City of San Diego: Measures A, B & C

Challenge
For several years, the City of San Diego failed to obtain independent audits, lacked centralized leadership for its 19,000 employees and was losing police officers who felt threatened by discussions of privatizing public safety services.

The City needed significant government reform to restore confidence among taxpayers, the investment community and public safety personnel.

Solution
The City Council placed three charter amendments on the ballot for voter consideration: Measures A, B and C.

MNM ran the yes campaign for the measures. They recruited and organized a bipartisan steering committee chaired by the CEOs of the San Diego Taxpayers Association and the San Diego-Imperial County Central Labor Council, with representatives from major industry and political sectors.

Opinion research showed that the combination of measures gained more support than any of the individual proposals alone, so Nelson and Murphy developed a unified brand, “Yes on A, B & C.”

• ​Measure A protected police, fire and lifeguard services from efforts to contract these services out to private entities.
• Measure B required a public vote to establish a strong-mayor form of government.
• Measure C created an independent auditor with a fixed term and made permanent the Office of the Independent Budget Analyst.

Results
Voters overwhelmingly supported the measures on Election Day: Proposition A passed with 68 percent of the vote, Proposition B passed with 77 percent and Proposition C passed with 63 percent.