The campaign for former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher has brought into question whether Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez should cut their taxpayer-funded salaries while they campaign for mayor.
Both councilmen had solid weeks at City Hall with Faulconer heading an audit committee meeting about the city's troubled utility under grounding program and testifying before the Coastal Commission about the Convention Center expansion. After many years of negotiations, Alvarez this week secured unanimous approval for the much-needed redevelopment of Brown Field in Otay Mesa.
Still, Fletcher's campaign is questioning whether Faulconer and Alvarez are spending just half their time on city business with campaign season in full swing.
"Well, first of all, I'm not spending half my time campaigning," Alvarez said. "I have to do a lot of campaigning, but I have a job to do. And I show up to my job just like all my council members."
Faulconer said he didn't appreciate the inquiry, given Fletcher's history of missing votes during his time in the Assembly. He called on Fletcher to repay $56,000 he says Fletcher collected while campaigning for mayor last year, in which he missed almost 60 percent of his sessions.
"For his campaign to attack myself and to attack David Alvarez when he was taking a taxpayer salary, and he wasn't attending his meetings ... that's the height of hypocrisy," Faulconer said.
All this controversy stems from campaign mail that portrayed Fletcher as a high-paid executive who doesn't show up to work. It landed in mailboxes early Monday - ironically funded by a pro-business conservative group.
Fletcher declined to speak with NBC7 today about the issue.
As a private sector employee, he's not required to provide his salary or calendar to us, and he declined to do so through a spokeswoman.
Local
Both Faulconer and Alvarez provided us with their city calendars, obtained through a public records request made in August.
The documents can be viewed here. and here.
