Despite Setbacks, Hedgecock Conducts Business as Usual

In recent days, Mayor Roger Hedgecock has called for a change in the way City Council members are elected, begun planning for next year’s city budget and started thinking about his State of the City address scheduled for next month.

Although that may appear to be fairly normal long-range planning for a big-city mayor, those events have occurred amid the most abnormal of circumstances, enveloping a mayor whose political future seems limited. Indeed, most observers doubt that Roger Hedgecock will still be at City Hall by the time those matters reach the council.

Nearly two months after his 13-count felony conviction, Hedgecock, the central character in what he describes as “the country’s longest-running political soap opera,” is running out of legal options to prevent him from losing in the courtroom what he won at the polls. In fact, if Hedgecock loses his bid for a new trial at a Superior Court hearing on Tuesday, he could be removed from office by the end of the week.

That bleak possibility has confronted the 39-year-old moderate Republican since his conviction Oct. 9 on conspiracy and perjury charges stemming from allegations of illegal contributions to his 1983 campaign. However, although knowing that his days at City Hall may be numbered, Hedgecock has impressed even his detractors with his resilience and by the manner in which he has, in the words of one colleague, “continued to give 120% every day” during the last two months.

Saying that he is determined “to not just sit behind a desk waiting” for resolution of his case, Hedgecock has maintained a normal daily schedule packed with dozens of city and civic events, and he has continued to demonstrate finesse and humor in conducting weekly council meetings. In short, Hedgecock has been, as Councilman Bill Cleator put it, “a full-time mayor in every sense” since his conviction.

“No matter how you feel about Roger, you’ve got to profoundly respect him for his tenacity,” said City Councilman Mike Gotch, perhaps Hedgecock’s closest ally on the council. “Despite the fact that he gets up each morning not knowing what his future is going to be from moment to moment, he’s kept things running smoothly and seems to be fairly upbeat.

“He’s staying on top of the day-to-day things as well as doing some longer-range planning,” Gotch added. “He’s not just looking to collect a paycheck and go home at 5 o’clock. He’s giving his all every single day at City Hall.”

Even Cleator, who usually is at loggerheads with the mayor on most major issues, praised Hedgecock for what the councilman described as “a pretty amazing job during some tough personal times.”

“Roger has to be going through hell, but I haven’t seen any evidence that he’s slacked off in any way in terms of the job,” Cleator said. “He’s there plugging away like normal. I admire him for that. Under the same circumstances, I don’t know that I or many others could do the same thing.”

In an interview in his City Hall office, Hedgecock acknowledged that his official duties have had a “therapeutic effect” while he awaits a ruling on his motion to overturn his conviction because of jury-tampering allegations. On Thursday, the California Supreme Court refused to hear the mayor’s request that Superior Court Judge William L. Todd Jr. be removed from the case, clearing the way for next Tuesday’s hearing.

If Todd, who presided over both of Hedgecock’s trials--the first of which ended in a hung jury--denies the new-trial motion, a sentencing hearing would be scheduled and Hedgecock would be forced from the office he has held since May, 1983. Under state law, Hedgecock, who faces a maximum of eight years in prison (the prosecutor has recommended three years in prison and a $75,000 fine), could not be reinstated even if his conviction is overturned on appeal.

Shortly after he was convicted, Hedgecock’s case was thrown into legal limbo by two jurors’ sworn allegations that a court bailiff tampered with the jury during its deliberations, which lasted 6 1/2 days. The 10 other jurors, however, have disputed those charges. In the wake of the jury-tampering charges, Hedgecock rescinded his pledge to resign, deciding to remain in office pending a ruling on his request for a new trial.

“I have to admit that I don’t enjoy the waiting and the uncertainty any more than anyone else and probably a lot less than most people,” Hedgecock said. “I am getting a little impatient and thinking, ‘Let’s get on with it!’

“But you could go crazy if you just sat around here waiting for the phone to ring. I’ve taken the attitude that what’s going to happen is going to happen, and I can’t do anything about it at this point. I’ve leaving the legal situation in my lawyers’ hands. So, while there’s naturally some tension involved in the waiting, my therapy is going back to work and focusing on the job.”

From the beginning of investigations into his personal and campaign finances nearly two years ago, Hedgecock has pointed proudly to what he calls his “performance under fire,” as if it were a badge of honor. In the interview, Hedgecock became animated as he asserted that he intends to “continue to do the job, continue to push ahead the city’s agenda for as long as I’m in this office, whether that’s a few more days or the rest of my term.”

“I feel pretty strongly that I was elected to do a job and not just . . . occupy this office,” Hedgecock said. “It’s been a point of pride for me that under whatever the tough circumstances are, I’m going to be here and doing the job to the best of my ability.”

‘Frenetic Pace’ Continues

Long noted for his indefatigability, Hedgecock has maintained what he describes as “the same old frenetic pace” in the weeks since his conviction. During the closing days of the city elections last month, Hedgecock took a leading public role in support of Proposition A, the growth-management initiative voters approved.

In addition to presiding over council sessions with his characteristic aplomb, the mayor has attended various other local governmental agency meetings and also kept a hand in the operations of several key task forces, including ones dealing with AIDS and the homeless.

Hedgecock also has been visible at numerous social and civic affairs--”No one’s been shunning me like I have the plague,” he joked--and recently offered several legislative initiatives, chief among them a plan to switch council elections from odd- to even-numbered years. Although the council tabled that plan--which would consolidate local races with statewide elections and, according to Hedgecock, cut costs in half and result in double the usual turnout--it is tentatively scheduled to be reconsidered early next year.

“The mayor certainly has been very much in evidence as the mayor,” Councilwoman Gloria McColl said. “He seems to have a remarkable facility to compartmentalize his brain. He can shut a door on one problem and immediately concentrate on something else. I’d have to say that city business hasn’t lagged because of his legal problem.”

Strategic Planning Begun

Treading close to the area where one could, perhaps, be accused of allowing reality to be eclipsed by cocky optimism, Hedgecock also has started strategic planning on issues not scheduled to come before the council until next year--when his presence at City Hall is far from certain. For example, the mayor and his staff have begun preliminary work on next year’s budget, and Hedgecock says that he has “started conceptually planning” his January, 1986, State of the City address--a speech he may never give.

Hedgecock, however, dismisses the notion that, given his tenuous hold on his office, such long-range planning is impractical or unrealistic.

“I’m doing this job as if I’m going to stay, because I think that’s what the public wants me to do,” Hedgecock said. “The alternative would be to put everything on hold, but that would lead to a paralysis . . . that wouldn’t be good for the city or for me.

“My approach has been to try to maintain business as usual. Then, if at some future time I have to go, then it will be up to the council to decide what to do with these issues. But I want to at least be sure that at whatever point I leave this job, that I leave behind a feeling that nobody’s dropped the ball, that every opportunity has been looked at and every problem is getting the kind of attention that it ought to receive.”

Perception Discounted

Although the day-to-day flow of city business has proceeded at a normal pace during the past two months, Councilman Ed Struiksma argues that the normality has occurred in spite of, not because of, Hedgecock’s efforts.

“I don’t think the last couple months--or, for that matter, the last year--could really be described as business as usual, even though that may seem to be the case on the surface,” said Struiksma, another frequent Hedgecock foe.

“The council’s assumed greater responsibility . . . because of the strong likelihood that (Hedgecock) was in a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ position,” added Struiksma, who, as deputy mayor--a largely ceremonial post rotated annually among the council members--would become acting mayor if Hedgecock must forfeit his office.

As evidence of what he sees as the mayor’s weakened leadership role, Struiksma pointed out that Hedgecock recently suffered two major snubs when the council tabled his election plan and ignored the mayor’s recommendations for chairmanships of council committees. Instead, the chairmanships were chosen according to the preference of a conservative coalition headed by Cleator and Struiksma.

Philosophical Differences

Hedgecock’s allies, however, argue that those and some other recent council votes cannot be interpreted as stemming from Hedgecock’s legal woes. Pointing to the election in November of two new conservative members, which tipped the council’s ideological balance, Gotch contends that Hedgecock “still would have been on the losing side of those votes even if he had been acquitted.”

Added Hedgecock, “Obviously, my job would have been a hell of a lot easier if this legal situation had not come up, but I don’t think that it’s significantly affected the votes at the council. The differences we’ve had have been ones of philosophy that would have occurredanyway.

“Since the verdict, the council members have been no more willing than they ever were to have a mayor dictate what their vote ought to be, but they certainly have been as willing as ever to discuss and debate things with me and to work constructively.”

While jokingly conceding that his the possibility of being forced from office “hasn’t done much . . . for my peace of mind,” Hedgecock insists that he has not dwelled on that glum prospect as he has gone about his duties in recent weeks.

“I don’t go around thinking, ‘Gee, will I be here in two weeks to vote on this?’ ” Hedgecock said. “I focus on things that I can control and what’s in front of me now. My challenge, and what I’m proudest of, is what we’ve been able to do even with the legal challenge.

“While it’s been difficult at times, I’ve always had a basic optimism . . . about the future. I leave this office each day expecting to be back tomorrow and the next day. Until someone says something different, I’m going to run this operation--my staff, the council and myself--as if I’m going to serve out my term.”