Daily Business Report-July 9, 2018
Photo by Robbie Short for CALmatters
Turnout climbed to 37 percent
in California’s Primary —
here’s the who, where and why
By Ben Christopher | CALmatters
Give yourself a round of applause, California. For a decade, voter participation during midterm primary elections has been slipping down and down. Last time around, in 2014, the state hit an all time low for voter apathy: only one-in-four registered voters bothered to participate.
But this June, we broke the trend. With all ballots counted (finally), a little over 37 percent of those registered to do so got out to vote. (The Secretary of State’s office has a few more days to finalize the numbers.)
Granted, 37 percent might not seem like a triumph of civic participation. But it’s all relative. Getting voters to turn out during off-year elections, when a presidential candidate isn’t on the ballot, has always been a tough sell. Doubly so during primaries—which many voters evidently consider a skippable dry run before the main event in November. This year’s participation rate marks a ten-year high for midterm primaries.
Why the increase? Was it enthusiasm about the gubernatorial standoff between Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox? Excitement about the first viable political independent running for statewide office, in Steve Poizner? Were water conservationists inspired to turnout in mass to support Prop 72, which changed the way that rainwater collection systems are taxed?
Probably not, said David McCuan, a political scientist at Sonoma State University.
Instead, the Trump factor loomed large.
“This particular ballot was not all that sexy,” he said. “The reason for the higher turnout is because of what’s going on in Washington D.C., not what’s happening in California.”
That’s largely borne out by the numbers. Some of the biggest increases in turnout relative to the 2014 midterm primary were in areas with the most competitive congressional races. Orange County as a whole saw a 19 percentage point increase in turnout
Zoom in to the level of Assembly district and the two areas that saw that biggest bump hug the coast between Dana Point and northern San Diego County. That’s home to two congressional seats that Democrats hope to flip this November. Prior to election day, it was ground zero of millions of dollars in advertising and get out the vote efforts. Both districts saw turnout spikes of over 20 points.
That surge in voter enthusiasm “was a little bit of a surprise, but not unexpected,” said Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley.
Local factors did play a role in some cases. San Francisco, for example, also saw a significant turnout increase. There weren’t any competitive congressional races there. But there was a nail-biter mayoral election that drew national headlines.
Despite the higher than expected turnout, the composition of the electorate may not have changed much. In California, voters tend to skew older, whiter, and more affluent—especially in midterm elections—and there isn’t much evidence thus far that changed this year.
What the data shows: Districts with higher rates of poverty or with a higher population of people who do not speak English very well tended to vote less. Districts where more residents identified as white and non-Latino tended to vote more. Those stats describe districts, not individuals—there are, of course, exceptions.
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$1.2M in tax credits awarded to SD companies
Three growing San Diego companies have received more than $1.2 million worth of tax credits awarded through California Competes as it closed out the final round of the FY 17-18. The awardees include MetroConnect company Urban Translations, as well as Carlsbad-based XRSciences and Golden Eye Media USA, which collectively hope to invest $526,000 in new equipment and hire 78 new employees over the next five years. The next application round opens July 30.
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Poway’s PKL Services awarded contract
to train Singapore Air Force on F15 aircraft
PKL Services Inc. in Poway has been awarded a $10,236,530 contract to give the Republic of Singapore Air Force training on F15 aircraft, and includes both maintenance and operations on the F15. Work will be performed at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho and is expected to be completed Sept. 30, 2022. This requirement is funded by foreign military sales dollars in the amount of $10,236,530 and is being obligated at the time of award. The contract involves foreign military sales to the Republic of Singapore.
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City to install hundreds
of bicycle racks citywide
The city of San Diego plans to install hundreds of bicycle racks in neighborhoods citywide. It has already designated more than 50 bicycle racks for the Downtown area as part of its comprehensive Downtown Mobility Plan.
The city is also seeking input from local Business Improvement Districts to recommend additional bike rack installation locations in the community. The proposed 50 downtown bike rack locations correspond with developing cycle tracks — also known as protected bike lanes — being installed to improve ease and safety of bicycle ridership downtown.
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2019 Priestly Medal goes to K. Barry Sharpless
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has awarded the 2019 Priestley Medal to Nobel laureate K. Barry Sharpless, professor of chemistry at Scripps Research. The medal is the highest honor given by the ACS and recognizes Sharpless’ “invention of catalytic, asymmetric oxidation methods, the concept of ‘click’ chemistry, and development of the copper-catalyzed version of the azide-acetylene cycloaddition reaction.”
The concept of click chemistry has opened the door for the development of new chemical reactions, new drug therapies and new materials.
Sharpless is known for taking risks in uncharted territory to develop new chemical tools and methods. For example, in 1992, his lab became the world’s first in academia to use robotics for running chemical reactions.
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San Diego author, financial planning
expert kicks off new radio show
Coming off the success of her book, “Wealth By Design,” San Diego resident Elizabeth Dawson is airing a new weekly show offering Americans a deeper dive into her nearly 20 years of expertise in the financial and insurance world. For one full hour every Saturday at 7 a.m., listeners can tune in to Wealth by Design on AM 1170 The Answer (KCBQ) and learn best practices for financial planning, top industry trends and what they mean in today’s climate.
“With this new show, I hope to carry on the same goal and mission I had with my book, and that I have with every client I see,” says Dawson. “Planning for the future can be scary, but it doesn’t have to be. With the right information and counsel, the future people want is right there – waiting for them. With this show I hope to continue to teach them how to reach out and take it.”
At the end of every show, Dawson addresses pressing financial planning and retirement questions directly from show listeners. To send questions along, listeners simply email Questions@ElisabethDawson.com with their name, age, location and question. The first “Wealth By Design” aired on July 7.
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Personnel Announcements
Mark Hagan joins AMN Healthcare Services
AMN Healthcare Services Inc. has named Mark Hagan as the company’s chief information officer. Hagan will be responsible for AMN Healthcare’s information and technology operations and the strategic planning of technology expansion and innovation.
Hagan has extensive experience in systems integration and platform rationalization, having previously led the technology execution for multiple acquisitions. Hagan has successfully designed and executed on major deployments of core business applications, lead digital transformation and launched new software products. In addition, he introduced robotic process automation, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, and other forms of innovation.
Hagan joins the AMN team from Envision Healthcare, where has been CIO and senior vice president of IT since 2003. He led an IT organization of nearly 900 team members at Envision, with over 65,000 employees nationwide.
