Kevin Faulconer, who served as San Diego mayor from 2014 to 2020, is the new president and CEO of the Lincoln Club Business League, a San Diego business and political advocacy group.<\/p>\n
Issues the club will work on include being \u201cpro-jobs,\u201d standing up for \u201cworking families who depend on expanding housing options\u201d and supporting San Diego\u2019s tourism economy, Faulconer said. He called the club \u201cthe nexus between business and politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
A top priority is making it easier for San Diego businesses to grow and to hire people. \u201cSan Diego is at a crossroads, with so many proposals out there that are threatening job creation,\u201d he said Wednesday. \u201cThe Lincoln Club must be stronger and more vocal than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
He reflected on his time as San Diego\u2019s mayor, when he \u201cunderstood clearly that we were in a competitive environment. And it\u2019s absolutely essential that San Diego does everything it can to attract and create jobs. We cannot allow ourselves to go down the path that we\u2019ve seen in other cities, with burdensome regulations, increased taxes, extreme wage mandates, that\u2019s going to set us backwards. We need to provide the environment that allows families and jobs to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Small businesses, he added, especially need support and uplifting. He wants the club to give voice to these businesses \u201cat every level of government.\u201d<\/p>\n
As mayor, Faulconer tackled homelessness, grappled with a Hepatitis A outbreak, and invested in public safety and services for the city\u2019s neighborhoods. He was known for reaching across the aisle and working with both Republicans and Democrats, though critics said his tenure was marred by the failed 101 Ash Street deal. Other key priorities were creating jobs and boosting small businesses, and those will become a focus of his new role.<\/p>\n
As an elected official representing the whole city, though, Faulconer had a bigger basket of concerns and constituents and a different set of tools from those he will use at the Lincoln Club, which blends advocacy, networking, campaign endorsements and fundraising through annual dues that start at $750 and reach $10,000 for individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about advocacy and building coalitions,\u201d he said. But, he added, the club is also \u201cnot afraid to step up. (It is) an organization that takes a stand and an organization that is ready to fight to make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another goal is refreshing the club\u2019s membership roster and how it connects with people. For years, its ranks have hovered at around 400, and Faulconer said there\u2019s room for more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to modernize how we engage, and we\u2019re going to bring new energy into the organization,\u201d he said. He pointed to an opportunity: bringing in more varied kinds of business leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for a broader coalition of business-minded leaders to step up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Lincoln Club\u2019s former leader, Victor Lopez, who held the title of executive director, resigned in March.<\/p>\n
After he left the mayor\u2019s office in 2020, Faulconer had wanted to stay in public service; he launched a bid for governor but pulled out, and also ran for a seat on the County Board of Supervisors. As a city council member and then mayor, Faulconer was termed out.<\/p>\n
Staff writer David Garrick contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Faulconer, who served as San Diego mayor from 2014 to 2020, is the new president and CEO…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":68322,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,64,1582,276,79,1370,3549,7264,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-68321","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-sandiego","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114865369442440749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}