Struiksma Appointments Derailed : Cleator Leads Council Vote; Both Sides Cry ‘Politics’

The lukewarm San Diego mayoral campaign boiled over into City Council chambers Tuesday when acting Mayor Ed Struiksma and Councilman Bill Cleator--formerly conservative cohorts, now opposing candidates--politically muscled each other on the issue of making appointments to city boards and commissions before a permanent mayor is elected.

When the vote was tallied, Cleator was the winner. The Point Loma councilman strung together five votes and blocked two appointments to the prestigious San Diego Stadium Authority while preventing Struiksma from acting any more mayoral by naming people to other city panels.

“I think this is absolutely nothing short of politics, politics all the way,” Struiksma fumed after the meeting had adjourned. Accusing his opponent of taking his campaign “out of the streets and bringing it to City Hall,” Struiksma said that Cleator “should have left politics out of the chamber.”

Immediately after the vote, Struiksma’s office issued a press release calling the vote “potentially illegal” because it holds up the city’s appointment process. The release announced that the acting mayor had asked the city attorney to rule whether the action was valid. City Atty. John Witt told The Times the vote was not illegal.

Cleator showed little sympathy for Struiksma. When told by reporters that Struiksma was upset and disappointed with him, the animated councilman looked up and feigned concern. “Oooohhh. That’s too bad,” he said.

And was his purpose with Tuesday’s vote to publicly and politically humiliate Struiksma? “There was no hardball message at all. . . . I think the objective is to take the politics out of the appointment process,” said Cleator.

Cleator and other council members have been upset with Struiksma since he declared his candidacy after accepting the position of deputy mayor, normally a ceremonial post but one that now has greater significance with the resignation of Roger Hedgecock after his conviction on felony conspiracy and perjury charges. In Hedgecock’s absence, Struiksma carries out all mayoral functions, including chairing council meetings.

Publicly and privately, Cleator and others have said that council members agreed to give Struiksma the post when he promised, either directly or indirectly, not to run for mayor. Struiksma said he made no such promise and has been tending to mayoral chores, such as delivering the State of the City Address, that are perceived to give him an advantage in the short race. The primary is scheduled for Feb. 25.

Word began to spread among council offices on the 10th Floor of City Hall that a fight was brewing when Struiksma indicated that, as acting mayor, he would push forward with appointments to boards and commissions. The first test was for three seats soon to open on the Stadium Authority, considered a plumb reward for ardent political supporters because of the free parking, food and sports tickets that go along with the four-year job.

The authority is an advisory board that meets once a month. It is one of the few panels that is filled through nominations from all the council members; the mayor makes nominations for most other boards and commissions, and the council is required simply to ratify or reject his choices.

Council members circulated memos with their stadium nominations.

Moments before those and other names were to come before the council Tuesday, Cleator was two floors below, soft-peddling the impending fight. He said he didn’t expect a hassle over the Stadium Authority appointments, although he had other concerns about naming people to other boards.

But all that changed a few minutes later in the council chambers. Cleator, who took his place just in time for debate on the authority appointments, reminded his colleagues that he held back on filling board and commission slots when he was acting mayor in early 1983, after Pete Wilson was elected U.S. Senator.

He said he moved ahead with only three appointments to the county water authority board and city housing commission because the boards needed quorums to conduct business.

“I feel that we’re in a similar situation now, and I don’t think it is necessary at this time to push these forward,” Cleator said. “I feel that the individuals that are in place can do the job until we have a full council.”

Struiksma balked. He said there may not be a full council until June, and stressed that there are 20 vacancies on city boards and commissions. Terms for another 61 appointees have expired, and 56 more will expire by March 1 for groups such as the housing commission, library commission, women’s advisory board, water authority, planning commission, and park and recreation board.

Alluding to Hedgecock’s legal problems and their disruptive effect on council business, Struiksma told the council that to wait any more for the appointments would be “fostering an image out there that this council has, unfortunately by what proceeded us, put a lot of things on hold.

“I just think it would be in the best interest of the city to go about the business of the city,” said Struiksma.

Talking openly about the race, Struiksma added, “Bill, if you’re successful or I’m successful, there is going to be a number of months before there is a full council” because another appointment or election will have to be held to fill either of their own vacated council seats.

Cleator wasn’t listening. During much of Struiksma’s remarks, he looked away. Once he ignored the acting mayor by leaning back in his chair, looking at the ceiling, stretching his arms and trying to stifle a yawn.

Councilwoman Gloria McColl, the council’s liaison to the Stadium Authority, backed Struiksma on the issue, stressing that the authority needed a full complement of appointees to begin planning for the 1988 Super Bowl, which will be held in San Diego. One authority member has served the maximum two terms and cannot be renominated; a second, fund-raiser Nancy MacHutchin, has resigned.

To do anything less, said McColl, would be a “disservice” to the people who allowed themselves to be nominated for the post.

“What I think I’m hearing from my colleagues right now upsets me a little bit,” she said. “I’m wondering who will come forward and say, ‘I will do this work for you’ and then come down here and hear this kind of dialogue . . . To treat these people the way we’re doing, I’m somewhat ashamed,” she said.

Nevertheless, Cleator and friends prevailed. On a motion by Councilman William Jones--whose own nominee appeared to be out of the running anyway--the council voted 5-3 not to make any new appointments to boards and commissions until the new mayor is elected and a full council is in place.

“I think it’s a courtesy we want to give to the new mayor, it is a courtesy we should extend to ourselves as a full council, so that we can ensure that all neighborhoods are represented on boards and commissions,” said Jones.

Voting for the motion were Cleator, Jones, Gotch, Uvaldo Martinez and Judy McCarty. Opposing were Struiksma, McColl and Abbe Wolfsheimer.

The practical effect of Tuesday’s vote will be to freeze the vacancies on the boards and commissions. Vacancies such as MacHutchin’s on the Stadium Authority will remain open, while people whose terms have expired will be asked to continue serving.

The political effect was pretty clear, too.

Struiksma was visibly angry. Referring to Cleator’s claim that he held back on appointments as acting mayor, Struiksma complained, “He’s trying to make business as it was three years ago when he ground the city to a halt.”

Answered Cleator: “I don’t think I was challenging (Struiksma), whether he had a success or a failure. You can accept or reject the statement, but I don’t think it (the vote) was just to give him a defeat.”