Caretaker Council Member to Be Appointed : Martinez Sways Vote on Choosing Successor

Without uttering a word, San Diego City Councilman Uvaldo Martinez on Tuesday cast the deciding vote to defeat a proposal calling for a council district advisory poll on who should succeed him after he is sentenced next month for misappropriation of public funds.

The silent Martinez joined four Republican colleagues in a 5-4 vote that dashed hopes for the unusual voter survey. Martinez then voted again with the same majority to commit the council to filling his seat with a caretaker appointment--someone who would promise not to run in the regularly scheduled District 8 election next year.

The loss was Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s first major legislative defeat since taking office. She had proposed the advisory vote, calling it the “fairest” way of filling the seat. The district includes the lower half of Hillcrest, downtown, Golden Hill, Burlingame and Barrio Logan, and reaches south to San Ysidro.

Voting with O’Connor were Abbe Wolfsheimer, Mike Gotch and William Jones. Voting against the mayor were Martinez, Bill Cleator, Ed Struiksma, Judy McCarty and Gloria McColl. The vote was the same on the caretaker appointment.

The council will act on the appointment later.

Choosing how to fill the seat has been one of the most politically charged decisions the council has faced in recent months, and the fact that Martinez cast the deciding vote on the way his successor will be chosen drew some immediate criticism.

“It does not look well, I would agree with that,” O’Connor said after the vote.

Jess Haro, former 8th District councilman and chairman of the Chicano Federation, condemned the outcome Tuesday as “tainted” and said Martinez’s constituents wanted the advisory vote. He said that Martinez showed a “total lack of personal integrity” by casting the deciding vote.

“I can’t believe that, out of a sense of his own personal pride, that he would have allowed himself to be used,” Haro said. “This thing was a fix right from the start.”

Attorney Michael Aguirre, who declared his candidacy for Martinez’s seat long before the councilman pleaded guilty to felony charges of misuse of a city credit card, expressed outrage.

“I think it’s disgraceful that the councilman, a convicted felon, a man who misused his position of trust . . . would be permitted to deny the democratic right of the citizens of the 8th Council District,” Aguirre said.

But Martinez said he voted for an interim appointment because, “basically, I think it gives all candidates interested in running an even shot at running, in the primary and the general elections. And also, I polled a number of people in the district and there was overwhelming support for an interim appointment.”

Martinez said he kept mum during Tuesday’s protracted council discussion because there was “no point” in talking. Asked what he thought about accusations that he tainted the council vote, Martinez replied: “I don’t think anything about it at all.”

At least one of Martinez’s potential replacements agreed with his vote Tuesday. Gale MacLeod said the interim appointment would allow her and other candidates the necessary time to meet constituents and conduct fund raising for next year’s election.

She said an advisory poll would give an advantage to council hopefuls who could afford to send out quick mailers to 8th District constituents.

The City Charter requires council members to try to appoint someone to a vacancy on the council within a month after it occurs. If this cannot be done, an election must be held and the seat filled within 150 days of the election being called.

In the case of Martinez, the clock could begin running as late as Nov. 13, when he is scheduled to be sentenced.

O’Connor had suggested using an advisory poll of the district to help guide the council members in their selection.

City Clerk Charles Abdelnour said Tuesday that he could conduct a mail ballot of voters in Martinez’s district in as little as 19 days, but he could not guarantee its accuracy.

Because of that caveat, City Atty. John Witt warned Tuesday: “You could do it, but there would be risks.”

Witt said the advisory poll, which would have been the first ever conducted by the city, would “open the charter and municipal code procedure to questions of fundamental fairness and potential fraud, which could result in a court finding the result to be void or the integrity of the process being seriously questioned by the public, or both.”

O’Connor, however, urged acceptance of her idea. “Yes, there are going to be problems with it, but I’m an optimist,” she said. “Maybe it is not totally fair, but believe me, in my opinion, it’s a lot fairer than the process we have now.”

Some council members argued vociferously against the appointment process, citing the fact that Martinez and his two predecessors, Lucy Killea and Haro, each were initially appointed to the 8th District seat, giving them a significant edge over challengers.

The last race for an open seat in the district occurred in 1971, an election won by Jim Bates, now a congressman.