District 3 Supervisor Candidates Roberts And Gaspar Discuss Key Issues

Our top story even though it is the only competitive races November for a seat on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, voters have not heard much from the candidates for district 3. Dave Roberts and Kristin Gaspar have not participated in many debates. They did speak with KPBS Alison St John earlier this week. She spoke with Dave Roberts the only Democrat on the Board of Supervisors who is completing his first term in office. What is the most basic reason why voters should vote for you rather than your challenger? I think the the last four years I've shown that I have the ability to stand up against special interests in -- and truly represent the voters. Can you give us an example of special interest? We've got a general plan here in the county and I believe that the voters are really concerned about quality of life issues. They're concerned about congestion, concerned about over development, and they want a supervisor that will stand up and say enough is enough. That is what I have been doing is really making sure that we look at our communities and we don't have rampant over development. That is what I think people are seeing this race come down to. My opponent has had every -- everybody flooding funds from developers to special interest and everybody that wants to really over develop the back country has giving her money. Currently there was an article it is three-one against me. I think the voters are smart enough to recognize that I stood up to protect their quality of life and I will continue to protect their quality of life. There is people calling a housing crisis in San Diego SOPA -- some people when asked how would you balance the need to balance the housing? The plan that was approved over five years ago took 13 years and $18 million. It identifies warehousing can be and where it can't be. Chose were all forms of housing can be. That shows were affordable housing can be built. All we need is projects to be proposed for those locations. That is what the challenges right now. Projects at we are hearing about in the news right now. There is no affordability of being mentioned. The are just housing projects that are being proposed. That is why I'm concerned. We will see a mixture in affordability is a concern but if we follow the general plan that clearly states where we can do this and meet the needs of the county overall and maintain our quality of life. Also understand the national forest is about to go through some kind of zoning changes. Word you stand on those issues? I am the first one. Lilac Hills is a project that is going to the voters. They will go around the Board of Supervisors and go directly to the voters. Because they're doing that they still have to come back to the Board of Supervisors for some entitlements later on. I have chosen not to give a formal position on this. People know generically my position on land use and where I get stand on land use. As far as Cleveland national forest, I stood up to protect that. The voters said he they want to protect that national forest. I will continue to stand up for Cleveland national forest. Your distric is mostly coastal cities. Why should voters care what happens in the country? My distric is also the 15/4 and I understand -- a large majority of the distric is the inland quarter. So I have Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar and inland. I have a lot of the inland also. Once you get elected from your distric, you are elected to protect the entire County of San Diego. I believe that once my distric has put me there, they put me there to protect the county. You have to work with your colleagues and find out compromise. There is a reason that this your club, the league of conservation voters, they have all endorse me. They want me to look out for what is in the best interest of our county overall. What is the best interest of the environment. We need to continue moving our economy forward while we protect our environment. Why should voters forgive you for your lapses in judgment last year in the management of your office? I have a chief of staff that was with me for a very short period of time and we have challenge in the office. As soon as I learned I took responsibility we made personnel changes and I immediately took responsibility. We never missed a beat. We continue delivering results that the voters cared about. I think each and every day I look in the voters eyes and say look at what we have delivered on your benefit and will continue to deliver on your benefit. That is why think the voters care about. Went is the value that we have been delivering and will continue to deliver. I have a great team in place led by a great chief of staff. Each day we are delivering results that matter. That was Dave Roberts in the third District. His challenger is a Republican and the mayor of Encinitas. She spoke with Alison St John. What is the one single most important reason that voters should know about white you should be the next supervisor -- why you should be the next supervisor what Character count -- counts and ethics matter. No longer is it okay for elected officials to be in office. They have mistreated their employees and unfortunately, Mr. Roberts has disqualified himself from serving in this role . So I plan to restore ethics and integrity to the county board. One of the issues that have service as a very important issue is a land-use and the unincorporated areas. You have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in support from development interest. How can you maintain your independence in view of the money that has been coming to your campaign? I have over 90 pages of donors and there are some people with land-use interest as donors because they are looking for someone who is balanced and need to make their decisions and office. We as candidates have no control over. So speaking from my donors I'm really proud of the diversity that exists with donor base and the max contributions in this race or $750. It is hard to imagine that someone is willing to sell their soul over $750. The fact of the matter is people are looking for balance, integrity, a fair day in court. I was able to bring together to make sure that we are creating better projects for community. Why do you think that the pro-development interest have thrown so much money into your campaign as opposed to Dave Roberts? I think they know that I am a balance decision-maker. I tech each and every project making sure that we are protecting our communities from issues with traffic impacts, issues with mental impacts. These are the main things that people are looking for. They are expecting their officials to spend a lot of time on each development project Thorley examining the project that is going on whether it meets the needs and expectations in the community. Halliburton are the general plans? They are very important. It is the guiding document that our cities and counties abides by. These plans are developed after countless years. I worked past six years and have a general plan for Encinitas. It is important to know that the first plan that came to me despite several years and multimillions of dollars invested in that project was a right plan for community. So as a freshman councilmember I led the charge to dismiss that plan and start over. We also understand that it is challenging to get these plans perfect. It is at document that will adapt over time. It is important that we have a path in place for other projects to be considered. When other projects to comport, it is important that those are given even additional consideration and a more Thor review the ones that are authorized under the current plan that already in toward years of that. How might your vote on other issues differ from Dave Roberts? What difference would it make? First and foremost, I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work. That means streamlining County operations. It is unfortunate that after four years Mr. Roberts has only brought forth two items for policy review. That is that attending to the operational side of the county. Where he excels is a tiny community events and being out there. That's important part of the job. This is something that will be a strong point for me as a business owner in San Diego. Do you regret your vote for Donald Trump in the primary? I've lost my support for Donald Trump. Unfortunately, in the primary I was hopeful like many other people that he would bring people together and he went fulfill his promise that was to come as rhetoric to be presidential and I have no reason to believe that he will be presidential. It is unfortunate because the same situation exists with Mr. Roberts. Here he has treated people poorly and destroyed the lives of several women in his office. He abuses power in office, he led the county to run million-dollar lawsuits. It is unacceptable that we have elected officials in office that are behaving this way. How will you vote? I will take my own advice that if people are frustrated nationally, focus on the local ticket. There are a lot of important races throughout San Diego. It is important that when we are frustrated nationally, we spent time getting to know and understand the candidates here were we can have the most controlling our decision-making. That was Kristin Gaspar.