Chula Vista Mayor Blocked From SANDAG For Opposing Mileage Tax

Newly-elected Chula Vista Mayor John McCann was barred from joining the San Diego Association of Governments due to his opposition of a vehicular mileage tax. Chula Vista Mayor John McCann was recently blocked from having a seat on the San Diego Association of Governments by his Democratic colleagues on the city council. Mayors have the

Newly-elected Chula Vista Mayor John McCann was barred from joining the San Diego Association of Governments due to his opposition of a vehicular mileage tax. Chula Vista Mayor John McCann was recently blocked from having a seat on the San Diego Association of Governments by his Democratic colleagues on the city council. Mayors have the option to nominate themselves to represent their cities in SANDAG, but the city council must approve their nomination. McCann ran his campaign for mayor on opposing SANDAG’s unpopular mileage tax. As a result, the overwhelmingly Democrat Chula Vista City Council would not confirm his nomination. McCann called the situation “unfortunate.” “I believe that the citizens of Chula Vista, especially low income, middle income would be hurt the most in the county by the milage tax and I’m not going to support it,” McCann stated. He explained that Democrat Councilmember Andrea Cardenas was nominated to represent the city by another councilmember. SANDAG’s Board utilizes a weighted vote, and Chula Vista is the second largest city in the organization. This means Chula Vista’s representative has a significant amount of power. The representative specifically would have a lot of say regarding the mileage tax proposal. McCann does not have the authority as mayor to block Cardenas’ nomination. She has not said whether she supports the mileage tax.