Political Hopefuls Eye His Seat on City Council as Martinez Faces Trial

“The body,” as some aspiring politicians not-so-delicately refer to San Diego City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez, is not even cold yet. For that matter, there’s not even a body now. Yet, a half dozen would-be successors are already fighting over the inheritance.

Indeed, even as Martinez prepares to defend himself in court against felony charges that could result in his ouster from office, others are preparing to run for a council seat that they expect Martinez to vacate, voluntarily or involuntarily, or to be too weak politically to successfully defend next year.

“There’s nothing personal about it--it’s just business, it’s just politics,” said lawyer Michael Aguirre, who last month announced his candidacy for Martinez’s 8th District seat. “I’m not wishing Uvaldo ill or hoping for an outcome one way or the other in his trial. But if you’re going to run, now’s the time when you have to get ready.”

Martinez is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court later this month on 24 felony charges alleging that he misappropriated public funds for personal use and falsified records concerning his use of a city-issued credit card. Under state law, Martinez, whose trial is expected to start this fall, would be automatically removed from office if he is convicted on any of the counts.

Because good politicians, like good chess players, are always thinking a few moves ahead, a handful of individuals already are plotting out potential responses to the various “what-if?” scenarios involving Martinez’s legal and political fate.

Three people--Aguirre, Golden Hill community activist Gail MacLeod and Neil Good, administrative assistant to county Supervisor Leon Williams--say that they probably will seek the 8th District seat regardless of the outcome in Martinez’s case. Lawyer Celia Ballesteros, who narrowly lost to Martinez in 1983, is widely regarded as a likely candidate, while three others--Rich Juarez, an assistant to City Councilman William Jones, public relations executive L.J. Cella and gay political activist Susan Jester--are mentioned as possible contenders, depending on the timing and circumstances of any vacancy.

The fact that Martinez is still in office and, constitutionally, presumed innocent, poses a dilemma that the individuals interested in succeeding him have dealt with differently--with their remarks about their intentions ranging from blunt openness to coyness, some maneuvering quietly behind the scenes, others at news conferences and public fund-raisers. The trick, Cella explained, is to have the finesse to lay the necessary groundwork to be ready for a vacancy, if and when one occurs, without “making it look like you’re kicking someone when he’s down.”

“There’s a delicate balancing act to perform,” Cella said. “If you’re too overzealous or act too driven at this point, that can turn off some people. At the same time, if you lay back too much or wait for people to come to you, you’re going to be sadly surprised.”

The uncertainty over both the timing of a vacancy, if any, and how the council might choose to fill it also creates difficulties for the potential candidates.

“You have to do your planning in an open-ended way,” said MacLeod, planning director of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. “At any given moment, you might have only eight weeks to prepare for a race. Or, you might have a year. Sometimes I’m not sure whether I’m too early or too late.”

The possible candidates also display varying degrees of sensitivity over how their actions might be viewed by Martinez himself or, more importantly, affect public perceptions about the embattled councilman. For instance, Cella concedes that his own low-key activities could leave him at a disadvantage later, but adds, “I’m not about to go out and start saying bad things about Uvaldo. If that means that when the music starts, I might not be on, that’s fine. It’s not my style to jump . . . unless and until something happens.”

Similarly, Ballesteros, who talks very much like a candidate-in-waiting but claims to be undecided, attributes some of her reticence to a desire to “not do anything to create an atmosphere where Mr. Martinez might not get a fair trial.”

“To even talk about it now is premature, because that makes it seem as if there definitely will be a vacancy, and that’s not true,” Ballesteros said. “It’s inappropriate for me or anyone else to run around saying I’m running for the office of someone who’s out there asserting his basic constitutional rights.”

Good, however, readily acknowledges that his own preparatory work in recent months is designed in large part “to help raise the consciousness of people about the likelihood of a vacancy.”

“There’s a general perception that (Martinez) is not going to last long,” Good said. “I initially thought some people might say, ‘Isn’t it a little early? The bones aren’t even cold yet.’ But I haven’t detected that. What I have detected is confusion over what happens if he leaves or survives the legal challenge.”

That confusion will not be eliminated until Martinez’s legal fate is decided, because only then will the various options now available to the council for dealing with that contingency be narrowed to one.

What is definite is that, regardless of whether Martinez is acquitted or convicted, there will be a regularly scheduled election in the 8th District in the fall of 1987, when his four-year term ends. In light of his legal woes, Martinez’ candidacy for reelection is highly problematical.

Martinez declined to be interviewed. However, Paul Grasso, his administrative assistant, said that Martinez is preoccupied more with his legal challenge than with doubts over his political future.

“Reelection hasn’t been a big topic of conversation around here,” Grasso said. “He’s just taking things one day at a time.”

The would-be candidates’ preliminary politicking, Grasso added, does not appear to have undermined Martinez’s authority in the district or to have fostered the impression that Martinez’s days at City Hall are numbered.

“We haven’t seen people shying away or treating him like he’s a lame duck,” Grasso said. “I don’t see the situation as much different than it would be if the legal problem didn’t exist and people were getting ready to run next year.”

If Martinez is convicted or resigns as part of a plea bargain before then, the council could decide to fill the vacancy via an appointment or a special election. Another option facing the council--one that would save money and sidestep the controversy that always surrounds appointments--would be to simply leave the seat empty until next year’s regular municipal races; if Martinez were to depart from City Hall this fall, however, it is doubtful that the council would leave his position unfilled for more than a year.

The fact that Martinez and his two predecessors, Lucy Killea and Jess Haro, all were initially appointed to the 8th District seat--giving them a significant edge over future challengers--is largely responsible for a strong anti-appointment sentiment found within the district. The last race for an open seat in the district occurred in 1971, an election won by now-Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego).

“People are tired of having council members shoved down their throats,” Aguirre said. “I think most people feel that an open election is the proper way to go.” However, Aguirre and most of the other potential candidates concede that they would seek an appointment if the council opts for that method.

Aware that a special citywide election could cost more than $600,000, some of the potential candidates and others have suggested that a district-only advisory election be held, with the victor then being appointed by the council. That approach, proponents argue, would cost only about one-eighth as much as a citywide race, and allow the district a voice in selecting its own representative.

The city attorney’s office, though, considers the advisory-vote plan to be an illegal method of filling a council vacancy.

Under the city charter, the council must make a “good-faith effort” to fill vacancies through appointments within 30 days after they occur, according to Assistant City Atty. Curtis Fitzpatrick. If the council is unable to agree on an appointment, it then is required to “call an election in the normal way,” with a district primary followed by a citywide runoff, Fitzpatrick added.

“A district advisory vote only goes half as far as the charter says you have to go,” Fitzpatrick said.

Another cost-saving notion also apparently destined to fail is the idea that, if Martinez were to leave office before November, either the required primary or runoff to select his successor could be consolidated with this fall’s elections. However, the deadline for races to be listed on the November ballot is Aug. 8--a deadline that San Diego elections officer Jack Fishkin says that the city could not meet because of various public notice requirements.

Rather than spending $600,000-plus for what could be less than a one-year interim term or angering the district through another appointment, some politicos note that the council could appoint a “caretaker” who would pledge not to run for the seat next year. Most of the potential candidates say that they find such a plan acceptable, but emphasize that they would not be personally interested in accepting the seat under those conditions.

The exception is the 32-year-old Cella, who says that while he has not ruled out possibly running for the seat, a brief caretaker term “appeals quite a bit” to him.

“The idea of having a temporary steward makes a lot of sense--economically and politically--and gets the boys and girls of the council off the hot seat,” said Cella, who recently sold his 6-year-old public relations firm.

“It interests me because I don’t really see (politics) as a lifetime career,” added Cella, executive director of the San Diego Arts Center. “I’d like to go in, set a maximum of two or three major priorities, put the pedal to the metal and go for it, and then move on. You’re not going to serve too many terms with that attitude anyway. Then, next year, everyone can go to the mat in an open race.”

The other potential contenders, however, have longer-range goals in mind and have launched efforts aimed at achieving them.

Aguirre, who unsuccessfully sought the 8th District appointment that went to Martinez in 1982, already has sent out 10,000 mailers announcing his candidacy, is building a volunteer precinct organization and plans to soon begin walking door-to-door and raising funds.

“I’ve thrown my hat over the fence and I’ve got to go over that fence regardless of what happens and whether it happens now or 1987,” said the 36-year-old Aguirre, who lost to Bates in a 1982 Democratic congressional primary. “There’s no advantage to waiting for me.”

Aguirre’s law practice and political activism have enabled him to maintain a relatively high public profile in recent years. He helped win a $40-million settlement for former J. David & Co. investors who sued a law firm that represented the now-defunct La Jolla investment firm, and filed a lawsuit earlier this year that contributed to the Port District’s decision to rebid the controversial waterfront convention center project in the wake of projected multimillion-dollar cost overruns.

“Although I’m not an elected official, I have a record in a sense,” said Aguirre, known for his often brash, combative style. “I need a long period of time to try to ingratiate myself with people who might have misconceptions about me.”

Poised for an equally fast break from the starting gate is county supervisorial aide Good, 38, who has raised several thousand dollars in contributions and also has sent out exploratory mailers to potential supporters.

“You can’t wait until an opening occurs and then start planning,” said Good, who also worked for now-Supervisor Williams when he was a city councilman and, before that, served as administrative assistant to state Sen. Jim Mills (D-San Diego) in Sacramento. “If you wait, your possible base among the real activists will be seriously eroded.”

One of Good’s major political bases is the gay community, a politically potent force in the 8th District, which includes downtown, Hillcrest, Balboa Park, Golden Hill, Burlingame, North Park, Nestor, Otay Mesa, Barrio Logan and San Ysidro. Recently, Jester, president of the San Diego County Log Cabin Club, a gay Republican group, indicated that she would not run in any special race in the 8th District in order to avoid dividing the gay community’s vote. However, Jester says that she would seek a council appointment and plans to probably run in the regular 1987 election.

Like Good, the 36-old MacLeod says that she was forced to make her political intentions known before the timetable and nature of the next 8th District race were known to head off preemptive raids by her potential opponents.

“Other candidates were starting to contact my friends and my community contacts,” said MacLeod, a professional planner who has never before run for public office. “To protect myself, I had to establish myself as seriously interested.”

MacLeod hosted a $5-per-person barbecue last month at her home to kick off her grass-roots organizing effort, and says that she has been attending community meetings several times per week to prepare for her campaign.

“I’ve always had a certain corny, idealistic commitment to doing my part for good government,” MacLeod said. “Now seemed like a good time to do something about it.”

Ballesteros, in the eyes of the other potential candidates and most local political observers, is expected to make a second run for the seat that she lost to Martinez three years ago, 53%-47%, after easily outdistancing him in the district primary, 55%-39%.

While the 55-year-old lawyer refuses to make her intentions known, her comments also reveal that the topic clearly has crossed her mind. Ballesteros noted, for example, that several recent polls conducted by others show that she has the highest name identification in the district of any of the potential candidates.

“I ran in ’83 because I had things to say, and that hasn’t changed,” she added.

Nevertheless, Ballesteros insists that she will not make a decision on whether to run “until we know what the facts are” concerning Martinez’s legal and political future.

Juarez also sought the 8th District appointment in 1982, but notes that his job as an assistant to City Councilman Jones saddles him with a burden not faced by the other potential candidates in regard to contemplating a possible second try for the office.

“I have to work daily with Uvaldo, so there’s just no way that I can do or say anything at all now,” Juarez said. “My only alternative is to quit my job and start doing some of that stuff the others are doing. But since I’d like to keep eating for a while, my attitude has to be that there is no vacancy now.”

Ballesteros concurs with Juarez on that point.

“With no office available and so many options possible, it’s silly to even talk about it now,” Ballesteros said. “Each option would create a different game with different rules. But we don’t even know what the game is yet.”