D.A. Exploded Political Bomb and It Was Over for Struiksma

It was a routine night on the campaign trail for Ed Struiksma as he mingled at a cocktail fund-raiser in the offices of Buie Corp., a Rancho Bernardo home construction company, early Thursday night.

But about 6 p.m. , he was interrupted by the sound of his electronic pager. It was David Lewis, Struiksma’s campaign adviser, calling with an urgent message.

In a few moments Struiksma was on the phone to Lewis, who was in his office in downtown San Diego. Lewis told him that only minutes before a newspaper reporter had called and said the San Diego County district attorney’s office was launching a full-scale investigation into Struiksma’s travel expenses on a city-paid trip to the East Coast in 1984.

The news hit Struiksma like a bomb, shattering his mayoral campaign. Three and a half hours later, at a hastily arranged news conference, he announced he was withdrawing from the race in which he had been considered one of the front-runners.

Struiksma’s office said he was not available for comment on the matter Friday. But according to both Lewis and Bob Meadow, Struiksma’s pollster, two people intimately involved in events during those 3 1/2 hours, the decision to drop out of the election was made almost immediately and in an atmosphere of calm.

Although the alternative of staying in the race, and adjusting campaign strategies to neutralize the political effect of the district attorney’s investigation, was discussed, Struiksma and his political inner circle never seriously considered it, they said.

“We agreed to meet at my office at 7 p.m.,” Lewis recalled during an interview Friday. “But it was clear after our phone conversation that he had pretty much made up his mind right then and there to pull out.”

Both Lewis and Meadow maintain that the possibility of withdrawing was never considered before Thursday night. Although the district attorney’s review of the expense report and the attention drawn to it by Councilman Bill Cleator, a rival in the mayor’s race, had dogged Struiksma for a week, Struiksma’s political advisers were expecting that the review would conclude that he was absolved of blame.

“There was concern about the fact the investigation could continue on, but there really hadn’t been any discussion of dropping out,” Lewis said. “Obviously, Ed felt positive about it. He had met with them (a district attorney’s investigator) this week, and he hoped it would be wrapped up soon. But then we had to face the fact they wanted to pursue it.”

When Struiksma arrived at Lewis’ office shortly after 7 p.m., he was accompanied by Ellen Capozzoli, his administrative assistant.

Waiting for him were Lewis, Meadow and Jim Johnston, Lewis’ business partner, and Struiksma’s parents, John and Lucille. Struiksma--who had asked his parents to be there--met with them privately for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Lewis, Johnston and Meadow were having a discussion. “We talked about what the city had gone through, with Roger (Hedgecock) and (Uvaldo) Martinez. We talked about the implications for a successful candidacy,” Meadow said Friday.

“The question was how would it be possible to sustain the energies needed in a campaign and make sure Ed was fully cooperating with the district attorney. This was an incredible strain on him--the number of things he was doing . . . responding to allegations, trying to run a campaign, the pressures on his family and his responsibilities as acting mayor. It was too much for any one person.”

After talking briefly to his parents, the meeting among Struiksma, Lewis, Meadow, Johnston and Capozzoli began. It was short, no more than 10 minutes. Although the alternative of keeping the campaign alive was discussed, it was not seriously considered.

Struiksma was unwavering about the decision. “It was like ‘Let’s do it and do it now,’ ” Meadow said.

Both Lewis and Meadow said there was no anger in the meeting. “There’s no question he had some conflicts with Bill Cleator” over the expense report, Meadow said. “I’m sure it’s lingering there somewhere, but it wasn’t in the nature of our discussions on Thursday night. It was nothing like ‘I’m the victim of Bill Cleator or I’m angry at Cleator’--none of that.”

The decision was made to hold a late-night press conference. Since there was no more uncertainty about what Struiksma would do next, it was felt that it would be unfair to his campaign volunteers to have them walking precincts and soliciting campaign contributions if Struiksma was out of the race.

Next, Struiksma instructed Lewis to track down Cleator and Maureen O’Connor, the other front-runners in the race. “He just felt he ought to tell them so they’d have advance notice about what was going on,” Lewis said. Cleator and O’Connor returned Lewis’ calls before the press conference.

A statement to be read to reporters was drafted, revised and made final.

Struiksma then went out and bought razor blades so that he could shave before he had to face the television cameras.