The Love of Beer
The latest
installment of CityBeat's election column, Turds & Blossoms, wherein
we rate campaigns and candidates and award them turds or blossoms for
their latest foibles and triumphs.
Cold storage
San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio’s pretty much running two campaigns: one for mayor of San Diego and one to support a pension-reform ballot measure. So, maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise to see this tweet from The Caster Group last week:
“Carl DeMaio in the office this morning talking about his ‘Roadmap to Recovery.’ Looking forward to having him as next Mayor of SD! Brilliant!”
The Casters, after all, have money to spend on campaigns. Lots of it. Patriarch Terry Caster founded A-1 Storage. As a family, the Casters donated close to $700,000 to support 2008’s Prop. 8, the ballot measure that denied gay couples the right to marry in California. Terry Caster told the U-T San Diego that he supported Prop. 8 because allowing gay marriage would lead to a “sick society.” A-1 is also the top sponsor of “Life Walk,” an annual fundraiser that pays for Christian grade-school lesson plans, including one that teaches that God doesn’t approve of same-sex relationships.
DeMaio’s supporters have defended him on the pages of the San Diego Gay and Lesbian News (published by DeMaio’s partner, Johnathan Hale), arguing that the focus of his campaign is fiscal reform, not social change. That support, however, came in response to DeMaio accepting endorsements from Roger Hedgecock and Larry Stirling, former San Diego mayor and former judge (respectively), known for making anti-gay comments. The Casters are a whole other level of bigot. We issue DeMaio eight clinging dingleberries, one for each A-1 storage in San Diego.
Email nominations to davem@sdcitybeat.com or follow Turds & Blossons on Twitter @turdsblossoms.
