The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board interviewed three of the candidates in the San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 2 race ahead of the March 3, 2020, primary election in which the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff election in November. Below is the transcript of our Nov. 13, 2019, interview with Steve Vaus, who is running to succeed Dianne Jacob in a district that represents residents in the eastern part of the county, including El Cajon, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Poway, Santee and unincorporated areas. This interview was transcribed using the digital transcription service Temi and checked for accuracy by a staffer. To call any errors to our attention or to ask any questions about our interviews, please email matthew.hall@sduniontribune.com with the subject line “election interviews.”
Union-Tribune: So thanks for coming in. Tell us why run for supervisor.
Steve Vaus: You know I think my life, my business background, uh, my local government background, uh, my regional government background too uniquely qualifies me to do the job. Uh, I spent some of my childhood growing up on a cattle ranch in Oregon and you learn a little something about hard work when you have to get up to tend the cattle before you go to school in the morning. And that served me well starting my own business 35 years ago and I, I went on to win the highest awards in the industry and it served me well. Getting into politics 10 years ago, I couldn’t have told you where Poway City Hall was, but I read a story in the newspaper about a council woman who’d abused the power of her office and knowing nothing about how those things worked I called city hall and I said, well, can’t you, you know, throw her off, it costs the city $500,000 in illegal settlement.
And they said, no, she had would have to be recalled. I said, what’s a recall? They said, well, you need to talk to the city clerk. So I went to the city clerk the next day, took out recall papers. Even though everybody told me I was crazy. And six months later she was recalled, 79% to 21%. I discovered through that even though I’d not been involved in any form of government before that I was pretty good at bringing people together and working for a common cause. Um, two years later I was elected to city council. Two years after that I was elected mayor. Last year I was re-elected, uh, by gosh, nearly a 50% margin. I think people were pleased with how I approached the job, pleased with my accessibility, my availability, my approachability and, uh, I would take all of what I’ve learned thus far to County board of supervisors and look forward to the opportunity.
Meet other candidates in the race below.
The candidates for San Diego City Supervisor District 2 are state Sen. Joel Anderson, Kenya Taylor and Poway Mayor Steve Vaus.
Q: Which of Poway’s successes do you think translate well to the county? What would you bring with you?
A: There was just a story in the U-T a few days ago about how the California state auditor ranked all the cities around the state. Poway was topped ranked for fiscal soundness, uh, in the County. I’m really proud of that. I’m, I’m conservative fiscally. You know, we keep our eye on the ball. Uh, we don’t chase shiny objects. Uh, we get things done. Uh, we just approved the building of a brand-new community senior center and an intergenerational facility’s going to cost $10 million. We’re paying cash for it. Um, I think the other thing that that applies is how Poway responded, exactly 200 days ago today to the Chabad shooting. Uh, that’s not something anybody ever expects in their community. Uh, but Poway responded with grace and dignity and compassion and I’m proud to have, uh, led the community through that tough time. It was a tragedy. Um, but I think we all came through it stronger where when I first stepped in front of the cameras that day and said, this is not Poway at the end, I was glad that the world got to see what Poway really was, a community that comes together and takes care of each other.
Q: The county’s prided itself on its financial standing just as Poway does. Uh, but a lot has been said about how large the county’s reserves are. So I’m curious, do you feel the county keeps enough in reserve or too much in reserve?
“I’m conservative fiscally. You know, we keep our eye on the ball. We don’t chase shiny objects. We get things done.”
— Steve Vaus
A: I think it’s just right, roughly a $700 million in our $688 million. I think in unrestricted reserves, the County spends about $10 million a day. So that gives them a 70 day buffer if all hell breaks loose. And I think that’s appropriate. You know, we’ve gotta be able to continue to pay our firefighters, pay our deputy sheriffs, even more importantly perhaps pay our, you know, home health services workers. That’s critical. We’ve got to be able to keep going. And if you look at after the wildfires, you know, we had to do, we didn’t have to do, but we chose to do a toxic cleanup at the homes that burned. So it makes sense to have that kind of a buffer in the budget. There’s another thing I think though that often gets lost in that discussion. You know, there are, I think it’s $2.3 billion in all reserves, but we have $3.5 billion in pension liability. So in point of fact, we’re really in the red. Uh, I believe we should remain fiscally conservative and prepared for whatever comes our way.
Q: The county has often used its strong financial picture, a relatively strong financial picture to basically dismiss criticism. You have Walt Eckard when he was CAO rejecting criticism of how they dealt with jails and things like that and rejecting criticism of foster care. And then along comes Helen and what happens in 2017 after the disaster is hepatitis A, they actually put out a report praising their response to that. So to me there’s still Ekardism that’s a huge problem in this county, a self satisfaction and a belief that because they’ve got relatively strong finances, that they should be immune from criticism and other respects. Desmond and Fletcher agreed with us about this point when they were in last year. How do you feel about it?
A: Nobody should ever be immune from criticism. If we’re screwing up. We need to know and we need to fix it. You know, we, we are not all knowing, all seeing. We need to be responsive to our constituents and the needs of the community. You know, I don’t know what happened under Ekard. Uh, I wasn’t paying attention back then, but I can tell you we’re always responsive in Poway. I did a strange thing when I became mayor. I publicize my cell phone number. Anybody can call me anytime, 24/7/365. If there’s a problem, I’m going to hear about it. If we have a house on fire, I’ll get a phone call within minutes after it starts, before the fire department even lets me know. So I hear about everything and I make sure to respond to everything. So like I say, I don’t know what happened with Walt Ekard or what went on, but if we’ve got problems, we’ve got to face them and fix them.
“I did a strange thing when I became mayor. I publicize my cell phone number. Anybody can call me anytime, 24/7/365.”
— Steve Vaus
Q: But it’s not just the specific problem, it’s the culture. It’s this belief that what we’re doing, we’re, we’re San Diego County, we’re well-run. Like Walt Ekard saying his final day, he said, it’s beyond dispute that we’re the finest run local government in America. If you have that as your starting belief, of course you’re going to reject criticism. So to me, I still don’t understand why county supervisors don’t think it’s time for a shakeup in senior leadership given the senior leadership has for a more than a decade downplayed anything or called critics ignorant. Ekardism is a thing.
A: Well that’s a a thing to you. Uh, but I don’t know enough about it yet. When I’m there and have the opportunity to take stock of the situation. If there are changes that need to be made, I’m not afraid of making them
Q: On housing. How do you feel about the SOS?
A: I’m opposed to SOS. I think it’s a really bad idea. You know, that somebody in the far reaches of one end of the County would be making a decision on the other end of the County. Uh, that’s wrong and it’s just flat out wrong. Um, that’s what we’re paid to do as city council members and mayors and county supervisors. Um, that’s the way to do it. Um, I think it adds an undue burden and an undue expense on folks that are trying to build houses for people to live in.
Q: The opponents of it say that the supervisors have repeatedly approved projects and formerly ag areas and that they’re doing so basically out of greed, hunting for campaign, corporate campaign contributions. Do you feel like these projects have been adequately vetted before they were approved?
A: These specific particular project?
Q: Well the one in Valley Center, that was just off the 15 that was the one, yeah, that was a huge flap over that.
A: That hasn’t been approved though.
Q: Didn’t it get preliminary approval?
A: I don’t believe so.
Q: Okay. Well anyway, just the general criticism that these programs that are, these projects that are exempt from general plan that was set up in 2011 are somehow nefarious.
A: Look, I support the general plan, but the general plan didn’t come down from Mount Sinai carved onto stone tablets. It is by its very nature general. I don’t have a problem with necessary amendments to the general plan as long as they are, it shouldn’t be a normal practice. They should be the exception rather than the rule. But to think that, not forgetting that it took years and I think $16 million, uh, to prepare the latest general plan and input from around the county, we’re not perfect. So I think there needs to be an Avenue for something to have an exception,
Q: But that was the point that Bill Horn made when we met with him back in 2011. He says, we have the County that’s zoned for ag. We shouldn’t just think of it as ag. We should think of it as open land that can be developed. And Bill Horn, of course, had a reputation. And so he was perceived as, that wasn’t perceived as a thoughtful comment. But in fact, if we do have a housing crisis, we have to look at land and not have these preconceived notions about it. But I don’t know if people believe that in San Diego County, the NIMBYs are everywhere.
A: There are a lot of NIMBYs, but we have this, this tension between, gosh, where are we going to build? See now let me back up and say, I believe the American dream is still to own a house on a small plot of land where your kids can play in the backyard and you can go to the soccer field down the street, all that stuff. I don’t know a whole lot of people that say their American dream is to live in a high rise. I just don’t hear them. So we’ve got this tension of the desperate need for housing, but some quarter saying, well, it all needs to be in the mid city, so that’s a challenge. We’ve got to look, as long as it matches the character of the community, it mitigates its impacts. It’s it’s fire safe and there’s infrastructure there then I’m going to take a real close look at it. Once we have the input from the community.
Q: In July we had a story about Calfire housing inspections and about how they almost always just gave a slap on the wrist, but one of the things that were striking about the reporter’s finding was that he found in orange County they check every single home every year and that they have increasingly high compliance rates with clearing and defensible space simply because they find people and why does it San Diego County do the same thing. If we want to reassure people that rural construction is safe, we should be incredibly vigilant about defensible space and clearing areas and we’re not.
A: I can’t disagree. A defensible space, you know, we know in Poway. Defensible space is critical and people have to keep up with it. If they don’t keep up with it, then we should go out and do it and send them a bill. It’s critical to the wellbeing of our community and certainly in other communities as well.
Q: I was out in Alpine this weekend, hiking Loveland Reservoir and that area, if you know it, is crisscrossed by all sorts of power lines. Some of them are drooping so low they’re actually hanging in the trees, dangling in the trees. And I’m wondering, SDG&E gets great credit for the good work it’s done, uh, in preventing wildfires in our region. Do you agree they deserve that much credit? And do you think there’s something that the county can do to impress upon SDG&E that they need to do more to harden their grid?
A: I believe SDG&E already has spent $1 billion in hardening their assets to try and prevent, uh, wildfires. Interestingly, there haven’t been too many wildfires in recent history that have been caused by power lines. My struggle is, okay, you spend $1 billion, you’ve hardened these assets, but you’re still turning off the power. You know, how much will you have to spend before you don’t have to turn off the power? I’m still trying to get my arms around that. You know, when we turn off the power, uh, it not only puts people in, in, you know, medically fragile condition at risk, but it also makes it tougher to fight the fire cause most of those people are on wells out there. Once the power goes out, you can’t access the water in that well. So I’m not wild about the power shutoffs I think there should be some kind of criteria that says, okay, if the winds are going to be pick a number, you know, 30 miles or greater. Okay. But I think we need to look at that more closely and have more of a conversation with SDG&E to see, okay, how far do we have to go with the hardening before we can get away from the power shutoffs
Q: The person you’re looking to replace is maybe SDG&E’s biggest critic. How do you view SDG&E as a, as a business in San Diego? What’s your, what’s your sense of them?
A: SDG&E has done a lot of good in the community. I think they can do more to harden their assets. Uh, you know, nobody’s all bad or all good. Uh, I’m not real clear on the battles that have been had in the past and other people in the back country adore Diane for her stand against SDG&E. I’ll take every situation on a case by case basis. And if they need to be, you know, poked, I’ll poke them. If not, I’m happy to partner with them and make things happen.
Q: You don’t think PG&E’s all bad?
A: I don’t know anything about PG&E.
Q: On housing. Diane, uh, pursued and Ronald Roberts pursued a small homes proposal as an alternative to spending $410,000 or more on affordable housing units. But yet by and large in California, we haven’t seen an embrace of things that have worked around the world. In Tokyo, they have dormitory style housing for young college graduates where they share bathrooms, kitchens, they work greatr. In Japan and in the United Kingdom, prefab housing, which is way, way, way better than it used to be, is now 15% or so of the market. You just plop them down. It seems obvious that in San Diego we should have these granny flat units just be prefabbed dropped in the backyard of homes and churches that are willing to accept them. But we still seem to keep thinking in the affordable housing, quote unquote box of subsidies that benefit tiny fractions, lotteries of people. So where would you bring fresh thinking on housing or at least a more aggressive version of what Roberts and Diane Jacob.
A: I did. In Poway, uh, to, to give you a frame of reference, uh, we just, there is an affordable housing or subsidized housing project going in and Poway right now it’s called Bella Devita for developmentally disabled adults. Uh, thankfully, uh, that was made possible, uh, by some of the funds from the $25 million, uh, housing trust fund that the county, uh, set up. But those units are going to cost about $500,000 each. I looked at that and I said, okay, ADUs there an option? Why don’t we as a city. Instead of spending $500,000, if it were all our money, we could build an ADU in somebody’s backyard city pay for it, as long as there is an agreement to use it for subsidized housing for 10 years or 12 years until the city recoups its investment. Um, we’re looking at it now, we’re trying to figure out a way to make it work. But I think that kind of thing is the future of affordable housing. And I think it creates a great opportunity, whether it’s tiny houses, prefab houses, uh, there are opportunities there that I think we need to take advantage of and explore.
Q: What’s been the reaction of your community because the people who moved to Poway by and large moved to Poway specifically to not have people living in their backyards. And what’s been the reaction?
A: It’s actually been very positive. We’ve got a long list of people saying, Hey, if you get this worked out, I’d like to have it in my backyard. Uh, some people that want it to allow someone else to live in that granny flat. Some people that are saying, Hey, we’re empty nesters. We’ll move into the granny flat. We’ll rent out our house. Uh, but it’s not an easy thing to work all the wrinkles out of, you know, with the, uh, prevailing wage that has to be paid. And, and, uh, just the cost of construction. Uh, we’ve got to make sure it pencils out before we dive into something like that. But I do think there’s a future in that.
Q: You know what, tell us a little more about that, cause you obviously made a big splash when that idea first...
A: It didn’t make a big splash. It pretty much got ignored.
Q: It made it on the front page of the U-T, didn’t it?
Q: No,
Q: What? We did an editorial on it I think.
Q: I think it was mentioned in one line of the editorial. It deserved more.
Q: Okay. Fair. Um, what are the sticking points for that? How, what are, what are the issues cause it’s one thing to I imagine, you know, it’s one thing to float an idea. It’s another to see it to conclusions. So this is a good case study. You got a great idea. How do you get it?
A: We’ve got to get the cost down. I was hopeful that we would be able to build a granny flat for $80 grand in somebodies backyard. But everybody we’re talking to says, well this going to cost $120,000 $130,000. We’ve got to make sure that the deal that we make in the city paying for this, that we can recoup the investment so that somebody doesn’t profit on the back of the taxpayers. So wrinkles, I still think we can work it out and maybe it’s going to be through prefab, uh, that kind of thing. Um, but I, I think there’s still life in the idea. It didn’t get much pushback at all. Uh, some people said, Oh, it’s a government handout, but they weren’t paying attention and were more reading the story that wasn’t there, uh, understanding that the city would be repaid in full.
Q: And do you think there’s a timeline in place where you can get that done before your potential election to supervisors? Cause without an advocate, maybe it doesn’t get done.
A: No. Uh, John Mullen on our city council, uh, has taken the lead on it for me because John knows construction stuff better than I do. Uh, I don’t base, when I bring ideas forward on when the election is going to happen, I could care less. It’s, you know, it’s better to do it right than right now.
Q: What are you hearing in your, as you go around the district, what are the priorities of voters in your district?
A: Public safety, public safety, public safety. Uh, you know, housing. Some people talk about homeless, some people talk about, mental health, uh, has certainly gotten much more buzz. Uh, but those are the biggies.
Q: The biggest challenge with putting housing out in back country has been, A. Fire danger and B. Access to public transportation. I’m ignorant of Poway’s public transportation options. I don’t even know if you guys have, uh, or are on the MTS system.
A: We have one bus routed.
Q: One bus that goes in and out. Just like, uh, some of the other communities up there. So, uh, once you’re on the board, what kind of attention you think ought to be put on mass transit in San Diego?
A: I think mass transit has its place in the urban areas. I see it being generations before mass transit’s going to reach to a significant portions of East County and North County. And that’s part of the challenge that we have in the dialogue at SANDAG right now. Those that want to put the lion’s share of the dollars into transit and those that are saying, wait a minute, we have to keep faith with what the voters were promised in 2004. Uh, it’s not just having highways. I mean highway 67 or State Route 67 is a dangerous road on its face. It’s known as blood alley for a reason, but when wildfire season hits, and that’s pretty much year round now, it’s more than just a dangerous road. That’s the only way out pretty much for folks that live in Ramona and Santa Isabel and Julian, if they come this way, uh, and there’s not the capacity to get them out, let alone get first responders in. And we’ve got to get first responders there from mutual aid to fight those fires. So that’s a project that’s long overdue and I’ve been beating that drum at SANDAG to get it done. Uh, there are other projects too, the 52, the 94, 125 interchange. We’ve got to get those things done that were promised to the voters. I mean, how many times can we ask people to pay for roads over and over and over again, and then say, uh, sorry, we’re going to do something else.
Q: So you and Jim Desmond obviously stood up to the powers that be at SANDAG to get more money allocated to those kinds of projects. Give us a sense of your working relationship with Hasan Ikhrata. What do you think of him as a, as a leader and his transit plan doesn’t sound like a mirror is yours.
A: Hasan has some ideas that are compelling, uh, for high-speed transit, uh, and getting more people on. But I think those ideas pretty strictly apply in a best case, just to the urban areas. Uh, I think Hassan, and I’ve told him this myself, he has a tendency to get out over a skis a little too far when he goes out and talks to the public. Uh, it’s not unusual for him to speak kind of in conflict with board direction. Uh, so I think if we can focus his energy and enthusiasm for transit in the areas where it’s really gonna make sense and help him to understand that we need to take care of transportation problems in other parts of the county, it’ll all work out. Uh, you know, when I became chair of SANDAG, uh, just about a year ago, I was handed the gavel and I really kind of wished they’d handed me a magic wand, uh, because it’s a challenging environment right now. A lot of different interests. But, uh, I’m, I’m satisfied with the job I’ve done to be able to work behind the scenes and build consensus and, uh, move things when they need to be moved.
Q: But for Hasan, it didn’t work out in Los Angeles. When he was heading the Los Angeles parallel to SANDAG, he talked transit, transit, transit, transit, transit. The only time, so that the story is beginning in 2016 that showed transit use was in decline, in broad decline. And we had a story over the summer that said in 17 of the 20 largest places in America, transit is in decline. So we simultaneously have this massive push for transit as the answer to climate change. While we have evidence that the public doesn’t want transit. So it just seems like there’s a delusional quality to how this is playing out. Your thoughts?
A: I wondered if there’s going to be a question in there. You know, particularly in Southern California, the American dream and the personal car are intertwined inextricably. Uh, and I have a hard time imagining we’re going to break people away from their cars. There’s, there’s a bit of a disconnect too because Sacramento tells us we need to reduce greenhouse gases. We need to reduce vehicle miles traveled. OK, well do we really need to reduce vehicle miles traveled if somebody’s driving an electric car? Why can’t we spend a couple billion dollars here in San Diego to buy a fleet of electric cars and pass them around? I’m speaking figuratively. Well, one reason is because if somebody switches to an electric car locally, we don’t get credit for that in the greenhouse gas equation. So there’s a bit of a disconnect there. You know, when, when you think of it in terms of development, you get people screaming about some of those projects up along the 15 saying, Oh, it’s going to increase the GHGs, it’s going to increase the BMTs. And so some, uh, a development gets shut down. And what happens, most people don’t want homes move out to Temecula, move out to Murrietta and they drive farther to get here. So we have to find some balance. I think in everything I’ve ever seen in government, balance is the key word. And so that’s what I’m always looking to find that perfect balance to do the things we need to do and satisfy the needs of constituents.
“I’m always looking to find that perfect balance to do the things we need to do and satisfy the needs of constituents.”
— Steve Vaus
Q: Wendell Cox is a transportation consultant who worked in Los Angeles and San Diego and now works across America. And he just says it’s the same thing over and over and happens. Everyone thinks we’re New York city, subways work, then we can all move around and we just try to pound the square into the round circle and think it’ll work. So I just didn’t, I mean I’ve been watching this going on the whole time of your California, 29 years and it never stops. So it just feels like this is almost like a religious thing. People hate cars and they want cars gone. So that’s why they don’t distinguish between, as you said, you know, electric cars and cars that emit. So I just, it doesn’t feel to me like there’s much pragmatism on display. Can you do anything to change that or you’re up against it?
A: I think, uh, it’s critical to build consensus and for consensus there needs to be conversation. One of my concerns with the Five Big Moves, we’ll take that as an example, many of those big moves are going to take decades to realize. And I agree with you. I’m not sure that the people are going to jump on all those new transit options, but in those decades we’re going to see all kinds of new technology. You all had story just the other day about aerial taxis. How long before those aerial taxis are in, in use? Not long. How long before those aerial taxis become autonomous aerial taxis? I believe the, the mixture of autonomy and new technology in the air I think is going to be, uh, what lights people up. You know, I look back at the incredible tinkerers in California’s history that started in garages, Google, Apple, Hewlett Packard. Somehow we need to reach out and find out what’s going on in garages because I think somebody probably has a better idea than most of the ideas we hear batted around. And I think those ideas will come to fruition long before we can get a lot of this stuff built and it’s going to change the paradigm.
Q: So what do you think of the MTS proposal to raise sales taxes for transit or transportation and then how does that affect SANDAG’s potential ask of taxpayers?
A: I haven’t seen a proposal for MTS, so until then, unless I see what they’re proposing...
Q: Is your inclination to think that’s not a good ask of voters?
A: I just can’t say until I see what it is. Uh, but I think in general, voters are pretty tired of being taxed and not feeling like they really get anything out of it. And I understand why.
Q: San Diego County jails have more deaths on average than other large counties, sometimes far more deaths. And yet Sheriff Gore rejects criticism. Yes, he’s adding a lot of resources, but the problems still persist. And so what do you do as a County supervisors? Do you just say it’s his fiefdom, let him do what he wants? Or do you start to use the power over the budget to try to get him to take more proactive stance on this or any other issues where you’re concerned about law enforcement.
A: You no, I don’t want to get into some morbid calculation of how many deaths are appropriate. I’d like it to be zero. I’m anxious to see the results of the investigation that I believe is ongoing now in the certification process going on now. I don’t have the luxury of being able to sit in the closed sessions of the board of sups, I’m not there yet. Uh, but I think we have to take a hard look at those things. You know, one thing that really disturbed me was, uh, reading about some x-ray machine that would allow them to see if a patient or if an inmate has ingested, uh, drugs. And we’ve seen some deaths as a result of somebody you know, swallowing a baggy of, of meth and all that stuff. My first thought was, well, why the hell can’t we get that fixed or updated, whatever it is? Uh, certainly we can find the money somewhere in some budget to get that done and keep those people safer. Um, so I’m going to take a long, hard look at it and you know, it needs, uh, real follow through and oversight. Somebody willing to push on it. I’ve had a great relationship with Sheriff Gore over the years. I was chair of the SANDAGs public safety committee uh, and he sat on that board. I’ve always found him to be reasonable and if there were things when I’m a supervisor that I thought needed to be done, I wouldn’t hesitate to go and have a conversation with him and see if we could get them done and find a way to do it.
Q: Another law enforcement issue is illegal marijuana shops. The Voice of San Diego had a story about a year and a half ago about so many of them being in the Spring Valley, Lemon Grove area. Meanwhile, the city of San Diego, there are no more illegal marijuana dispensaries because they went after landlords. We’ll think of that. They went after landlords...
A: And where did San Diego get that idea? Poway.
Q: But why was, why won’t the county do something? Why does it continue to be a problem?
A: It’s a mistake if they’re not doing it, it’s a mistake. Otherwise you end up playing whack-a-mole all day long. You got to go after the landlords.
Q: How many has Poway shut down?
A: We’ve only had to shut down a few cause we were proactive and we got after it after one and said, okay, we need another way. When we did it.
Q: The San Diego Farm Bureau says our agriculture industry is a $1.7 billion industry, the fifth largest industry in the county. You said you grew up on a cattle ranch. Is that future still there for San Diego kids? Does farming have a future in San Diego or is it all going to be covered with housing stock?
A: I sure hope there’s a future for agriculture in San Diego County. I mean, as I mentioned at the outset, um, you learn a lot growing up in that environment, you know, being close to the Earth, uh, riding horses, herding cattle, whatever it is, growing stuff. Uh, so I hope it’s still gonna be there.
Q: Are you familiar with the North River Farms project that just went in up in Oceanside?
A: No.
Q: They took out ag land. They’re going to build houses on it, but they’re going to build a little farm plots as well. Do you think that’s the answer? Kind of merging the two environments that build homes on farms with little farms on it?
A: I never think that anything is the answer, but it may be one answer. Uh, we’ve got a project, uh, that’s being talked about up in Poway now, where it’s being designed as kinda, what they’re calling an Agrihood, uh, that has some community garden components and all that kind of thing. I think anytime we have an opportunity to get folks closer to the Earth, uh, it’s a good thing. It’s an important part of, uh, well it’s in my DNA anyway and I think I’ve benefited from it.
Q: When you say your constituents are asking about mental health, what do they, what do they want to see? And then, you know, another question is just how would you assess the county’s mental health resources or the job, the job that they’re doing? What can they do better? You know, where are they falling? What are they doing well?
A: Well, let me tell you what I see first and then, then I think I can tie it together. I see are our police reports every single day? Uh, our Sheriff’s department, you know, I get the crime report from the day before. I’ve been amazed at the number of 5150 calls that we get, you know, mental health issue. Uh, it’s gone up just in the last few years. Um, so for me it’s a concern. For me it’s a little more personal. Uh, when I was a teenager, uh, my sister was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia and she lived a rough and tumble life and there wasn’t much of a safety net. She lived on the streets at times. Uh, we’re in a bad situation when the county jail becomes our kind of our primary mental health or county mental hospital. We’ve got so many folks in there and I think 30% of them are on psychotropic drugs. So we need more assets, perhaps in a public private partnership, uh, to make sure we’ve got more beds. You know, we’ve increased PERT officer, psychiatric emergency response team. Um, we just need to keep doing more though it. It’s a moral imperative, I believe, but it also, uh, affects public order and public safety. So we’ve got to get at it.
Q: How many 5150 holds are you seeing, that’s to the question of conservatorship, which is perculating up? I guess before I ask you if you support conservatorship, how many 5150 holds are there? Cause that’s the threshold. If conservatorship becomes a reality, eight holds in a year allows the county then to say, we’re going to take you off the street.
A: I’m not privy to the name of the people that they pick up. So I don’t know how many repeat folks that we have, but it’s not unusual to see three or four 5150 a day. Uh, and what happens is then our deputies, uh, take those folks to the local emergency room and they have to sit there off the streets, uh, not being able to keep the community safe because there’s not a bed and they can be there for hours. Um, so all the way around, it just doesn’t, uh, it’s not a good thing for the community and certainly it’s not a good thing for those folks in need of help. And, uh, I think we can do more.
Q: Do you support conservatorship and the county embarking on the pilot program?
A: I think the pilot program is a good idea. I’m always concerned about due process for the individual. Um, but I think generally speaking, the conservatorship, uh, trial is worth following.
Q: Let me ask about behavioral health. We had one of your opponents in here, uh, this week, 20 years in behavioral health field. She uses that as a big selling point for why voters should choose her, uh, that’s the biggest part of the budget, health and human services. What would you, what, what do you bring to that discussion into those solutions?
A: You know, I think there’s a danger in looking at one area of county operations and say I’m the champion on that. I think I bring a pretty broad-based background, not only my family experience with my sister, but also early in my career I worked for a private social welfare organization geared towards disadvantaged kids and we had some foster homes around the county that I oversaw for a time. So I think I bring broad-based, uh, skills and a record of success. Uh, it’s easy to talk a great game about, Hey, I can solve the behavioral health or public safety or wildfire, whatever it is. What have you done? Uh, and meaning no disrespect to any other candidate. I think the fact that I have a record of success that I can point to, uh, speaks loudly.
Q: How would, if you were a supervisor during Morgan Cook’s foster care investigations, what would you, how would you have handled the kind of egregious lapses over the foster care system?
A: I can’t speak specifically to Morgan’s coverage of it, but I do know that, I think it was earlier this year, the grand jury did a report and said social workers are horribly overworked and they spend more time doing administrative duties than they do face to face with patients. That’s not a, that’s not a path that will lead to good outcomes. We need to make sure we’ve got the staff we need and that they have the time to get face to face with those in need.
Q: Can I say another question about the other one of your opponents? Uh, both of you are vying for the GOP endorsement. He got it. You said uncle, tell us a little bit about how that went down and why you didn’t kind of fight to at least block Joel Anderson from getting that.
A: I’m not going to talk about something that happened in closed session, number one, but I will talk about the fact that I’m endorsed by every law enforcement agency in the district by Calfire by four out of five supervisors, the majority of mayors in the county with the majority of mayors in the district. I’ll stand on my endorsements.
“I think the fact that I have a record of success that I can point to speaks loudly.”
— Steve Vaus
Q: Do you wish you had gotten the GOP endorsement or are you comfortable ...
A: Sure. I would have loved to had another jewel in the crown, but I got plenty.
Q: Are you worried about the Republican Party in the era of Trump or do you think Trump goes away and then the problems go away? Tension that Trump creates with how he acts.
A: I think in general we’ve gotten so damn tribal and it’s not healthy. I think that’s one reason I was elected chair at SANDAG a year ago. Uh, people saw me as a guy that could talk to and make sure that both sides get listened to. There’s too little of that going on now. Um, that’s not to say that I will lower my standards or change my views to reach compromise, but it’s a matter of talking and finding out where can we meet in the middle. Um, so it’s that tribalism that makes me very, very concerned. And that comes from both parties.
Q: So Sonny Bono was mayor of a city with 49,000 people. Your American city, is 50,000. After this...
A: I am not going to ski into a tree.
Q: To become America’s most successful musician politician, do you need to go to Congress, three terms instead of Sonny’s two terms or is that not a goal?
A: Well, let me clarify another thing. If I were to die once I’m a supervisor, my wife would not run for my seat. I can guarantee you that. Number two supervisors is, my last stop, uh, I have no desire to go anywhere else. I’ve had a lot of people say, Hey, why don’t you run for Congress? Why don’t you do this? No thanks. I love the constituent focus of being supervisor. It’s like being a super mayor or, or being the mayor of East County. I love that because I want to solve problems for people. I want them to know they can walk up to me in the grocery store or call me 24/7. The weirdest thing happened since I put out my phone number. People call me, I’ll answer the phone, there’ll be a long pause. Finally they’ll say, I didn’t think I’d really reach you. That’s a sad thing. We should be reachable particularly in these local things. So no supervisor is my ideal job. It’s a perfect way to take what I’ve learned, uh, the, the blueprint from Poway and apply it to the rest of the county and I can’t wait to get to work.
“I’ve had a lot of people say, ‘Hey, why don’t you run for Congress?’ ... No thanks. I love the constituent focus of being supervisor.”
— Steve Vaus
Q: Did you not wait to get to use your slush fund like others have done? What do you think about slush one? Seriously? We’ve written editorials about this for years, saying that this is just not the way to do it. Even with safeguards. It still is a way for politicians using the public money to buy favor with certain groups.
A: I disagree with your take on it. I don’t see it as a slush fund. I think when used properly, neighborhood reinvestment fund, you go out and talk to the parents of the kids who are on the Pop Warner fields that Diana’s, used her money for, go out and talk to the families that are swimming in the pools out there. When it’s used properly. I think it’s a great use of taxpayer dollars and I suspect the people in the fields out there and in the pools out there would tell you it’s the best use of their tax dollars. So I sat in a meeting four or five weeks ago, uh, I think Supervisor Jacob calls it her, her, uh, sports and park subcommittee. And people come and they say, look, we’ve got this field that we’re planning and it will serve X number of kids and we’ve raised $125,000 for it. We need another $125,000. That’s the kind of thing that makes sense. Something that’s tangible, there’s going to be long lasting that will have impact in the community. So I love being able to do that. If it’s used as a slush fund, the pejorative description, no it’s bad, but there needs to be strong oversight and it should be tangible.
Q: But having a supervisor have the discretion to decide what projects get approved as opposed to a bureaucratic process or the board in general voting for it other, inevitably allows...
A: The board in general does have to vote for it ultimately.
Q: Right. But having the initiative by the supervisor allows the supervisor to take credit and to curry favor in such a specific way that that’s why other counties don’t do this. If it’s such a good idea, why don’t other counties do it? Because they perceive it as a way to buy interest, you know, bio favor and that certainly the history of Bill Horn, certainly in history or Pam Slater price so and Kristin Gaspar just got in trouble with it. So I can, of course it does good projects, but isn’t it problematic? I guess not.
A: Um, I’m going to focus on the good, my approach is different. You know, when we do something in Poway, typically, uh, one politicians, well, the community center that I was talking about, we’re going to pay cash for it. Normally when those things get built, they put a plaque that has all the council members and mayors name on it. I’m totally opposed to that. When we did our Tony Gwinn statue, there were others on the council that said, well, let’s put a plaque with our names. And I said, no, you want your name on there, you be a donor and get it done. So I have a different view. I happen to look at the bright side on that.
Q: That’s an awesome statue by the way.
A: It is. And it’s another tribute to how Poway comes together. Uh, Tony was beloved in Poway and I raised close to $250,000 in the space of three months because people love Tony and they thought we needed a tribute in Poway. I’m really proud of that.
Q: Do you have Tony junior’s endorsement.
A: I haven’t asked him. I suspect I could get it if I needed it.
Q: So the county is very big and, uh, particularly North County leaders have often complained that they don’t get the attention that they deserve, particularly from the county. And I’m wondering what’s the answer to that? There there’s actually been ideas floated of splitting the county. There’s idea’s been floated of giving North County, uh, another supervisor. What’s the answer to give North County and East County, uh, more, more room at the table when the table is down here on the waterfront.
A: I disagree with the premise. I don’t think it’s too big, uh, if you’re willing to work hard. Uh, district two is geographically the largest district in the county, 2000 miles bigger than the state of Delaware. But man, I’ve, I’ve gone to the meetings that Supervisor Jacob has, I’m going to one this afternoon in Ramona, uh, what do they call it? Community redevelopment meeting or something like that where they get the folks from the trails committee and the folks from the parks committee and all that, where it’s not an incorporated jurisdiction and she gets out there to those communities. That’s what you have to do. Might seem too big if you don’t want to work hard. But I’ve worked hard all my life, so I’ve got no problem with it.
Q: I think in my back of the napkin math Poway, the district is 13 or 14 times the population of Poway. So are you going to give out your cell phone?
A: It’s about, it’s about 12 times. the population, maybe 13 times.
Q: You going to give out your cell phone to that many people?
A: I’ll try it. I’ll try it. I mean, honestly I get a call...
Q: Do you have a voice number that goes to voicemail.
A: No, you know what...
Q: How many cell phones do you have?
A: One, I have only one cell phone. Uh, on average I only get a call every couple of weeks, which is pretty interesting for, eh, you know, my cell number is on the Poway city website. So it’s out there. So if I get 12 times as many calls, can I handle that? I think I can. Uh, one of the nice things will be that I’ll have staff that can help, uh, when I need to hand stuff off. So, you know, let’s find out what this problem is and let’s get it done. Uh, so yeah, I’m gonna I’m going to go and try and to keep it, uh, public and see what happens.
Q: I thought homeless is, wow. I don’t know how his experience with homelessness, I imagine it’s nothing like downtown San Diego’s, but what, what is it and what have you done in Poway that has been effective or not effective?
A: Our problem is very limited. Uh, I’m not sure what the last point in time count was, but I think we maybe have 11 or 12 homeless folks that are pretty regular. Uh, we work closely with the, uh, Alliance for regional support or something like that. It’s North County organization that has wintertime beds and some year-round beds. Uh, you know, we get out there and, and try and find out if we can help them. We’ve got a PERT officer most of the time in Poway. Uh, it’s just a matter of engaging and seeing. There’s some folks though, just like there are all around the county that want to be homeless. They enjoy that, you know, carefree lifestyle. It’s the ones that don’t want to be homeless or need services. We want to get out and try and make sure that we can touch them and, and find what we’re doing. There’s a pilot program not in Poway going on right now. Uh, an intensive outreach, I think being undertaken in Rancho San Diego, 60-day trial where social workers are going out with Sheriff’s deputies and they’re going into the river beds and making contact and with an iPad saying, okay, I can send you here for this service here. You know, are you getting your food stamps and all that stuff. I think some interesting, uh, information is going to come out of that and we’ll see if I’m a more intense outreach, like that could be more broadly, uh, put to work.
Q: What would a successful first term look like to you?
A: I always want to make sure that, that our first responders have the tools they need, because that’s a big part of public safety. Uh, I want to continue the momentum that it seems there is now to make some progress with mental health. Uh, some more public private partnerships perhaps. Uh, that’s one that I, I think just hangs over our head that, uh, in one regard it is a moral imperative, but also it’s low hanging fruit. How we can help people and, and maintain public order more effectively. Uh, in Poway we do a great job of building affordable housing and broadly throughout the county I think we have a tendency to, to throw the front doors open of subsidized housing and welcome people in and not do enough to help them move up and out. So I think some more wrap around services is something we should explore because if we invite them in and help them move up and out, then that housing is going to be available for somebody else. So that’s one less unit that we’re going to have to build down the road. Um, yeah, I guess those would be the, the biggies that I focus on. Uh, right at beginning, I’m, I’m a big one on listening. When I get somewhere new, I’ll never forget after my first year as mayor and first year on board of SANDAG, uh, the then chair of SANDAG Jack Dale, the former Santee guy came up to me and said, Steve, you’re making a hell of an impression. I said, what do you mean I haven’t said much? He said, that’s what you’re making a hell of an impression. So I think it’s important you get there and listen first, not only to your colleagues but your constituents. Listen, learn, and then then lead. Um, so that’ll be a big part of my first time.
Q: Do you hope to stay on SANDAG or get a new seat.
A: I’ve got one year left just as chair of SANDAG. I’m open to stay in there. I think there’s some important conversations and solutions we need to reach a, and if I can be a helpful part of that conversation, then I’d be happy to stay there.
Q: Do you have Betty Rexford’s endorsement?
“I think it’s important you get there and listen first, not only to your colleagues but your constituents.”
A: Okay. For of those of you in the room that don’t know who Betty Rexford was, she was the city council woman who had abused the power of her office and I got her recalled.
Q: Have you been in touch with her in 11 years.
A: No, sir. This is being recorded.
Q: Any other questions? Thanks for coming in, mayor. Give us your closing statement in your elevator pitch.
A: I’m proud of the fact that Poway was recently ranked tops in the county for fiscal soundness, that were consistently among the safest cities in the county, uh, ranked number one to raise a family. Uh, we’re aggressively building new homes now. At the same time, I’m really proud of the fact that in the last 10 months or so that we’ve given approvals to a couple of hundred new homes along Poway road, we’ve expanded our open space by 344 acres. Uh, so I think we found a path to get things done, important things done. I look forward to, to taking that blueprint, that record of success, uh, onto the county board of sups and, uh, seeing what I can do there. I can’t wait.
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