Barbara Bry readies run for San Diego County Assessor

Barbara Bry, who lost out to fellow Democrat Todd Gloria in her bid to become San Diego mayor last year, has filed a campaign statement with the county Registrar of Voters to run for County Assessor.

The seat, currently held by Republican Ernest J. Dronenburg, includes the Recorder/County Clerk position due to a 1995 consolidation of the previously separate offices.

Bry, an ex-city council member for La Jolla who passed up a re-election bid to run for mayor, signed an October 7 statement setting up the Barbara Bry for County Assessor 2022 committee, the filing shows.

Stephanie Sanchez, a political finance professional who once worked for Democratic County supervisor Nathan Fletcher's bid for San Diego mayor, is listed as campaign treasurer.

The status of Dronenberg, 78, who overwhelmed his challenger Democratic lawyer Matt Strabone by almost a two-to-one vote in June 2018, could not be immediately ascertained.

A key leader of efforts to limit so-called short-term rentals, Bry was an early advocate for the recall of council Democrat Jen Campbell in December 2020 but subsequently reduced her profile in that effort. The recall failed to gather sufficient signatures to qualify for the ballot.

In recent months, Bry's most prominent public role has been as author of a column that appears in the business section of the Union-Tribune, alternating with husband, entrepreneur Neil Senturia.

Bry's reemergence as a candidate may renew interest in Senturia's investment in Deckard Technologies, a start-up offering computer services to municipalities interested in cracking down on short-term rentals.

Though the investment did not surface during the 2020 mayor's race, a leaving-office personal financial statement filed by Bry with the city clerk's office in January 2021 appeared to show she had received consulting fees from Deckard from 2018 through 2020.

The filing reported that Senturia had an interest in Deckard valued between $100,000 and $1 million before disposing of it on November 2, 2020.

Queried in February of this year regarding the disclosure filing of Bry's interest, Senturia denied his wife had ever consulted for Deckard, then abruptly hung up the phone.

Then this past April 2, Bry amended the January 2 disclosure filing, checking a box declaring that the Deckard consulting money consisted of "Spouse or registered domestic partner's income."