Carl DeMaio

Carl DeMaio
File:CDem.jpg
Member of San Diego City Council representing the Fifth District
Incumbent
Assumed office December 2008
Personal details
Born	1974
Political party	Republican
Residence(s)	Rancho Bernardo, San Diego, California
Alma mater	Georgetown University
Website	City Council District 5 website

Carl DeMaio (born 1974) is an American elected official in San Diego, California. He serves as a San Diego City Councilmember representing City Council District 5. He was elected to a four-year term in 2008. He is a Republican, although city council positions are officially nonpartisan per California state law.

Neighborhoods in Council District 5 include Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch, San Pasqual Valley, and Sorrento Mesa.

Life and career

DeMaio was born in Dubuque, Iowa, but spent his early childhood in Orange County, CA where his family moved in the late 1970s. His mother died in 1990, two weeks after his father abandoned the family. DeMaio was taken in by Jesuit priests (a Catholic order) and enrolled in boarding school at Georgetown Preparatory School. After completing high school, DeMaio completed college early, receiving a degree in International Politics and Business from Georgetown University.

While attending college DeMaio worked as an intern on Capitol Hill, ultimately landing a job with the Congressional Institute -- a political organization with close ties to Speaker Newt Gingrich and Congressional Republicans. DeMaio served as the Institute's Director of Planning, providing strategic planning support to Congressional offices and assisting with projects to enhance Congressional oversight over the budget and management of the Executive Branch. DeMaio worked on Capitol Hill from 1994 to 1999.

While still in his 20s he established several companies, including The Performance Institute, a private, for-profit think tank which provides training for government leaders and managers, and the American Strategic Management Institute (ASMI), which provides training and education in corporate financial and performance management. DeMaio sold both companies to Thompson Publishing Group in late 2007.

DeMaio was a member of the Citizens Budget Project to streamline California's state government following Governor Gray Davis’ recall. He has been an adviser to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and has served on White House advisory panels.

DeMaio moved to San Diego in 2002, and help bring the city's budget and pension problems to public light. Since then he has become a prominent and outspoken advocate for governmental reform in San Diego. In 2005, the New York Times dubbed him "San Diego's Taxpayer Watchdog.

Government service

In the primary election on June 3, 2008, DeMaio was elected to the San Diego City Council to represent District 5. He was just 34. He won the primary outright with 66% of the vote, thus eliminating any need for a runoff and making history for the widest margin in a primary election by a non-incumbent. DeMaio is openly gay and became the first openly gay male elected to the San Diego City Council.

DeMaio has arguably been the leading voice for fiscal responsibility and reform on the City Council.

Upon taking office, DeMaio released a number of studies and proposals on city employee compensation packages and pension benefits. DeMaio argued that salaries and benefits of city employees should be trimmed to more sustainable levels and be in line with the local labor market. DeMaio also became an early and leading opponent to the proposal to build a new $400 million City Hall.

In the spring of 2010, DeMaio led a drive to put several initiatives on the November 2010 ballot making it easier for the city to outsource jobs, but the petition drive fell short of the required number of signatures and did not qualify for the ballot.

In the fall of 2010, DeMaio led the campaign against Prop D -- a proposal to boost the city's sales tax by a half-a-billion dollars over five years. DeMaio argued instead to reduce the budget deficit through spending cuts and pension reform.

In November 2010, DeMaio released a give year fiscal reform plan dubbed the "Roadmap to Recovery." The plan advocates for a variety of pension reforms, trims salaries and benefits for city employees, and opens city services up to competitive bidding. DeMaio has pledged to put pension reform on the 2012 ballot if city leaders and labor unions do not come to an agreement on pension reform.

City Hall Wikipedia controversy

In January 2011, San Diego CityBeat reported that a Wikipedia user who worked in DeMaio’s office made significant favorable edits to the councilman's Wikipedia page. The article also noted that over the past eighteen months, "several users have noted that the page had 'severe' neutral-point-of-view problems." In the article, DeMaio's spokesman confirmed that his office had created and edited the page. The article also stated that the Wikipedia pages of councilmembers Tony Young, Todd Gloria, Sherri Lightner and Marti Emerald were all "tainted with editorial," although it did not indicate whether the pages had been self-created or edited.

External links

• San Diego Council District 5, Carl DeMaio
• Performance Institute
• American Strategic Management Institute (ASMI)