I suspect there will be several termed out council members scrounging for work. I'd suggest Ms. Atkins scrap her plans of holding another elected office, because of her part in creating "Enron by the Sea."

Posted by Steve K | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 4:40 pm

Well now, if Atkins cannot be honest with the public about her intentions about running for the position, why on earth should we elect her??When she flat out lied? And lets face it, she has not done a very good job on the Clowncil either. Do not reward her incompetence with another government job.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 4:56 pm

I am so fed up with wishy-washy drawly not-so-bright Councilwoman Toni Atkins and with the do-nothing housing commission sinecure chaired for eons by the retiring Betsey Morris. The notion of Atkins replacing Lori Saldana in the Assembly is even more depressing. Will we never be rid of these people who transfer from job to job at the public trough? And who, as a member of the City Council/Redevelopmen Agency, is a love-partner with the head of Redevelopment's action arm, the CCDC? Where is the city watchdog agency that's supposed to call out conflict of Interest in such instances? Where are better people to run our government?

Posted by Fed Up | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 7:09 pm

I sure hope Todd Gloria will not be part of committee to select the new president of the housing commission. I also hope Toni will not participate in the selection of an executive director of the Redevelopment corporation. Am I being unkind? I don't think so.

Posted by ian trowbridge | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 7:30 pm

For God's sake, can't we just once get some new blood in these positions? Atkins hasn't earned it. Keep looking.

Posted by Algernon Sidney | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 7:30 pm

Snore.... I'm trying to figure out what is newsworthy here -- or slop worthy, which isn't quite news anyway.

Posted by Ann | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 10:58 pm

This is classic, this council person has created a fiscal mess and still claims she is a victum. Now she wants to be in charge of affordable housing in San Diego. She is not qualified to be in any public postion based on her specific actions on council. If she has her goals set to the 2010 Assembly race, the democrats in this city should say no because she failed at the fiscal situation in San Diego now she want to further screw up the State fiscal status. No to Atkins.

Posted by Rick | reply to this comment
May 16, 2008 11:49 pm

Last month, as secretly as possible, the City Council unanimously approved a consent agenda item that changes the Municipal Code to allow sitting elected officials to influence their prospects for future employment with a public agency. Ms. Atkins is obviously taking advantage of this ethical lapse in judgment, while seeking her position with the Housing Commission. Concurrent with this change in the Municipal Code, Councilmembers Peters and Madaffer are pushing through a restructuring of the Redevelopment Agency to create the new levels of bureaucracy of Executive Director and Advisory Committee—both appointed by the Mayor—while allowing the Redevelopment Agency to hire its own staff. The “F.E.A.R.” is that Mr. Madaffer will finagle for himself an appointment to one of the new Redevelopment Agency positions, possibly even Executive Director. This is one reason why it is better to keep the Redevelopment Agency structure as it is. And with elections coming, it is important to not vote for candidates who will rubberstamp such appointments.

Posted by Brian T. Peterson, DVM | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 5:23 am

4/15/08: "ITEM-51: Amending the Municipal Code Regarding Ethics Ordinance. CITY COUNCIL’S RECOMMENDATION: Adopt the ordinance introduced 3/25/2008, Item 56.Motion by Madaffer /Second by Atkins Unanimous." 3-25 Minutes: "Unlike the other provisions in the Ethics Ordinance ... this provision does not include an exemption for public agencies. As a result, the ordinance could be interpreted to prohibit a City Official from participating in any decisions involving, for example, the interests of the County of San Diego if the Official were pursuing a job with the County." Story confirmed reason for this action.

Posted by GHJohn | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 6:46 am

I guess this is where the strong mayor position actually could be beneficial???? If Atkins get her housing appointment and Madaffer gets his redevelopment and our NEW mayor has different objectives than these to nincompoops ....they get canned and away they go!

Posted by Norman | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 7:17 am

These people whom brought us "Enron by the sea" must go away. I would sign a recall petition for anyone whom appointed them to any position. Hopefully they will never be elected to another office. Just go away.

Posted by lee | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 8:11 am

Think about it: We now have 3 out of the 5 current councilmembers, who were deemed "negligent" in the city pension scandal, each hungrily pursuing another taxpayer-funded government job. Scott "Million Gallons" Peters and Brian "Deer eyes" Maienschein are seeking to replace Mike "Napoleon" Aguirre as City Attorney. Now Atkins wants to be the new queen of the Housing Commission. The fourth of the five "negligent" cadre, Donna Frye, carries on on the Council. And I guess we're just waiting now for the fifth shoe to drop -- Jim "Let 'em sue us" Madaffer -- to see how absurd this serio-comedy gets! Where does it all end???

Posted by Robert | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 10:55 am

Wasn't Atkins re-elected after the pension debacle came to light? What does that tell you? Nobody cares! Or that Atkins supporters don't blog on the Voice...

Posted by Ann | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 11:47 am

Toni Atkins should repay her significant personal legal expenses she ran up on Taxpayer's before even considering to continue feeding at the govermental trough. If she is appointed to this position, will she remain being paid if she has to take a leave of absense as a defendant during any Pension Fund Scandal trial or even time in the slammer? She may be much more than simply "negligent" as the Kroll Report stated. Why didn't anyone even raise an eyebrow when her lesbian partner was appointed to the powerful CCDC by the Council? Atkins conveniently stepped out without explanation for that vote too. Please Ms Atkins, don't do the City any more harm. Pay back your legal fees, retire on your generous (illegal?) pension, and try to get a real job for your first time in years. You tried, you failed, get over it, move on.

Posted by D3Sufferer | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 12:24 pm

This is good news. Go Toni! We need someone just like you to oversee an agency that manages and actually to deliver important benefits to many of SD's most needy households. Good luck in geting the job, Toni A!!

Posted by MC | reply to this comment
May 17, 2008 3:47 pm

We should ask all the candidates for council if they will vote to approve this move. Atkins' gall is stunning. Her consistent incompetence is appalling. To "reward" her is inconceivable. Toni Atkins needs to explain herself, but in this culture of corruption and cover-up, all we can expect from this council is continued denial, delay, and deception. Thanks to Brian and John we get this nugget about how they just change the rules to benefit themselves. Where are the "journalists"?

Posted by Fred Williams | reply to this comment
May 18, 2008 6:13 am

I'm appalled that Toni Atkins is applying for the Housing Commission CEO gig. 1) She acted negligently in her role as a Councilmember which has resulted in the City's financial mess. Why should she be rewarded with a well-paid City job!?! As other bloggers have stated, we need to clean house of these people instead of recyling them. 2) The search for a Housing Commission CEO is likely to produce great candidates from top-rated agencies around the country. Unfortunately, those candidates may be disregarded because guess who makes the decision on the CEO position? Toni's fellow Councilmembers. They're doing the interviews, they vote on the final candidate (not the Mayor). How convenient for her. Wonder what kind of horse-trading is already happening behind the scenes. Sitting Councilmembers should be DISQUALIFIED from applying for City positions in which current Councilmembers make the final selection. She should withdraw.

Posted by Appalled | reply to this comment
May 18, 2008 3:48 pm

Post #13:D3 Sufferer:Concerning that personal relationship twixt the principle from CCDC and Ms Atkins,FYI:It was vetted before the City Council,in open session and broadcast on City TV channel 24 Live.Ms Atkins made a concise statement.It was determined that because they did not co-habitate,shared no assets or bank accounts,were not in business together and were not married there was no conflict of interest nor an appearance of one.The Council and the City Attorney present accepted Ms Atkins statement w/o comment and,as I recall,she did recuse herself from that vote to further avoid any appearance of conflict.The Gentle-lady from the CCDC was confirmed on an unanimous vote.Ms Atkins first broached the entire issue and did so voluntarily and with a remarkable candor.Finally:in my experience in SD I know of no one whose been a more consistent advocate for Housing than Ms Atkins.Since her days with Kehoe this has been a personal priority.

Posted by Jack Griffiths | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 5:12 am

Give the poor gal a break. Atkins needs to be appointed to something because she's too incompetent to get a job in private industry on her own. Even the developers won't give her some figurehead position when she terms out.

Posted by Larry | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 5:18 am

Larry: The same could be said about Madaffer. That's why he has his eye on the Redevelopment Agency and is doing his best to feather that nest for a soft landing in December. Remember, Madaffer hasn't met a redevelopment project he can't love and will use his gile and spin to sell that to the appointing body - his cronies on the City Council. The stumbling block could be the Mayor. We can only wait to see how this plays out, but keep a close eye on both Atkins and Madaffer and remember their pension increase vote and their legal fees.

Posted by Buddy in Mission Valley | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 6:50 am

Atkins is lining up herself to further enable the corrupt Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corporation. She will see to it that they get their hands on millions of housing dollars to play with to self-promote. She and LeSar and a slew of others from CCDC and the Urban Land Institute have enabled GGHCDC for years, the result being a privatized tax assessment on Golden Hill and South Park residents. Those tax dollars will never go to "improving the life" (GGHCDC's favorite claim) of tax payers. Those dollars are already going only to self-promote the special interests of the GGHCDC, while they operate in secret and exclude the community. The whole assessment process was improperly and corruptly done, intitiated by LeSar in March 2006, so that partner Toni had to recuse herself from any council votes. Toni, GO AWAY! Do no more harm.

Posted by D3Resident | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 7:09 am

If Atkins has been such an effective "advocate for affordable housing", please tell us all where this mythical affordable housing can be found? Granny flats? Nope, they got banned. Student housing? No way. Mini-Dorms are a "threat". Downtown condos? Huh? Certainly not affordable. In fact, on historical measures, San Diego housing has never been so unaffordable. So clearly Atkins' "advocacy" has been so ineffective that it should disqualify her. Seems the Housing Commission, CCDC, GGHCDC are scams to fleece the taxpayers and employ professional politicians.

Posted by Fred Williams | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 8:45 am

D3 obviously has some issues to share. It might be helpful to the debate if those interested in being more informed were to access the GGHCDC's web site: link It does appear,with a cursory review,that promotion IS part of their mandate and the activity calendar for the early summer appears appropriate. I must add tho I expected to see more on housing.

Posted by Jack Griffiths | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 9:40 am

22. Fred Williams wrote on May 19, 2008 9:45 AM: "If Atkins has been such an effective "advocate for affordable housing"... .. . . . There is no such thing as "affordable housing". The so called "affordable housing" costs government 10 times the normal building costs and it is then dolled out to insiders and becomes "non affordable housing" as soon as it is sold. Our own "affordable housing" department proved this up by selling the homes to herself and her friends. It is nothing but a rip off for the taxpayers and a transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the connected few-just like government jobs and scam pensions. For every one person who could use "affordable housing" there are 10,000 who don't get it.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 10:04 am

Madaffer is definitely aiming for that position in the new phony redevelopment agency. The sad thing is that the public will have no real say in the matter. Don't look to Mayor Wimpy as being any kind of roadblock. This is all about the council paying each other back for the years of malfeasence and corruption and our teary-eyed ex police chief hasn't the guts to stop them.

Posted by Larry | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 10:41 am

Check out Mad Dog's behind the scenes push for the executive director of the redevelopment agency post that will be opening up soon...

Posted by Kevin | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 12:32 pm

To set the record straight about how the personal relationship between Toni Atkins and Jennifer LeSar impacts their ability to function as a council member and CCDC director respectively: Council member Atkins received a written opinion from the Executive Director of the Ethics commission, Stacey Fulhorst, that since they were not officially registered as domestic partners with the state there was no conflict. While I would be uncomfortable personally with the impact such a personal relationship would have on how I voted knowing how my partner on the project, it currently does not violate the City's ethical ordinances.

Posted by Ian Trowbridge | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 12:41 pm

From #27: "...it [the Atkins-LeSar relationship] does not violate the City's ethical ordinances." That's why, Ian, these regulations and ordinances must be fixed! In a perfect world, where Ethics and Integrity are the rule, and not the exception, we could trust that the two of them would not mix business and pleasure, so to speak. But with everything this City has been through in recent years, we have to have these Ethics protections written into law. Remember, Ian, you ran for Council a couple of years ago because of the effect of corruption. "Sh*t happens" down at City Hall, and we have to stop it!

Posted by Robert | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 1:19 pm

Give Atkins the job and let her bankrupt the agency just like she's done to the city.

Posted by Dukestir Wilkes | reply to this comment
May 19, 2008 1:19 pm

Is it time to abolish all of these tax diverting organizations? Please discuss on link (it's a wiki, so anyone can make a change)

Posted by Fred Williams | reply to this comment
May 20, 2008 8:54 am

29. Dukestir Wilkes wrote on May 19, 2008 2:19 PM: "Give Atkins the job and let her bankrupt the agency just like she's done to the city."...LOL... .. ..You're a funny guy/gal!

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
May 20, 2008 2:10 pm

isnt it a conflict of interest for her to apply for this job considering her longtime life partner Jennifer LeSar is a major developer and board member of CCDC--Wasnt it a conflict of interest for her to be a council member w/ that connection voting on CCDC and development stuff?

Posted by AtkinsMUSTGO | reply to this comment
May 29, 2008 1:32 pm

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