San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio said his staff can provide a schedule of flights to Sacramento for his opponent Assem. Nathan Fletcher so he can find his way back to the State Capitol.
DeMaio launched his most recent jab at Fletcher’s legislative record Thursday when he demanded his opponent in San Diego’s mayoral race return his state lawmaker salary.
The DeMaio campaign accuses Fletcher of missing 70 percent of legislative sessions including 263 missed votes in the 2011 – 2012 session.
A U-T San Diego review of candidates' voting record states that Fletcher missed 136 of 1,862 legislative votes in 2011.
“He’s walked off the job to focus on advancing his political career and at the same time that he’s not doing the job, he’s drawing a taxpayer-funded salary,” DeMaio said.
“The most important thing you can do is vote,” said DeMaio supporter Steve Francis, who faced Mayor Jerry Sanders in a previous contest and who served in the Nevada legislature in the 1980s. “If you can make the sessions you should vote.”
However, when asked about his voting record, Fletcher defended his actions saying he was in Sacramento when he needed to be.
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“I am being criticized for missing days when there were no votes cast and there were no committees. Had I been in Sacramento those days, you’d be seeing TV ads saying he wasted taxpayer money to fly to Sacramento to do nothing,” he said.
Fletcher pointed out the work necessary to see full implementation of Chelsea’s Law, a law he authored hoping to place tighter restrictions on sex offenders after the violence death of Chelsea King in 2010.
Chelsea’s parents Brent and Kelly King came to his defense Thursday with a written statement attesting to his work ethic.
“We personally witnessed his 70-80 hour work weeks as he built support one legislator at a time, while simultaneously carrying many other pieces of legislation,” the Kings said.
Fletcher said there’s more to work than showing up and holding a news conference.
“I will put my record of accomplishment up against anyone in this race. My constituents know I work hard every single day to serve them,” Fletcher said.
For more issues facing this election, check out our Decision 2012 feature page.
