Mayor’s Press Secretary Says She Will Resign

Wearied by the yearlong controversy over Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s finances and, in her words, “eager for a new challenge,” Elizabeth Brafford, the mayor’s press secretary, disclosed Tuesday that she plans to resign early next month.

“I feel like I’ve been running interference for the past year without a flak jacket,” Brafford joked. “There’s been a lot of pressure. I really need to take some time for myself.”

Brafford, 28, a former reporter, expressed concern, however, that her departure from City Hall on March 8 might be perceived as “the first crack” in Hedgecock’s staff pending the mayor’s retrial on felony conspiracy and perjury charges. Hedgecock’s first trial on the charges, which stem from allegedly illegal campaign contributions in his 1983 race, ended in a mistrial two weeks ago, when the jury was deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction.

“This isn’t the beginning of the end, and there’s no reason it should be seen that way,” Brafford said. “It’s just the beginning of a new press secretary for Roger. A breath of fresh air actually might be helpful around here. It’s certainly something that I need. I’m still going to be a loyalist and will try to help Roger any way I can.”

Hedgecock praised Brafford for doing “an excellent job under pressure,” and emphasized that her resignation “indicates nothing more than Elizabeth’s wish to move on to pursue other opportunities.”

“My opponents would like to seize on everything that happens to try to make me look bad,” Hedgecock said. “But the only bad thing about this is that . . . Elizabeth is a valuable staff person who will be missed.” The mayor said that he plans to begin interviewing applicants immediately.

Noting that Hedgecock’s second trial is not expected to start until the summer, Brafford said she decided to “take advantage of the lull between the storms” to announce her resignation, which she said she had been “thinking about for some time.”

“I’ve stayed here longer than I intended,” said Brafford, who became Hedgecock’s press secretary in 1982, when he was a county supervisor, and followed him to City Hall in May, 1983. Brafford, a native of Washington, D.C., worked as a reporter for the Associated Press in New York and for the San Diego Union before joining Hedgecock’s staff.

“The past year has been tiring and not very pleasant,” she added, “but even if that hadn’t happened, I always knew there would come a time to move on. I feel like I’ve gone about as far as I can here. It’s time to stretch my wings and try something else. Sometimes you have to know when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.”

Brafford said she plans to “spend several weeks relaxing” before starting a new job, which she declined to disclose.

As Hedgecock’s major spokeswoman, Brafford found herself playing a key--and often unenviable--role in the political drama created by last year’s local and state investigations of the mayor’s personal and campaign finances. Although her actions and statements always clearly reflected her loyalties to Hedgecock, Brafford at times also acted as a mediator, attempting to ease the occasionally strained relations between the press and the mayor’s office.

Throughout her tenure at City Hall, Brafford also gained a reputation--and earned reporters’ gratitude--for seeking to ensure that Hedgecock would return reporters’ calls promptly, even at the height of the controversy.

“Roger’s his own best spokesman,” Brafford told a public relations group last spring. “Generally, the best way for me to do my job is to put him in touch with the reporters as quickly as possible.”

Brafford also maintained her sense of humor throughout the strain of the last year. Amid intensifying interest in the mayor’s finances last spring, Brafford wore a button saying, “I just work here”--a remark that she facetiously suggested that “I’d like to use a lot these days.” As a joke, a friend also gave Brafford a bullet--as in “bite the”--during the controversy.

“It’s pretty chewed up by now,” she said, laughing. “That proves it’s time to leave.”