The Council Candidates

It must be tough being a San Diego City Council candidate in a year when the local news is dominated by allegations of misdoings by current members of the council. It’s hard to get voters to refocus their attention from campaign fund laundering and expense-account dinners to a discussion of how many police officers there should be, where a new library should go and the need for shoring up the city’s aging infrastructure.

Yet those are the kinds of day-in, day-out issues that the council deals with, so the candidates try nobly to stake out positions and say something new on most of them. This year four council posts, those in the odd-numbered districts, are being contested.

In two of the races, incumbents are running with only token opposition. Councilwoman Gloria McColl in District 3 and Ed Struiksma in District 5 are virtually assured of reelection, and they should be given another term.

The other two races, however, present much more difficult choices.

In District 1, Councilman Bill Mitchell is facing a serious challenge from law Prof. Abbe Wolfsheimer. Few substantive issues separate the two, both of whom are Republicans who have made controlling growth the cornerstones of their campaigns.

Mitchell is well-known for his unintentionally funny remarks and has often been made light of in the press and by the public. But his colleagues on the council seem to take him more seriously, and he has played an important role as an independent-minded balance between the more predictable conservative and liberal factions of the council.

He has been firm in his desire to control growth, was out front on the question of adding more police officers and has made a genuine effort to address the drug problem. While it is encouraging to see qualified candidates like Wolfsheimer come forward, Mitchell deserves reelection to a third term.

The 7th District race features first-time candidates Jeanette Roache and Judy McCarty, seeking the seat left vacant when Dick Murphy was appointed to the Municipal Court bench. Both Republicans, McCarty has worked in the office of Assemblyman Larry Stirling and Roache for Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier.

Although both are untested, McCarty wins our endorsement for her ability to discuss a broader range of city issues and for her solid ties to the district, including involvement with the Navajo Community Planners and the Citizens Advisory Committee to Mission Trails Regional Park.