The San Diego County government is moving forward after a rough stretch, but the fallout from the past year of controversies will linger.
It remains to be seen just how much the ill will between organized labor and Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas over how the county’s new top administrator was selected will affect the board’s dynamics or county operations.
Unfortunately, the dispute — which took some ugly turns — stripped some of the sheen off what should have been a milestone moment for both the county and Ebony Shelton, who is expected to become the chief administrative officer with a board vote on Tuesday that now appears a formality.
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Shelton, who has held various positions over a nearly 30-year career with the county and currently is chief financial officer and deputy chief administrative officer, will become the first Black woman to serve as the top executive.
The incoming CAO has risen through the ranks amid a sea change in county politics, from a board overwhelmingly dominated by Republicans for more than two decades to one that now has a 3-2 Democratic majority — a change fueled by demographic shifts and the rise of union power in San Diego.
Implementing board policy and guiding a government with nearly 20,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $8 billion is no easy feat, even in the best of times — which these are not.
The county recently unveiled a budget for the coming year that calls for spending increases. But given the state’s budget deficit and anticipated cuts, along with uncertain future economic conditions, tighter times may be ahead.
On that score, Shelton’s financial acumen would be an asset — as would her experience with the shifting winds at the county. Not only will Shelton be under pressure from unions to live up to their progressive and pro-worker expectations, but the political balance of the board is at stake in November.
Democratic incumbent Terra Lawson-Remer faces a potentially tough re-election campaign against Republican Kevin Faulconer, the former San Diego mayor. Lawson-Remer, now the board vice chair, seemingly would appear to be in line to become chair if elected. Should Faulconer win, the gavel would go to one of the Republican incumbents — Joel Anderson or Jim Desmond.
Vargas said Shelton has “decades of experience in financial and administrative leadership, along with a deep understanding of our community and working families.”
The mention of working families is notable because Shelton starts out with, if not suspicion, a lukewarm reception from SEIU 221, the powerful county employees union.
“We believe the legacy of the ultra-conservative county culture on its treatment of the workforce and neglect of core services is strong, which is why we advocated for an outside candidate to deliver the change our county needs,” SEIU President Crystal Irving said in a statement.
”. . .We are hopeful that Ms. Shelton can spearhead the necessary changes to enhance how workers are treated and advance the board’s progressive agenda.”
The unions have directed their ire at Vargas, though.
The dispute between union leaders and Vargas — Democratic progressives who typically would be aligned — became bitter and included accusations of racism.
Brigette Browning, leader of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, used some words in Spanish in talking about Vargas that some people considered offensive, but others did not.
A letter that included supporters of Vargas called on Browning to resign from the labor post.
Then some text messages said to be from Vargas anonymously surfaced with vulgar and denigrating language about Black women. Several labor and progressive leaders signed a letter calling for Vargas to step down as chair — though not from the board — according to longtime San Diego journalist Doug Porter’s Words & Deeds blog.
Vargas put out a statement saying she apologized to the one person named the formerly private messages, Ellen Nash, chair of the San Diego chapter of the Black American Political Association of California.
However, all that was a nasty detour from the issue at hand.
The county had hoped to replace CAO Helen Robbins-Meyer before her retirement, which she announced in October 2022 to be effective in March 2023. Robbins-Meyer agreed to extend her tenure a couple of times and ultimately departed in January. There still was no permanent replacement when Robbins-Meyer finally stepped down.
The search to fill the CAO post had become a yearlong mess.
There was little public interest or media coverage of the replacement process until La Prensa broke the news that the board was poised to choose Cindy Chavez, a Santa Clara County supervisor and former labor leader.
The board made a tentative job offer to Chavez, who had support from San Diego labor unions, before then-Supervisor Nathan Fletcher stepped down amid allegations of sexual misconduct. After his resignation, the county essentially withdrew the offer and the four remaining board members — two Democrats and two Republicans — agreed to start the process over after a new supervisor was elected to fill Fletcher’s seat.
That happened after Democrat Monica Montgomery Steppe, then a San Diego City Council member, won a special election in November.
Labor groups figured Chavez would not only be in the running again, but likely the top CAO candidate. Union leaders, who had largely kept quiet publicly, exploded with outrage when Chavez revealed she had been eliminated early in the process. The unions accused Vargas of deception and manipulating the process.
The county said little about the selection procedure other than releasing a timeline. Officials defended the secretive process, saying confidentiality for applicants was necessary to attract the best candidates — despite demands from union officials and local leaders for a more public process and community input.
Addressing that, the board created a panel of 10 community members — two from each supervisorial district — to interview the two finalists and provide feedback to the board.
But even that may not have worked out. The unidentified other finalist apparently dropped out before being interviewed by the panel, according to two people with knowledge of the process.
An effort to verify this with Vargas — even without any identifying information about the candidate — went nowhere. A spokesperson for the board chair said they could not comment on “personnel matters.”
What they said
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