McCann's plan a sham?

South Bay campaigning has been getting down and dirty recently, but John McCann, a Sweetwater Union High School trustee who is running for Chula Vista City Council, has chosen another route to the seat, chumming the political waters with promises.

A controversial ten-mile-long toll road, SR125, traverses eastern Chula Vista. On October 13, 10News’ Joe Little reported that “The candidate [McCann] wants the San Diego Association of Governments to put a moratorium on collecting tolls on the 125 South Bay Expressway in November and December to boost Chula Vista business and to alleviate traffic on I-805.”

There are several flaws with this holiday gift idea.

There is the difficulty of launching this idea in such a short turnaround time. Beyond that, the 10News story quotes a San Diego Association of Governments representative as saying, “The tolls are necessary to pay down the $341.5 million price tag SANDAG paid for the 125. Part of the purchase agreement guaranteed the toll road would be self-sufficient and cut off from SANDAG's other revenue sources.”

It is ironic that a close associate of McCann’s, Dan Hom, was instrumental in bringing the toll road to Chula Vista.

Hom is CEO of a media relations group called Focus.com. In 2000, in spite of environmental and community opposition to the road, Hom gathered signatures for the road in his capacity as co-chair of Citizens for State Route 125.

McCann has also been championed in two recent U-T editorials.

The curious thing about the editorials is that they failed to list any of McCann’s accomplishments either on the city council or on the Sweetwater board. It appears his qualification is not having been indicted.

On October 1 the U-T reported: “For council seat No. 1, John McCann is an easy choice. He served eight years on the council before being elected to the Sweetwater high school board where, notably, he was the only member of the board not to have been indicted in the recent South Bay corruption scandal.”

On October 9, the U-T wrote: “McCann, it must first be noted, was the only one of five Sweetwater board members not to have been indicted in the recent corruption scandal in the South Bay.”