Tommy Hough: A Cautionary Tale
Local Dems, Organized Labor Don't Recognize Him Anymore
By Sara Ochoa
Tommy Hough has been aspiring for political office since at least 2014, when he formed the San Diego Democrats for Environmental Action club to build name recognition and relationships within the local Democratic Party. He presented himself as friendly, passionate about the environment and Democratic values, and good-natured in those early interactions. Much has changed.
He’s bought and sold homes and moved around within the City of San Diego, angling for his best chances at a viable district in which to run for office - one that wouldn’t attract higher-profile Dem competitors as he worked to raise his profile, and one that could realistically be won against a Republican.
Tommy is a conservationist, which, as is becoming increasingly clear in his case, does not mean he is an environmentalist.
The environmental movement is more than what it used to be. Stereotypically, the brand has been white retirees who can afford the time and money to engage in activism to oppose all forms of development that might have impacts to natural resources, air quality, and limited water supply. We owe some of our existing protected natural resources and environmental laws to these stewards, but glaring faults in the movement have become obvious over time.
In San Diego County and other regions, the environmental movement is more nuanced and progressing to focus the voices of frontline communities; BIPOC leaders, youth, immigrants, advocates who are fighting for better quality of life and pollution-free neighborhoods while also fighting against the gentrification that would displace them. Practically, this includes advocating for more transit resources and access, quality housing density near transit and other amenities, expanding economic and educational opportunities nearer to people’s homes, and access to cleaner forms of transportation (such as electrification of school and public buses).
Policies that advance these goals are inherently better for the environment and human quality of life compared to sprawl development, and are a far cry from the mainstream environmental movement of 40 years ago.
In the course of his several runs for office, Tommy has said some of the right things on environment, equity, and Democratic values, but as his desperation to win the AAPI empowerment seat in San Diego City Council D6 has increased, so has his rhetoric to pander to voters that stands in direct opposition to those stated values. As we are now within a month of the election, Tommy has traversed across the political spectrum to more closely resemble Carl DeMaio than any leftist champion.
Respected and long-trusted community advocates and AAPI leaders such as Judy Ki are raising their voices after many months of Tommy’s microaggressions on the campaign are speaking out now that attack mailers are reaching voters, lying about Measure B, disparaging San Diego’s first AAPI Mayor, and exaggerating the “otherness” of his AAPI opponent.
Last year, in a July 2021 vote, Tommy caused shock waves through the environmental and labor communities by voting against the large-scale desert solar project in Jacumba that was necessary to the success of San Diego Community Power in his capacity as a County of San Diego Planning Commissioner.
The project is subject to a Project Labor Agreement, meaning it is putting people to work with good, local, living wage union jobs. It’s located next to existing SDG&E infrastructure, which meant less overhead expenses and environmental impact. There are extremely few opportunities for large-scale renewable energy projects, and Tommy voted against it without checking in with key stakeholders, including those from whom he was seeking electoral support, such as UNITE HERE Local 30’s Director of Policy, Rick Bates:
On housing, Tommy proposes only unrealistic development options in areas that no serious developer is considering… because they are not realistic, and because he apparently has no relationships with developers he could check in with in the first place. Tommy speaks in platitudes about the need for increased housing, but in other settings he intimates that the district is taking more than its fair share and doesn’t need to add stock beyond that.
On transit, Tommy has spoken against improved bike lane infrastructure in his district, though he has proposed increasing roads through environmentally sensitive areas to alleviate traffic, which may be popular with his neighbors.
For somebody who claims great credibility on local environmental laws, he has misstated how the MSCP (Multiple Species Conservation Program) functions in order to fabricate attacks on his opponent. It is a powerful land use policy that limits development in MSCP areas, but does not ban it. It was a compromise policy crafted and enacted decades ago in San Diego and requires strict conformance. Tommy claims it prohibits all growth and should instead be dedicated for conservation only, which may be his ultimate goal, but which is not the policy in place.
Tommy is now openly joining the likes of Carl DeMaio and the Associated General Contractors (AGC) by opposing ballot measures supported by the San Diego County Democratic Party and organized labor. Their strategy is to push for opposition to all city ballot measures in order to uphold the anti-worker ban championed by DeMaio, which has had the effect of understaffing critical City departments and has put state funding for public works projects in jeopardy. He’s aligning himself with these same interests that oppose Safeguard San Diego - passage of which is a critical priority for Labor and the Party.
Tommy is using his campaign as a platform to undermine and attack Mayor Todd Gloria, mischaracterizing Measure B as a new tax rather than a fee for services. He is targeting Republican and right-leaning voters with this misleading, pandering rhetoric, and Acting Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party has joined the voices condemning Tommy’s electioneering desperation.
Tommy has transitioned his campaign, supposedly under the auspices of fighting for his neighbors, by trashing the City Council and Mayor as “downtown interests” at every opportunity because they opted not to support his campaign this time. At what point would he have the intellectual honesty to recognize that he will accomplish nothing for those neighbors without working collaboratively with “downtown interests” such as Council President Sean Elo-Rivera and Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe?
Tommy also claims that San Diego needs him to be the only environmentalist on Council, though three of the nine received “A” grades in the latest Climate Report Card produced by a coalition of environmental groups, and four received “B” grades. He is completely erasing the environmental stewardship and proven “A-grade” records of Council President Pro Tem Monica Montgomery Steppe, Councilmember Joe LaCava, and Councilmember Vivian Moreno.
If Tommy’s more coded rhetoric about “fighting for his neighbors” and the environment actually means “no new development,” at what point will the broader community call this what it is?
It is no better than an outdated, NIMBY approach to environmentalism, the world, and politics that got us the lack of equity in housing, transportation, air quality and water supply that plague us now.
He unequivocally prides himself in defending single-family zoning as a priority - but that model is unequivocally racist.
Tommy may pride himself on being uncompromising, but that’s no point of pride when it exacerbates inequities for communities of concern and increased sprawl development in neighborhoods other than his own.
For those of us whose environmental activism is increasingly intersectional, collaborative, and is ever-transitioning to follow the lead of communities of concern rather than trying to dictate purist conservation to keep the privileged comfortable, we see Tommy as the bitter, failed past.
It’s not constructive leadership. He’s desperately aligning himself to the perceived fears and prejudices of conservative homeowners, who are broadly a lot less myopic than he imagines, and who do not need a white savior.
I no longer know who Tommy is, other than who he is showing himself to be in his campaigns, and that is not somebody who should be a public servant.
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Sara Ochoa is an environmental advocate, Democratic Party activist, & proud mom.