A Look at Campaign Strategies

The intensity of the campaigns of mayoral hopefuls has varied widely. Here is a sampling of strategies:

- Uvaldo Martinez--San Diego’s 8th District councilman could be “the Henry Cisneros of the Republican Party,” he likes to say. Top White House officials have called him that, the councilman says with a grin, and he has pictures of himself with President Reagan to reinforce that image.

Cisneros, a young Latino Democrat with a string of degrees, including a master’s from Harvard, is mayor of San Antonio, Tex.

Martinez, a Latino Republican with a master’s degree from the University of Redlands, believes he has built a coalition of senior citizens, Latinos, downtown businessmen and county Republicans that can propel him into the San Diego mayor’s job.

To that end, small fund-raisers have been held, and aide Colin Flaherty has recruited volunteers from UC San Diego to conduct two citywide polls on local issues and Martinez’s performance. If there is a guilty verdict, Martinez will be sending out letters to previous supporters seeking their help. Also, if there is a guilty verdict, Flaherty will immediately shift from Martinez’s council staff to coordinator of a full-time campaign staff. Developer Ted Gildred is to serve as co-chairman.

Martinez emphasizes that he likes Hedgecock but felt he had to start campaigning early. “It’s a difficult thing,” he said. “But on any football team, basketball team, every individual I’ve beat off first string was my best friend.”

- Larry Stirling--A former city councilman who enjoys his job in the Assembly, Stirling would also like the challenge of being mayor. He also would like to move here from Sacramento, he said, instead of commuting to San Diego on weekends to see his family.

Stirling has spoken to consultant Dave Lewis, but has not yet set up a campaign committee “or in any way set up the campaign.” He won’t set one up until a vacancy for mayor is declared, Stirling said.

He says he hasn’t worried about a mayoral campaign. “The people who’ve been with me over the years will be with me,” he said. Although he has just received the powerful chairmanship of the Assembly Public Safety Committee, Stirling also says he would like to put his “vision of San Diego--a well-managed city that has low overhead”--into effect.

- Mike Gotch--The 6th District councilman has not spoken to a campaign consultant and says it would be “the height of poor taste to be raising money” before any race is declared.

Still, Gotch and six trusted advisers have discussed how he might run for mayor.

Because most of Hedgecock’s policies on growth and supporting neighborhoods are also Gotch’s policies, “I guess if there’s an heir apparent, I am,” the 37-year-old councilman said.

That means that should Hedgecock be forced to step down, Gotch may inherit many of Hedgecock’s supporters (Gotch is a Democrat, Hedgecock a Republican), Hedgecock’s extensive neighborhood organization and top Hedgecock aide Evonne Schulze.

- Dick Murphy--A 7th District Councilman, Murphy has several irons in the fire. He is seeking appointment as a municipal court judge. He has been running for reelection. And if the verdict is guilty, he is planning a run for mayor.

If he gets the judgeship, Murphy says, he will take it and drop plans for any city race. Otherwise, his current campaign committee, Friends of Dick Murphy, could be turned into a mayoral campaign committee if a vacancy were declared.

- Ed Struiksma--The councilman from the 5th District is running for reelection but says voters have known for months now that he has actually been running for mayor. His campaign committee had raised $56,330 by Dec. 31, but “we have not been sitting on our hands since then,” the councilman said. He thinks he is “light-years” ahead of any mayoral competitors.

Struiksma, a Republican, also boasts that he has recruited “well over a couple of hundred volunteers” in every neighborhood of San Diego. “I continue to go the avenue of preparing for reelection,” he said. Still, given the jury’s 11-1 vote for conviction, “it looks like a matter of time” before the mayor will be convicted, Struiksma said. And if the mayor must leave office, the councilman said, he will simply expand his campaign.

- Lucy Killea--Assemblywoman Killea has not wanted to plot a campaign until the verdict was known. Nor did she wish to run for mayor, she said; she likes her job. But since last fall, people have been asking her to run. “My initial reaction was, No. I don’t want to run for mayor,” said Killea, a former city councilwoman.

But now she won’t rule out a candidacy.

Whether she would make a run depends on who else was running, Killea said. “If I were the only woman, I might have the advantage in a field of men, (with) few Democrats.”