Comments so far on this story:

1. Dukestir Wilkes wrote on April 16, 2008 7:56 PM:
"The Francis train is starting to pick up steam. Like him or not, he is becoming a viable entity and may very well run right over Jerry, Tom Shepard, Fred, Kris and whoever else is left on the 11th floor."

2. Simple Guy wrote on April 16, 2008 8:13 PM:
"Wow. If Labor actually endorses Francis, that would be truly amazing. Apparently if you tell some people today what they want to hear, it really doesn't matter at all what you've said in the past. Sad."

3. Ronald Truman wrote on April 16, 2008 9:25 PM:
"It would take a delusional labor council to accept Francis at his word today, knowing that he was singing a contrary tune only 28 months ago. They don't mind being lied to, they just hope it was the first time he spoke and not the most recent time. Francis is a cynical politician who assumes, correctly with the labor council, that we are a bunch of mindless rubes who see a slick commercial and change our minds. How embarrassing for such fools. But the labor council will back Francis, and the poor sap doesn't realize it will seal his fate to be the next Peter Navarro."

4. Christopher Hall wrote on April 16, 2008 10:09 PM:
"I would like to see the media press Francis on the questions about who he is: who was he, who is he and who will he be. Based on all three answers, the public should get a better view of him. He has always been a hard core republican supporting little or no government, now he's courting the left wing who supports big government -- who will he be as mayor? I think he's an opportunist who will say anything to get elected, and don't trust him for a hot second. If he's changed radically from his past, then he should explain why he changed and detail each and every change in clear and simple language anyone can understand. I bet you he will never clearly explain why he's gone from right to left beside the desire to be elected mayor of San Diego."

5. Jeffrey Davis wrote on April 16, 2008 11:16 PM:
"It goes without saying, but since it wasn't said, I will: this is about Jerry, and would be quite the statement from labor. Jerry cast himself as the ideology-free technocrat that everyone could work with. But he's done so much, so repeatedly, to alienate labor and seems to have accomplished so little for the City to mitigate, that, hell, maybe to dump him and get the soft-left-turning plutocrat instead is a win. I wouldn't have thought it, but if Francis gets labor behind him, Jerry might find himself fighting on too many fronts to hang on. Still surprised the Dems couldn't manage to field a contender of their own."

6. CWA member wrote on April 16, 2008 11:37 PM:
"I never thought I'd see the day when things in SD got so bad that we'd change horses just to change horses, but here we are. I have to say I stand by this decision. Sanders doesn't deserve to get another term after picking on his employees and unions in general for this long."

7. Sanders has himself to blame wrote on April 17, 2008 6:30 AM:
"I've been watching with interest about how this was going to play out. The unions aren't going to be a driving force in any citywide election, but they can tip a close one if it came down to it. I can't help but wonder why Sanders waited until election year to pour gasoline on the fire. Couldn't he have dealt with some of this earlier and then work up until this point to mend his relationship with the unions? Instead, they see right through all of these things as his political grandstanding. I don't blame them for being angry, you don't treat your workers that way and not expect to get screwed."

8. Norman wrote on April 17, 2008 6:55 AM:
"Left, right, upsidedown, insideout who cares. The fact is that our Mayor Sanders did not prove to be the strong armed man that he said he would be. He chose to side with the Sunroads, McMillans and when he looses the election he can go work for one of them. The pension mess is alive and well and we have Peters that was behind the Pension crisis/deal having the gull to run for city attorney. Craziness in San Diego! By the by, if the mayor veteos the raised that just passed what will Peters do then? Will he fight Sanders on the issue or??? How come Pam Hardy, Peters' spokeswoman, said she did not know whether the council's reconsideration of the raise includes reconsidering the council's decision on Monday to rescind their $9,600 annual car allowance? Bullcrap...she knows she just not saying!"

9. Dick wrote on April 17, 2008 7:02 AM:
"I suspect that a labor endorsement of Francis is not so much an indication that Francis has gone far left as much as labor has become so disappointed in the job done by Sanders."

10. Larry wrote on April 17, 2008 7:51 AM:
"Most of the comments point out what Lewis missed: this isn't about Steve Francis. The unions are putting the screws to Jerry Sanders."

11. Steve K wrote on April 17, 2008 8:28 AM:
"There is something wrong when public employee unions can back candidates, finance campaigns, and then negotiate for salaries and benefits with the very same officials they helped elect. This is not a good situation for a city that has earned the nickname Enron by the Sea."

12. Scott M wrote on April 17, 2008 9:20 AM:
"Please Steve, please secure the endorsement of the most powerful special interest group in town. Nothing says I'm an "independent mayor for the people" like a unholy alliance with organziaed labor."

13. Dukestir Wilkes wrote on April 17, 2008 9:48 AM:
"One place this could hurt Sanders is where politicians hate to get hurt - money. Francis doesn't need and won't take money from the unions. Sanders, on the other hand, could definitely have used some independent expenditure support."

14. Capitol wrote on April 17, 2008 9:59 AM:
"Scott M nailed it. And I am surprised Scott Lewis didn't... How well are all those commercials about an independent mayor going to play when you are backed by the most powerful special interest? Steve is gonna need to spend another 1.3 mil just to revise his message... It's gotta be nice to be loaded..."

15. Willy B wrote on April 17, 2008 10:05 AM:
"Steve Francis is running as an "independent" for mayor for one simple reason: Sanders got the Republican endorsement and no way the Demos are going to endorse a successful businessman. If the unions back him and he wins it will be a case of not being careful what they wish for. Unlike Sanders, who has been dancing around it, Francis will actually outsource a lot of work and the result will be, horrors, layoffs, just like the private sector, not the meaningless cancellation of "open" positions. I suspect a lot of managers are quaking in their boots right now, because Francis will dump excess management first. Something has to give to reduce costs, or we have to raise taxes. It's that simple."

16. JF wrote on April 17, 2008 11:20 AM:
"Steve K,given that public safety unions don't have the legal ability to strike, politics is the only way to have any bargaining power.Endorsements are just a way of saying that we think a candidate is the better of the two.They're not a guarantee of money in the least.Heck, we backed Aguirre."

17. clp wrote on April 17, 2008 12:08 PM:
"If it comes down to a choice between Sanders and Francis, then I choose Francis. While Francis may be a disappointment, Sanders has been one for sure. Francis like Sanders may be a fan of outsourcing-I'm not-but he has been very clear about his disgust for the corrupt developer-political axis that has abused San Diego for far too long. That is why I support Steve Francis and Mike Aguirre."

18. Billy Bob Henry wrote on April 17, 2008 3:43 PM:
"16. JF wrote on April 17, 2008 11:20 AM: "Steve K,given that public safety unions don't have the legal ability to strike, politics is the only way to have any bargaining power....WRONG, they can quit. Find another job. They have LOST OF OPTIONS. Special interest money should be banned. And to say that public safety unions have not gotten fat as a 600# pig on taxpayer bacon is the laugh of the CENTURY. Only in gov. FD and PD jobs do you get rank and file blue collar workers with little to no education or experience getting compensated $100K to start and averaging $200K. And they stilll complain."

19. Sanders for Sale wrote on April 17, 2008 7:13 PM:
"McMillan, Associated Builders and Contractors, the Chamber of Commerce, Carl DeMaio, The Union-Tribune, Roger Hedgecock, John Moores, the Republican Party...all laugh as Scott M says "...please secure the endorsement of the most powerful special interest group in town..."...laughing all the way to the bank. Thank God Scott is no firefighter... he'd still be following the smoke and never finding the fire."

20. Undecided wrote on April 18, 2008 2:44 PM:
"Since I'm undecided in the mayor's race, I decided to read the materials put out by both candidates. Interesting stuff. As far as I can see, labor would be foolish to endorse Francis. His own materials say that he's opposed to a living wage, for managed competition and for the replacement of the pension system with a 401k plan. They should also should not forget that he wants to eliminate even more positions that those Sanders has already eliminated. It doesn't sound to me like he'd be very good for organized labor."

21. Norman wrote on April 19, 2008 7:43 AM:
"Francis will be getting alot more support when Fred Sainz finds the missing email from Bob Kittle at the UT and releases them to the public. The most recent filed lawsuit by Rick Reynolds Former Assistant Chief Operating Officer, won't get to court quick enough to send our Mayor, I am not an OAF off to la la land but when the info gets out there will many people who aren't happy with our Mayor and his regime. The best thing to do at this point is to fess up and file a few key people on the Mayors staff and say....it wasn't my fault! How come so many people in our city simply can't say what they did, when and why? I know why....because it wasn't the RIGHT thing to do in the first place!"

22. NullusFidensMortis wrote on April 19, 2008 2:36 PM:
"Billy Bob Henry wrote- "Only in gov. FD and PD jobs do you get rank and file blue collar workers with little to no education or experience getting compensated $100K to start and averaging $200K. " Sir do you say anything else other than this same sentence? I have been following your posts for some time now and seen to see a pattern of this statement only. If you are going to antagonize a certain group of people, then you need to hit them at different angles. I would recommend reading Art of War by Sun Tzu, it will assist you in your daily assaults"

23. BBH, tell the truth wrote on April 21, 2008 9:21 AM:
"BBH continues to eat away at any credibilty he ever dreamed of having when he continues to mislead you all. No firefighter starts at $100k, base salary in approx $70k/year. Yes, there is the cost of benefits, but that is not base pay and as with all employees, public AND Private, the cost of the employee is much greater than the actual salary they receive. And Yes, firefighters can make over $100k with overtime, which is cheaper than staffing up the extra 300 firefighters that San Diego needs and meets MANDATORY staffing obligations to provide service. While Firefighters choose to provide service to the public, they work thousands of hours of overtime, in sometimes awful conditions, seeing things the public would never want to, spending those overtime hours away from their families in service to the community. Yet BBH continues to demonize them...I'm embarrased for you."

24. Billy Bob Henry wrote on April 21, 2008 11:43 AM:
"23. BBH, tell the truth wrote on April 21, 2008 9:21 AM: ........ Yes, there is the cost of benefits,......BINGO have a winner-hey Einstein, try adding in the benefits for FULL compensation next time, and yes, starting compensation is over $100K with benefits."

25. BBH, tell the truth wrote on April 21, 2008 12:41 PM:
"Too bad you resort to name calling - but its who you are and I've come to disrespect you and your opinions - and you know what they say about opinions... So BBH, total compensation is different than base salary/take home pay which can be used to pay bills and address the cost of living. Hard to put the value of a benefit in an envelope and mail it off to a creditor...oh, that's right, in your quest to demonize city employees the facts don't matter. You continue to prove yourself worthless when it comes to a reasonable discussion of the facts. Face it, firefighter pay in San Diego is not competitive, the pension benefits are competitive and there is not a private sector comparison. There's lot of independent/objectiv info to prove the point but you can't engage in a civil dialogue so what's the point?"

26. Billy Bob Henry wrote on April 21, 2008 6:00 PM:
"25. BBH, tell the truth wrote on April 21, 2008 12:41 PM: Hard to put the value of a benefit in an envelope and mail it off to a creditor.....ERRR... no it is not hard, the value of a pension and health care is the cost to fund it. And yes, when you turn 50 and "retire" you will be getting more money than when you worked-and it is not too hard to put that money in an envelope and mail it off. The thing about the whiny gov employee is that they ALWAYS try to under state their compensation, where they are getting HUGE benefits, and they always conveniently leave them off when telling everyone the value of their jobs.... sorry buddy that won't work here-everyone knows about the pension gravy train today, and you can whine and complain all day long, but the jig is up, and ending."

27. Fred Williams wrote on April 22, 2008 7:29 AM:
"At the debate April 20th in Balboa Park, labor pickets were out in force with signs denouncing Sanders. As others have written, it's not that they like Francis, it's that they strongly dislike Sanders. Sanders has been such a dissapointment to all of us that he's lost the trust of the people of San Diego. He has to go."

28. Firefighting a GREAT job! wrote on April 22, 2008 8:55 AM:
"$70,000 salary a year for a blue collar job (not counting advancement)? Work only one day out of three? Retire at age 50 with essentially the same salary? (after taking out employment costs such as union dues, pension contributions and commuting costs) Can't be fired? Boy, this better not get out to the public -- we don't need tens of thousands of applications to process for the handful of openings each year."