Killea Out of Race for Mayor; Names Possible Candidate

Democratic Assemblywoman Lucy Killea on Friday joined the lengthening list of prominent local politicians who have decided not to enter the Feb. 25 special primary to succeed Roger Hedgecock as mayor of San Diego.

Killea, 63, who was a city councilwoman from 1979-82 before her election to the Assembly, said she reached her decision “after careful consideration and consultation with . . . people from all walks of life who pledged their votes, and often their contributions, to my possible campaign for mayor.”

Councilman Bill Cleator, a Republican, and former Councilwoman Maureen O’Connor, a Democrat, are the most prominent of the 16 people who have taken out nominating papers for the race. O’Connor, however, has not made a formal announcement of her candidacy.

Both Cleator and O’Connor ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1983 against Hedgecock, who was forced to resign this month just prior to his sentencing on perjury and conspiracy convictions stemming from illegal contributions to his 1983 campaign.

Political consultant Don Harrison, who is managing Cleator’s campaign, said Killea’s decision “makes it even more likely that this election will be decided without a runoff.” A runoff, scheduled for June 3, would be necessary if no candidate in the primary gets more than 50% of the vote.

Saying she was faced with a “choice between two roles in public life,” Killea said she would forgo the race for mayor to seek a third term next year as the representative for the 78th Assembly District.

At the same time, however, Killea threw a new name into the mayoral election hopper--that of businesswoman Deborah Szekely, a Republican who was appointed last year by the Reagan Administration to head the Inter-American Foundation, an agency with a $26-million budget to promote self-help development in Latin America.

Szekely, a San Diego resident who owns the Golden Door health spa in Escondido, was in Tel Aviv on vacation Friday and was not due to return home until Tuesday, according to Lucy Cooney, her personal secretary. The filing period for the primary closes Jan. 3.

Killea said she had “discussed mentioning her name” with Szekely, “and she was flattered,” but Killea declined to say whether the spa owner was considering running for mayor. Cooney said Szekely “has been out of the country since Dec. 11, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t thinking about running.” She said Szekely has “casually mentioned the possibility.”

“I considered running for mayor of San Diego,” said Killea, “because I believed someone not directly involved in the local political turmoil for the past three years would be better able to bring everyone together.

“We need someone nonpartisan and moderate in outlook, with knowledge of San Diego and its needs, and vision for its future, someone who understands and cares about working constantly for that delicate balance between economic vitality and environmental viability. Deborah Szekely is the kind of person who comes to mind.”

Szekely, also 63, was a candidate in the 1982 Republican primary for the 43rd Congressional District seat eventually won by Ron Packard, a write-in candidate. It was the most expensive primary race (21 Republican candidates spent more than $2.5 million) in history for the U.S. House of Representatives. After spending $459,000 ($350,000 of which she personally lent to the campaign), Szekely finished fourth in the primary, behind winner Johnny Crean, a wealthy Orange County travel-trailer manufacturer; Packard, and William McColl, an orthopedic surgeon and former Stanford University and Chicago Bears football player.

“She is a competent and successful businesswoman who has a broad picture of the world and understanding of other people,” Killea said. “She represents the talent and dedication to San Diego that needs to be harnessed for more public service.”

Others doubted, however, whether Szekely’s name was prominent enough to counter those of Cleator or O’Connor, San Diego natives who for years have been in the forefront of local politics.

“She is a very talented lady, and I’m certain she has a following,” Harrison said. “But she’s known primarily in political contributor circles--I don’t think she’s very well-known by the voters of the city--and given the short . . . time she would have to campaign, that could work against her.”

Killea now moves to the sidelines, along with Democratic Councilman Mike Gotch, Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) and Police Chief Bill Kolender, a Republican, all of whom decided against seeking the city’s highest elective post.

“This narrows down the list of possible Democratic Party candidates, and I’m sorry about her decision from the city’s standpoint,” said Gotch, who had publicly urged Killea to run for mayor when he announced his decision not to enter the race. “She certainly would have brought the broadest legislative experience to the office.”

Ed Struiksma, who as the city’s deputy mayor became acting mayor when Hedgecock resigned, will announce within the next week whether he intends to enter the race, spokeswoman Judith Wolf said Friday. Sources at City Hall have predicted Struiksma, a conservative Republican like Cleator, would not run, because, they said, he had promised fellow council members he would not enter the race as a condition for garnering their support for the deputy mayor’s post.

Killea’s decision leaves O’Connor as the most prominent Democrat in the race. Floyd Morrow, a councilman from 1967-79 and former chairman of San Diego County Democratic Central Committee, also is a candidate, but he is attempting to rebound from a string of recent defeats in runs for the City Council, Assembly and Municipal and Superior Court judgeships. He is not expected to be a strong contender against Cleator, a councilman since 1979, or O’Connor.

It remains to be seen, however, whether O’Connor, who won the first of her two council terms in 1971 at age 25 and also has served on the Metropolitan Transit Development Board and as a San Diego port commissioner, can unite the Democratic Party behind her candidacy, particularly given Killea’s endorsement of a possible Szekely campaign. Killea said it was time for the city to move and embrace new political leadership, and added that while she “thought about the fact that I might split the vote with Maureen, it did not enter into my final decision. . . . “

“San Diego has changed,” Killea said, “and many of us don’t see yesteryear as good enough for San Diego of today and tomorrow.”

O’Connor, who was on the council from 1971-79, has remained in the political background since her narrow defeat in the mayoral election runoff to Hedgecock, a race in which she loaned her campaign $683,000, although she remains one of the best-known politicians in the city.

Gotch said it remained to be seen whether prominent Democratic Party officeholders would support O’Connor. “That question could be most easily answered if she would pick up the phone and give me a call,” Gotch said.

“The choice to do that is hers. I’ve never known Maureen well, and we’ve never taken the chance to be good friends. Perhaps now is the time for us to do that.”