Monday was a bad day for Jen Campbell. She was replaced as City Council president and a local watchdog group has asked the San Diego City Attorney’s Office to investigate whether she or her staff illegally influenced the ongoing process of redistricting – the drawing of new council districts.
As the Voice of San Diego reports:
San Diego City Council members decided not to re-elect their colleague Councilwoman Jen Campbell as Council president, Monday. She became the first Council president not to win at least a second term in the role since it was formed in 2006 when the city switched to the strong mayor form of government. Councilman Sean Elo-Rivera, who represents City Heights, Kensington and the College Area, took the position instead.
The move was a shock to all but the apparently small number of insiders who knew an effort to change things was afoot.
Elo-Rivera’s win, and Campbell’s loss, came via an unconventional Council majority. Councilman Chris Cate, the body’s lone Republican, joined the Council’s left flank to vote against Campbell’s re-election.
In perhaps the more serious setback, a letter sent late last week from Community Advocates for Just and Moral Governance questioned whether Campbell’s senior policy advisor, Seamus Kennedy, had a hand in crafting the boundaries of Campbell’s own District 2, as it appears in the map currently under consideration by commissioners.
The City Charter prohibits council districts from being “drawn for the purpose of advantaging or protecting incumbents.”
Seamus Kennedy, Senior Policy Advisor for Jen Campbell.
As KPBS has reported:
On Monday, Campbell responded to questions from KPBS on the issue, saying in an emailed statement that “at no point did I direct my staff to influence the Redistricting Commission in any way.”
On Oct. 18, a consulting firm hired by the city presented the Redistricting Commission with four draft maps, all of which placed Campbell in District 1. Had those maps been approved, Campbell would have faced two unappealing choices — move from her longtime home in Bay Ho to seek re-election in District 2 next year; or leave the City Council for two years and try to unseat the District 1 incumbent, Joe LaCava, in 2024.
The Redistricting Commission ultimately rejected all four of the consultant maps. Meanwhile, Kennedy was maneuvering to influence the process both behind the scenes and in public.
On Oct. 20, Kennedy submitted his own proposed redistricting map that kept Campbell in her current district. He also gave public testimony to the Redistricting Commission on Oct. 21 suggesting the boundaries between Districts 1 and 2 be changed.
In his remarks to commissioners, Kennedy did not disclose that he works for Campbell, both as a staffer in her council office and a consultant on her re-election campaign. Campbell’s campaign finance disclosures show Kennedy was paid nearly $15,400 between January and June when Campbell was fighting a recall effort.
The District 2 boundaries Kennedy proposed are nearly identical to the boundaries in another map that commissioners have adopted as their preferred option going forward. Those boundaries group all of Clairemont together with Mission Beach, Mission Bay, Midway, Ocean Beach and Point Loma.
The letter from the advocacy group to the City Attorney, dated December 3, states:
“It is imperative that your office look into whether the city’s redistricting process was improperly influenced in Council President Campbell’s favor, specifically by drawing her residence back into District 2 and allowing for her to keep her seat as an incumbent.”
It was signed by the group’s Executive Director Geneviéve Jones-Wright, whom Campbell considers an opponent for Jones-Wright opposed Campbell’s election last year as council president and supported the recall movement against her.
The letter was received by the City Attorney’s Office and said in a statement:
“While the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution allows any person to voice their opinion on a matter of public interest, we will review the concerns expressed in the letter and take appropriate action as warranted.”
In response, Campbell unleashed her attack dogs. Dan Rottenstreich, a Campbell campaign consultant who worked against the ultimately unsuccessful recall effort, accused Jones-Wright of “manipulating the redistricting process to try and force Dr. Jen Campbell out of office yet again.” He also said:
“The only impropriety here is Jones-Wright weaponizing a supposedly non-political non-profit to advance her clearly political agenda. Nonetheless, our team was completely unaware that a staff person publicly submitted these maps to the commission in his off time and we respect the city’s independent redistricting process.”
This statement is beyond belief. The Campbell “team was completely unaware”, was it, that Kennedy, her senior policy advisor, “publicly submitted these maps to the commission in his time off ….”? And it’s also tough to believe that the Commission didn’t know Kennedy was part of the Campbell team.