A Scandal by the Sea
This sun-baked vacationland likes to refer to itself as "America's Finest City," a squeaky-clean model of buttoned-down, Southern California-style conservatism. But the moniker feels a bit awkward in light of a torrent of scandal that has left San Diego's reputation in ruins. When voters go the polls to elect a new mayor in a special election next week, the leading candidate will be a decidedly unbuttoned-down, feisty surfboard shop co-owner--and liberal Democrat.
The plot is out of a dime-store novel, but the stakes are serious. "We're in deep, deep trouble here, and this is our last shot to fix it," says Vincent Blocker, a nonprofit fundraising consultant, who works in the city's trendy Gaslamp Quarter. "The city is literally--and figuratively--falling apart."
Tale of woe. First of all, there's the financial crisis, brought on by a $2 billion pension-system deficit that has sent San Diego's credit rating below sea level and threatens to bankrupt the city, America's seventh largest. In what's being dubbed "Enron by the Sea," county and federal prosecutors are poring over the pension numbers, and six current and former pension board members are already facing felony charges. There have been deep cutbacks in city services, and municipal employees are leaving the city's storied beaches for better pay and benefits elsewhere.
Then there's the "Stripper-gate" scandal, featuring City Councilman Ralph Inzunza and Deputy Mayor Michael Zucchet. Both men have been on trial for allegedly scheming to accept payoffs in return for helping to repeal the so-called lap-dance law that bans touching between strippers and patrons. Verdicts could be delivered this week.
And there's the political drama. In last November's mayoral election, the surfboard shop co-owner, Democratic Councilwoman Donna Frye, got more votes in a write-in campaign than incumbent Republican Mayor Dick Murphy, a leading member of San Diego's nearly impenetrable white, male establishment. But when the courts ruled that 5,551 votes for Frye didn't count because voters had not filled out the ballots properly, Murphy took office. He made it seven months into his second term before resigning (effective this week). Now Zucchet will serve as interim mayor while awaiting a verdict in his corruption trial.
A clear choice for mayor isn't likely to emerge from next week's election since none of the candidates is expected to get the 50 percent of votes required to clinch the contest. But Frye, 53, the wife of surfing legend Skip Frye, is the clear front-runner, leaving the real battle to be fought among the Republican men vying to take her on in a November runoff. In second place in the polls is Jerry Sanders, 54, who was San Diego's police chief for six years before taking top posts at the United Way and the Red Cross and turning both troubled organizations around. He is followed by Steve Francis, a millionaire healthcare entrepreneur who is promising to run the city like a business.
All the candidates are preaching much the same fix: Cut spending, try to reduce employee benefits for unionized workers, and steer clear of tax increases and bankruptcy filings. Frye, a crusading environmentalist, is hoping to stage a repeat of her November surprise. But the last time around, voters were so outraged over Murphy's scandal-ridden administration that even conservative Republicans wrote in for Frye. And, no one thought she could actually win. "Frye is a Democrat in what is still a Republican city, " says Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. "Now that voters know she can win, that changes the dynamics."
Some voters are already having second thoughts. "I voted for her as a protest in the last election," said one businessman who asked not to be identified lest his Republican clients be put off. "But this time I'm voting for Sanders."
Whoever becomes the next mayor will have to solve San Diego's problems as City Hall gropes its way through an entirely new system of government; under new rules, on January 1, much of the power here shifts from the city manager to the elected mayor. "There has been almost no planning at all for this transition," says Steve Erie, who teaches political science at the University of California-San Diego and helped write the ballot measure that created the change. "This is going to be another big mess." Just add it to the list.
This story appears in the July 25, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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