Local Elections : Crowded Field Makes It a Tough Race for 8th District Candidates

Community leaders in the San Diego City Council 8th District often complain that they have not had a “free” election to select their council member since 1971.

Since the election 16 years ago of now-Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego), every subsequent 8th District council member was initially appointed to the post, giving each a substantial advantage over challengers at election time.

“The downtown big shots have picked our council member, not the community,” longtime San Ysidro activist Paul Clark said, expressing a sentiment shared virtually universally in a district that stretches south from Hillcrest through downtown to Otay Mesa and San Ysidro.

But “free” elections have returned with a vengeance to the 8th District this year, as nine candidates--the biggest field in any of this fall’s four council races--will compete in the Sept. 15 primary for the seat now held by appointed Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros.

Last December, Ballesteros became the fourth consecutive 8th District council member to gain the seat via appointment when she was named by the council to succeed Uvaldo Martinez, who resigned after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from his misuse of a city-issued credit card for personal expenses. As a condition of her appointment, however, the council insisted that Ballesteros agree not to run for the seat this fall.

Ironically, the resulting nine-candidate free-for-all has left many 8th District activists--and some of the candidates themselves--wondering if this year’s open race perhaps has produced too much of a good thing.

The campaign itself has been one of the longest in the city’s political history, having begun in earnest in mid-1986 when lawyer Michael Aguirre indicated that he intended to enter this year’s election regardless of the outcome in Martinez’s case, thereby accelerating the timetable for other potential candidates.

Although no one would seriously suggest a preference for what Clark, one of the nine candidates, derisively dismisses as “the old, undemocratic way” in which appointments overshadowed elections in the 8th District, the contenders concede that this year’s campaign has proved to be a cumbersome, unwieldy process both because of its duration and the size of the field.

While there have been literally dozens of candidate forums, news conferences and myriad other public functions in the race, those events have served, not to highlight the distinctive characteristics of each candidate, but rather to obscure such factors simply because, as candidate Bob Filner puts it: “There’s too much going on involving too many candidates for people to keep track of it all.”

“With this many candidates, it’s almost impossible to seriously discuss issues and have that be an important factor for voters, because after a while, it all just begins to blur together,” said Filner, a former San Diego city school board member who narrowly lost to San Diego City Councilwoman Gloria McColl in the 1983 3rd District race.

Another factor that has contributed to diminishing the role that specific policy issues are expected to play in the primary’s outcome is that the leading candidates hold similar positions on most major district and citywide concerns.

“Basically, we all seem to be speaking from the same script,” candidate Gail MacLeod said.

Trio of Front-Runners

From the beginning, three Democrats--Aguirre, Filner and county supervisorial aide Neil Good--have been widely viewed as the race’s front-runners, primarily because their name identification, fund-raising abilities and organizations eclipsed that of the other contenders.

As the 8th District primary enters its final two weeks, that perception remains largely intact, with many political observers saying that they still would be surprised if the top two vote-getters on Sept. 15 who will go on to compete in the November citywide general election do not come from that three-man pack.

A handful of other candidates, however, can make plausible cases for why they have at least an outside chance of qualifying for the citywide runoff:

Republican businessman Bob Castaneda, though a relative unknown before the race, has drawn substantial financial backing from traditional GOP sources and has assembled a strong campaign team. His hopes, however, may hinge on the possibility of Filner, Good and Aguirre splitting the Democratic vote in the heavily Democratic district, enabling him to slip past at least two of them--if he can attract most of the Republican vote in the nominally nonpartisan contest.

MacLeod, a land-use planner, is well-known in her Golden Hill neighborhood and has been campaigning door-to-door throughout the district for months. The fact that MacLeod is the only woman in the race also may be, in her words, “a small plus.”

Clark, the executive director and past president of the San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce, has tried to position himself as “ the South Bay candidate” in the race. While his resume supports that claim, the down side of such a strategy is that voter turnout in many South Bay communities is among the lowest in the city.

Danny Martinez, a former aide to ex-Councilman Martinez (who is no relation), hopes that voters will recall and allow him to share the credit for some of the legislative achievements of his boss’ tenure at City Hall, rather than dwell on the scandal that drove him from office.

Two other candidates on the ballot--securities broker Ty Smith and frequent candidate John Kelley--are considered the longest of the long shots in the race. Smith has been all but invisible on the campaign trial, prompting his opponents to jokingly dub him the “Claude Rains of the 8th District.” Kelley, meanwhile, has run so often for so many offices that he is generally viewed as little more than a perennial minor footnote in local politics.

Predictions about the race, however, are usually hedged with one major caveat--the expectation that less than 20% of the heavily minority district’s approximately 54,000 voters will actually go to the polls next month. That means that several thousand votes could be sufficient to qualify for the November election--making it hazardous to discount the chances of any candidate.

Difference May be Slim

Moreover, the votes drawn by the minor candidates could dramatically shuffle the finishing order of the leading contenders, most of whom believe that the difference between qualifying for the November runoff or being eliminated may be as slim as a few hundred votes.

“Someone could finish in fifth place as an also, also, also-ran, and still only lose out by a couple hundred votes,” Filner said. “That’s a really scary thought.”

Recognizing that the political arithmetic of the race also puts a premium on organization, the leading candidates have spent considerable time on building precinct organizations, targeting supporters and devising elaborate get-out-the-vote strategies.

“It may all come down to who does the best job in the final 72 hours,” Aguirre said.

In their effort to “break out of the blur,” to use Aguirre’s apt phrase, each candidate has sought to combine his professional background, personality and rhetoric into one central theme, using various blends of those components in an attempt to capture the fleeting attention of a considerably less-than-enthralled electorate.

Aguirre, a 37-year-old known for his often brash, combative style, has patterned his campaign after Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s successful strategy in last year’s special mayoral election. Like O’Connor, he has refused to accept campaign donations from development interests and has called for an increased voice for neighborhoods at City Hall.

“The central challenge we face is whether the council will control growth and the developers, or whether growth and the developers will control the council,” said Aguirre, a longtime Democratic activist who ran unsuccessfully for Congress against Bates in a 1982 primary. Aguirre has since mended relations with Bates and his backers--a potent force in local politics--and for weeks has been running radio advertisements featuring endorsements from Bates and former Rep. Lionel Van Deerlin (D-San Diego).

Aguirre, who has been prolific in his generation of press releases and proposals throughout the campaign, jokingly admits that he sometimes is “accused of having more solutions than problems.” Among other things, Aguirre has proposed a new method for handling citizen complaints at City Hall, increased police patrols downtown to enhance protection of the elderly, a ban on residential development in neighborhoods in which schools have reached their capacity, improved American history courses in schools and the creation of a city research service.

Underwriting Own Campaign

Heavily criticized for underwriting his campaign with about $100,000 of his own money, Aguirre has strived to minimize the potential liability by noting: “I earned this money. I didn’t marry into it and I didn’t inherit it. All of the major candidates are about the same age, and the fact that I was able to earn this kind of money says something positive about what I’ve done.”

Overall, Aguirre estimates that he will spend about $125,000 in the primary. However, because campaign finance reports showed that he had already spent $110,495 as of July 31, the other candidates regard that estimate as deliberately low.

With Filner also spending $34,000 of his own money in his campaign to date, Good has charged that both Aguirre and Filner are trying to “buy” the election, accusing them of “using their personal fortunes . . . in an effort to camouflage their lack of popular support within the district.”

An impressive measure of the breadth of Good’s support is that, as of July 31, he had raised $57,291 from more than 850 contributors--more than Filner and Aguirre combined. Good, now on leave from his position as administrative assistant to county Supervisor Leon Williams, plans to spend about $80,000 in the primary. Among the remaining candidates, Castaneda and MacLeod plan to spend about $60,000 and $30,000, respectively, while the others probably will spend less than $10,000 each.

Subjective Outlooks

The race’s outcome, Good argues, may turn on voters’ subjective judgments about the candidates’ character.

“We’re so closely aligned on the issues that I don’t see any litmus tests there,” said Good, 39. “To me, that means it’s going to boil down to character, to voters looking for a candidate who they feel combines leadership with some sense of compassion, someone they can feel good about and trust to do the job.”

At candidate forums, Good has displayed a mastery of issues that, on several occasions, has resulted in his opponents publicly expressing grudging admiration for his well-reasoned positions. His campaign pledges include calls for the creation of a city human relations commission similar to the county’s, increasing the City Council’s size by two members to produce better representation and the establishment of an “Office of Neighborhoods.”

Proud of his solid political credentials, Good also frequently notes that he has the broadest governmental experience of any of the major candidates. In addition to serving on Williams’ staff both at the county and during his earlier tenure as a San Diego city councilman, Good also was administrative assistant to state Sen. Jim Mills (D-San Diego) in the 1970s, former chairman of the San Diego County Democratic Party Central Committee and is president of the California Structural Pest Control Board, which regulates the pest control industry.

Openly Gay Candidate

The first openly gay candidate since the late 1970s, Good describes himself as “a candidate who happens to be gay, not a gay candidate.” At least on the surface, sexual preference has not emerged as an issue in the campaign, and Good argues that, with the other major candidates courting the gay vote, “it’s simply not relevant.” The gay community, however, is among the most politically active in the city, an obvious asset for Good in a low turnout election.

Filner, meanwhile, argues that he “stands apart” from the field because he is the only candidate who has served in elective public office and has run in the district on three occasions--twice in his successful 1979 school board race and in his 1983 loss to McColl.

“Since it’s difficult to distinguish among the candidates on the issues, you go back to experience and style,” said Filner, a 44-year-old history professor at San Diego State University. “If you’re going to help a San Ysidro or Hillcrest or Golden Hill, you need to be able to put together five votes out of the nine people on the council. I’m the only one with a track record of being able to do that.”

During his four years on the school board, including one year as its president, Filner’s persistent and often acerbic criticism of school policies led to development of a mandatory homework policy, tougher graduation requirements, stricter discipline and attendance regulations, and a streamlining of the district’s administration.

Hoping to convert one of his strengths into an integral issue, Filner has emphasized education in his campaign, even though that subject is within the purview of the school board, not the council.

“The council may not play an official role in education, but it still can have a significant indirect influence,” Filner said. “With all the talk about overcrowded schools, we have to ask, how did the schools get that way? By allowing overdevelopment, and that’s where the council fits in.”

Latino Roots Stressed

Castaneda, a 34-year-old Golden Hill resident and food supply distributor, has stressed his Latino roots and the fact that he is a third-generation San Diegan in describing public office as “the next logical step” in his years of community service.

In addition to serving on the boards of directors of the Young Republicans and Mexican and American Foundation, Castaneda also has worked for the Logan Heights and Escondido community clinics, and in a Chicano Federation program aimed at preventing students from dropping out of school.

Endorsed by county Sheriff John Duffy, Castaneda has stressed public-safety issues throughout his campaign, through his stance on that and most other issues has been long on generalities and short on specifics.

For example, at the news conference at which Duffy’s endorsement was announced, Castaneda pledged to seek reductions in the city budget to fund the hiring of additional police officers. But when pressed for details, Castaneda was unable to identify any specific areas or departments where he believed budget savings could be achieved.

Land-Use Expertise

Seeking to distinguish herself from the pack by capitalizing on the politically predominant growth-management issue, MacLeod, a 37-year-old Golden Hill resident, consistently stresses her land-use expertise in her campaign.

The planning director of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn., MacLeod argues that her professional background has taught her “how you have to balance aesthetics and physical realities” in dealing with problems ranging from growth-management and sewage to the upgrading of older neighborhoods.

“Imagine neighborhoods with uncrowded schools, parks, roads and on-street parking,” MacLeod said in announcing her candidacy. “Imagine land development that respects the topography. Imagine economic growth that brings jobs for our unemployed. Imagine new homes and businesses that revitalize and improve older neighborhoods. That’s my vision, and I will work to translate this vision into reality.”

In perhaps the most notable statement of her campaign, MacLeod argued that unless the city improves services to Otay Mesa, San Ysidro, Nestor and Palm City, those communities should join with the City of Imperial Beach to form a separate city. Not only have promises made when those South Bay communities were annexed to the city 30 years ago not been kept, MacLeod said, but the city’s policies also have “turned the area into a dumping ground for the city’s subsidized housing and sludge disposal.”

Proud of Accomplishments

Although his name conjures up memories of the scandal that shaped this year’s 8th District race, Martinez, a 39-year-old San Ysidro resident, speaks proudly of his four years on former Councilman Martinez’s staff.

“We made some good progress during those years and established a foundation that we can build on for the future,” said Martinez, who often notes that he “had a hand” in various accomplishments ranging from new sidewalks in Barrio Logan to the designation of the Barrio Logan Industrial Park as an enterprise zone.

Another major element in Martinez’s campaign is a plan that he calls “Retooling San Diego for the Year 2000.” Under that plan, Martinez, who operates a retail cloth and nylon products business with his brother, says that San Diego “must stabilize the indigenous businesses that have been here for years, but we must also synchronize our economy to world shipping and trade opportunities.”

Clark, a 48-year-old San Ysidro activist, admits that, by conventional political standards, he appears hopelessly outmatched in the race. However, he says that he has personally visited more than 7,000 homes in his campaign, adding: “While the others are trying to buy their votes, I’m out earning mine.”

Lamenting San Diego’s high utility rates, Clark has said that, if elected, one of his top priorities would be to push for the naming of a San Diegan to the state Public Utilities Commission.

“But my main issues are jobs, jobs and jobs,” said Clark, who complains that city leaders have paid too little attention to “economic development south of Interstate 8.”

Kept Low Profile

Smith, a 34-year-old downtown resident, has maintained such a low public profile throughout the race that some of his opponents believed that he had unofficially dropped out of the contest.

Although he has not been seen at a public forum for months, Smith insists that he has been waging an active door-to-door campaign that “from a marketing standpoint, is the proper approach.”

“When everyone else is fighting the same battle, the best way to be successful is to take a different path,” Smith said.

Kelley, meanwhile, is a Golden Hill resident who has sought numerous local offices over the years. Noted for his occasionally offbeat ideas, Kelley, 68, drew snickers at one forum when he proposed that a second major airport be built in San Diego so that Lindbergh Field “can be used just for incoming flights.”

A semiretired public relations official, Kelley says that he would “apply Christian principles in government” and has pledged to donate one-fourth of his salary to charity if he is elected.

“Politicians are great at reaching into the taxpayers’ pockets but not so good at dipping into their own,” Kelley said. “At least I’m different.”