For Hedgecock, the Only Question Is ‘What About Tomorrow?’

Saying that his philosophy is to “respond to adversity with a smile,” former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock said Monday that he has learned that “there are more important values than being mayor” in the month since his forced resignation, and that he has entered the new year “with a lot of confidence and a lot of hope.”

In an interview broadcast on KPBS-TV (Channel 15) Monday night, Hedgecock also called on the candidates who are competing to succeed him at City Hall to “dream some impossible dreams” for San Diego, adding that he believes that none of the major contenders currently has “an inside track” for capturing the coalition of neighborhood activists and environmentalists that helped elect him.

Appearing upbeat and relaxed, Hedgecock conceded that he and his family “spent some time grieving” after his resignation last month just before he was sentenced to one year in local custody after losing his bid to reverse his felony conviction because of jury-tampering allegations. Hedgecock now is free on his own recognizance pending the outcome of his appeal of his 13-count felony conspiracy and perjury conviction.

“It was a tragedy for me, my family and I think for all of the things I stood for and the kinds of things I was trying to accomplish as mayor,” Hedgecock said. “But . . . that was yesterday, and the only question for me now and for my family is: What about tomorrow?

“I’m not one of those people who looks back. I always look forward. I feel that good things happen to you and bad things happen to you. You’re supposed to learn, you’re supposed to grow and mature, and those experiences are supposed to make you a better person. And that’s how I’ve taken it. Why do it the other way? The other way is to feel sorry for yourself, crawl under a rock, go on welfare (and) let it destroy your life. And I’m not going to do that.”

Hedgecock, who starts a new career as a talk show host on KSDO Radio in two weeks, explained that a recent holiday vacation with his family “set me back on my feet as to what is important in life and what isn’t.”

“I need to continue to show my kids that . . . whatever adversity there is, there are more important values than being mayor of the city,” Hedgecock said. “Really, I think the most important message and lesson I got out of it is how important family is and how important some other values are to you other than the more superficial things.”

In regard to next month’s special mayoral primary, Hedgecock said that he might use his daily radio program “to expose people to the merits of the candidates” on the Feb. 25 ballot, but said that he doubts that he will endorse any of his would-be successors or take an active role in the campaign.

“I’m busy getting my life back together, and I really haven’t given that a lot of thought,” Hedgecock said.

As he has since the investigations into his personal and campaign finances began in early 1984, Hedgecock insisted in the 30-minute interview that he was prosecuted for “the same kind of mistakes (for which) other candidates have always received a fine.”

“The intention to intentionally, feloniously violate the law is not there,” Hedgecock said of his case. “This business of a felony jail term, et cetera, et cetera, for receiving money for a campaign . . . just is not in the American scheme of things a felony, and I think that on appeal we’re going to be able to straighten that out.”

Asked whether he would do anything differently if he could turn back the calendar, Hedgecock answered that he would simply be more careful about filling out the various personal and campaign financial disclosure statements required of public officials. Errors on those reports--mistakes that Hedgecock described as inadvertent ones but which prosecutors characterized as intentional attempts to conceal illegal financial aid--led to the perjury charges on which the former mayor was convicted.

“I certainly would have kept these government forms more accurately,” Hedgecock said. “We were, frankly, careless in keeping the records (and) the documentation. We were careless . . . to the point where the law was not strictly 100% followed through.”

Expressing hope that “some of the advances” that he made as mayor “are not lost,” Hedgecock encouraged those seeking to succeed him to continue “opening up City Hall . . . to a broader range of people” and to pursue a growth-management policy that emphasizes “quality over quantity.”

Hedgecock also described his forced departure from City Hall as only a temporary obstacle to the goal of “building a great city in San Diego.”

“No one’s indispensable,” Hedgecock said. “I’m not. No one is. The candidates who now are facing the public have got to come up to the high standard, have got to dream some dreams for people, have got to raise that banner again, that standard of excellence and quality in the future of this city and pull people together instead of dividing them.”

The former mayor added, however, that he believes that the coalition at the heart of his political base currently does not “have a clear-cut candidate” among the three major mayoral contenders--Councilmen Bill Cleator and Ed Struiksma, and former Councilwoman Maureen F. O’Connor.

“That’s why this campaign is going to be very interesting, to see which candidate tries to attract what is clearly a majority of voters once all those pieces are put together,” Hedgecock said.

Showing that adversity has not dimmed his sense of humor, Hedgecock smiled slightly as he ended the interview by using a one-liner to reiterate his contention that he has no future political plans.

“As my wife said, I’d have to be doing it with another partner,” Hedgecock said. “So I doubt if it’s in the future.”