“A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.” — Diane Mariechild
This week’s San Diego County Board of Supervisors budget deliberations started with a bang, sparked by Interim Chair Terra Lawson-Remer’s intrepid proposal to reform the county’s old-world fiscal reserve structure.
Lawson-Remer’s call to action, before the Trump Administration pulls out the rug from San Diego County residents, is timely. Her aptitude for translating economic theory into fiscal policy informs her plan to leverage the county’s financial reserves to strengthen the social safety net for San Diego’s most vulnerable residents, including working families, veterans, and seniors.
Enter Supervisor Joel Anderson. His May 5 op-ed in Times of San Diego is a typical conservative response to Lawson-Remer’s reform proposal. Rather than debating the plan on its merits, Anderson resorts to rhetorical attacks, describing it as a “raid on our county’s reserves” that is “last-minute and reckless,” even “dangerous.”
Anderson’s inflammatory language portrays Lawson-Remer, the only member of the board of supervisors with college degrees in economics, law, ethics, and philosophy; university-level public policy teaching experience; and the real-world policy chops — she served as a senior advisor to the Obama Administration’s Treasury Department — as dangerous to the county’s financial stability.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Anderson fails to mention the linchpin of Lawson-Remer’s proposed reforms: A 21st-Century transformation of the county’s reserve fund that prioritizes community quality of life over the compounded interest accrued from squirreling away public revenue in a convoluted rainy-day fund.
By challenging the uncompromising confines of the county’s fiscal structure, Lawson-Remer makes a compelling case for the power of representative government to protect San Diegans –- particularly its most vulnerable residents — from the Trump Administration’s chaotic, wrecking ball approach to “downsizing” the federal government, while setting aside an ample reserve of the public’s money to enable the county to withstand the economic calamity caused by a stock market crash, global pandemic, or natural disaster.
Anderson’s representation of Lawson-Remer’s proposal as “last minute” is misleading. Her plan was the centerpiece of the interim board chair’s April 16 State of the County address. In fact, Lawson-Remer’s speech articulated her vision of a responsive, people-centered county government that makes fiscally sound investments in the present, while charting a course for a more socially equitable and environmentally sustainable future.
As a woman serving in elected office, Lawson-Remer’s speech drew inspiration from her lived experience. Instead of the top-down, “plant your flag” thinking driving the decision-making of their male counterparts, women leaders are wired to balance compassion with resilience, and common sense with creativity. More importantly, women leaders are intuitive, a gift that connects their decision-making today with a deep understanding of its consequences tomorrow.
By claiming the county’s outdated reserve strategy protects the county’s “safety net,” and deriding Lawson-Remer’s plan as “taking every proposal or news clip as an approved policy or guessing what might happen next,” Anderson undermines her leadership as interim board chair and, by extension, paints the women who have the courage to challenge San Diego’s conservative political establishment as dangerous and impulsive.
At the same time, his inclination to “carefully monitor and evaluate changes as they become clearer” parrots the Republican Party’s fawning “let’s wait and see” approach toward the take-no-prisoners Trump presidency. This tactic feeds the myth of Donald Trump as a business genius whose economic prowess is indisputable.
Lawson-Remer’s proposal is creative, grounded, and forward-looking. It should be championed by San Diegans who believe in the power of representative government to adapt to changing times with an eye to preventing harm, while making important public investments in improving San Diego County’s collective quality of life.
Vibrant, equitable communities are resilient communities. The county’s journey to resilience begins when its leaders value its fiscal health and our community’s health in equal measure.
A second-generation San Diegan and nonprofit consultant, Molly Bowman-Styles is the president of Windansea Communications. Laurie Black served as president of the Downtown Partnership, a San Diego port commissioner, and as a board member of the Centre City Development Corporation. A Democratic party activist, she also served as chief of staff for former Congresswoman Lynn Schenk.
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