: a part of town where you can use safely and freely. Former KPBS reporter Tarryn Mento pointed out that this is basically "The Wire" come to life.   Show Notes Page