{"id":8986,"date":"2022-10-21T11:06:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T18:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=8986"},"modified":"2022-10-21T11:06:45","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T18:06:45","slug":"matt-gunderson-calls-on-catherine-blakespear-hasan-ikhrata-and-mayor-todd-gloria-to-resign-from-sandag-immediately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=8986","title":{"rendered":"Matt Gunderson Calls on Catherine Blakespear, Hasan Ikhrata, and Mayor Todd Gloria to Resign from SANDAG Immediately"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br \/>\nOctober 20, 2022<\/p>\n<p>Contact:\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:ddichiara@axiomstrategies.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Duane Dichiara<\/a><br \/>\n(916) 997-4784<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Matt Gunderson Joins Supervisor Jim Desmond, Mayor Rebecca Jones, Mayor Matt Hall, Deputy Mayor John Franklin in demanding accountability at scandal-ridden SANDAG<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>(SAN DIEGO, CA)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Last Friday, SANDAG\u2019s Auditor revealed that SANDAG accrued a whopping $290 million in cost overruns across multiple unnamed contract vendors. This comes on the heels of over $250,000 in non work related hours spending of taxpayer dollars by SANDAG staff, including over $80,000 spent on lavish meals. The cost overruns represent millions in taxpayer dollars paid above the initial budgeted amounts with some overruns exceeding 698% in unaccounted for increases.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt stinks, and it stinks of corruption all the way to the top,\u201d\u00a0noted Matt Gunderson after the press conference in Escondido yesterday.\u00a0\u201cMy opponent has tried to hide her position as SANDAG Chairwoman on political mailers and now we know why. At best, her lack of oversight and transparency disqualifies her from office, at worst, these vendors are campaign contributors. Voters have a right to know which it is before November.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Gunderson went on to add that he believes the SANDAG Executive Director Hasan Ikhrata, Chairwoman Blakespear, and Vice Chairman Todd Gloria should\u00a0\u201cdo the right thing\u201d\u00a0and step down immediately.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just discovered that Mayor Gloria awarded preferential treatment to a developer that contributed $100,000 towards efforts to elect him,\u201d\u00a0said Mr. Gunderson.\u00a0\u201cWho wants to bet these vendors are all over campaign contribution reports for top SANDAG Board members?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Gunderson joined Supervisor Jim Desmond, San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones, Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall, and Vista Deputy Mayor John Franklin at a press conference in Escondido yesterday to call on SANDAG to immediately stop spending until SANDAG gets its house in order and takes more concrete corrective actions along with a defined schedule of completion for current contracts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLavish meals, broken promises, and a lack of accountability,\u201d\u00a0fired San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones.\u00a0\u201cSan Diego county taxpayers deserve better. The latest findings in the recent outside independent audit that is required as part of AB805 has found yet more examples of spending of your taxpayer dollars with no information or safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matt Gunderson is a successful business and community leader who created over 200 good-paying South Orange County jobs at his auto dealerships in Mission Viejo. Along with his professional achievements, Gunderson has served his local community as Chairman of the Mission Hospital Foundation Board, as a member of the Saddleback College Foundation Board, and past Chair of the Orange County Auto Dealers Association.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 20, 2022 Contact:\u00a0Duane Dichiara (916) 997-4784 Matt Gunderson Joins Supervisor Jim Desmond, Mayor Rebecca Jones, Mayor Matt Hall, Deputy Mayor John Franklin in demanding accountability at scandal-ridden SANDAG (SAN DIEGO, CA)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Last Friday, SANDAG\u2019s Auditor revealed that SANDAG accrued a whopping $290 million in cost overruns across multiple unnamed contract vendors. This&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,10],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-8986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-press-releases","tag-sandag"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v16.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Matt Gunderson Calls on Catherine Blakespear, Hasan Ikhrata, and Mayor Todd Gloria to Resign from SANDAG Immediately - San Diego News Desk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sandiegonewsdesk.com\/?p=8986\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matt Gunderson Calls on Catherine Blakespear, Hasan Ikhrata, and Mayor Todd Gloria to Resign from SANDAG Immediately - San Diego News Desk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 20, 2022 Contact:\u00a0Duane Dichiara (916) 997-4784 Matt Gunderson Joins Supervisor Jim Desmond, Mayor Rebecca Jones, Mayor Matt Hall, Deputy Mayor John Franklin in demanding accountability at scandal-ridden SANDAG (SAN DIEGO, CA)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Last Friday, SANDAG\u2019s Auditor revealed that SANDAG accrued a whopping $290 million in cost overruns across multiple unnamed contract vendors. 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