Unscientific--and Untimely--Poll : Hedgecock Tops List of ‘Movers and Shakers’

This may be Roger Hedgecock’s last week as mayor but he still tops the list of San Diego’s “movers and shakers,” according to a private poll, released Wednesday, that attempted to identify the city’s upper echelon of leaders based on their perceived clout and influence.

The survey, however, was taken before Hedgecock was convicted last week on 13 felony counts stemming from illegal campaign contributions. The sponsor of the poll said the mayor’s conviction probably would have had a bearing on Hedgecock’s ranking.

“He has seen it and he had nothing to say,” said Hedgecock’s press secretary, Mel Buxbaum. “The mayor is not responding to any of these things at all. He’s simply not making any comment.”

Following closely behind the mayor on the Top 10 list were Horton Plaza developer Ernest Hahn and Great American Savings and Loan Assn. Chairman Gordon Luce.

The survey, the third such compilation since 1977, was done by the San Diego public accounting firm of West, Johnston, Turnquist and Schmitt, which commissioned it as a public service, according to Jim West, a partner in the firm.

While the two previous polls were top-heavy with politicians, only Hedgecock and California Sen. Pete Wilson cracked the new survey’s Top 10, which is top-heavy instead with bankers and businessmen.

Even so, the pollsters concluded that San Diego’s leadership structure has broadened to include a wider range of people. This is particularly noticeable in the second tier of leaders following the Top 10. In all, 56 people were mentioned by survey respondents as being movers and shakers to one degree or another.

Not only are there more people identified as top leaders than in the two earlier surveys but, from top to bottom, the list reflects a diversity of interests, such as education and the arts.

At the same time, however, the list is dominated by white, middle-aged men. For example, Joan Kroc, owner of the San Diego Padres who inherited the McDonald’s restaurant fortune, is the only woman in the Top 10.

Perhaps more revealing, no Latinos and only one black, Councilman William Jones, made the 56-name list, although blacks account for 9% of the city’s population and Latinos make up 15%. In contrast, Padres first baseman Steve Garvey was considered a mover and shaker by 5% of those polled.

West said his intent was simply a civic one.

“I would guess that it’s information for people, that’s all. It’s been awhile since we did the last one,” West said after a press conference held at his firm’s 5th Avenue offices, at which the survey was released.

Statistically speaking, the survey would probably not pass muster. Instead of taking a random sampling of opinion from San Diego residents, the pollsters selected 104 people they considered influential. These people were then asked to identify the 10 people they believed to be the movers and shakers of San Diego.

That was the only criteria. The respondents, using their own subjective perceptions, made their selections and in some cases told the poll takers the reasons why.

“This is what we call a qualitative survey,” explained Marie Carey, who helped design and carry out the survey. “We asked the leaders who they think the leaders are.”

The telephone poll, conducted during the 2 1/2-week period from July 29 to Aug. 16, didn’t interview some of the city’s leading politicians, which Carey said was unfortunate.

For example, neither Hedgecock, members of the City Council, members of the San Diego delegation to the state Senate nor the county Board of Supervisors responded to the survey, said Carey. The politicians said they didn’t have time to answer, Carey said.

The first tier of movers and shakers, Carey explained, consists of people who were identified as having clout by at least 20% of the respondents. In the 1981 survey, only four people earned that distinction, led by then-Mayor Wilson; Luce; Kim Fletcher, chairman of Home Federal Savings and Loan Assn., and Helen Copley, publisher of the San Diego Union and Tribune.

But in the new poll, 11 people reached the 20% circle. In order, these first-tier movers and shakers include:

Hedgecock (63%), Hahn (61%), Luce (57%), Fletcher (38%), First National Bank Chairman Malin Burnham (33%), Wilson (32%), Kroc (29%), San Diego Chamber of Commerce leader Lee Grissom and Police Chief William Kolender (26% each), Signal Cos. Chairman Forrest Shumway (24%), and arts activist and patron Danah Fayman (20%).

Fayman, of Partners for a Livable San Diego, said it’s a healthy sign that people like her, a Democrat active in promoting the arts, made it on the list.

“I hope some of the new people who are on it rise to the top next time,” Fayman said.

The next level of movers and shakers, who were named as leaders by 10% to 19% of those interviewed--and twice as many as were identified in 1981--include these 10: Copley (19%); San Diego Gas & Electric Co. President Tom Page (15%); Clair Burgener, chairman, San Diego Chamber of Commerce (14%); Richard Atkinson, chancellor of UC San Diego, and Gerald Trimble, head of Centre City Development Corp. (13% each); Larry Lawrence, Hotel del Coronado chairman; San Diego schools Supt. Tom Payzant; Padres President Ballard Smith, and Linc Ward, vice president of Pacific Bell (11% each), and Don Nay, San Diego Unified Port District director (10%).

Those on the list but named by less than 10% include Republican Assemblyman Larry Stirling; Republican Rep. Bill Lowery; Craig Noel, head of the Old Globe Theatre, and Authur Hughes, president of the University of San Diego (9% each); Councilman Bill Cleator and Jonas Salk, head of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (8% each); Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter and Democratic Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (7% each).

Named by 6% were Tom Day, president of San Diego State University; Robert Adellizzi of Home Federal Savings and Loan Assn.; County Supervisor Susan Golding; John Hanson, head of the Solar Division of Caterpillar Inc.; businessman John Mulvaney; former Councilwoman Maureen O’Connor; Dan Pegg, head of the Economic Development Corp. of San Diego County, and Bill Rick of Rick Engineering.

Others receiving 6% were Tom Sefton of San Diego Trust and Savings Bank; businessman Dick Silberman; Harry Summers of Summers Construction Co.; County Supervisor Leon Williams, and Louis Wolfsheimer of the Port District.

At the bottom of the list, identified by 5%, were Garvey; County Supervisor Brian Bilbray; Dean Dunphy of Dunphy Construction Co.; Charles Edwards of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation; Councilman Mike Gotch; Councilman William Jones; Dan Larsen of CCDC; Councilwoman Gloria McColl; Neil Morgan, editor of the San Diego Tribune; Ralph Ocampo, a dental surgeon; Hal Sadler, head of San Diegans Inc.; Jim Schmidt of Great American Savings and Loan Assn.; Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers, and Dal Watkins, head of the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.