In Jacumba, Hopefuls for Service Board Get the Small Picture

Political candidates normally have many things on their minds in the final days before an election, but where or when people buy gasoline usually isn’t one of them.

Clifton Bailey, however, figures that if a lot of folks here get their automobile gas tanks filled up next weekend, it could hurt his chances of being elected to the Jacumba Community Services District.

Noting that his opponent, William J. Woodward, owns one of the area’s two gas stations, Bailey half-jokingly suggested that Jacumbans’ trips to the gas pump could give Woodward “the last crack” at voters before the Nov. 4 election.

“Everyone needs gas, and when you get it, you see him,” Bailey remarked. “That’s a big advantage in a small place like this. . . . If you’re looking for small, you found it here. Small town, small election, small everything.”

Indeed, small is the operative word for the election in this southeastern San Diego County community. In fact, with only 211 eligible registered voters, the Jacumba Community Services District race ranks as the smallest contested candidates’ election in the county, according to local election officials.

(The smallest election of any kind next month will be an annexation issue near Escondido that will involve only 57 voters.)

Not surprisingly, politics in Jacumba proceeds at a leisurely, old-fashioned pace, unencumbered by such crass intrusions of modern-day campaigning as hot-shot consultants and slick, expensive TV ads and mailers. Here, local residents say, a candidate’s “image”--and even the word seems unctuous for the setting--is measured by how he shakes your hand and whether he shows up in church on Sunday or for civic events such as community clean-up day.

Neither Bailey, 62, a retired school maintenance worker, nor Woodward, 36, plans to spend any money to try to persuade his neighbors to elect him to the non-salaried three-member Community Services District, which next month will take over Jacumba’s antiquated privately owned water system.

There have been no debates, speeches or rallies, and the campaign, such as it is, has largely been limited to occasional, self-conscious reminders from both men to acquaintances that their name is on the ballot.

“When I see people, I ask them if they’re registered and to consider voting for me--that’s about it,” Woodward said. “I may put up a few signs next week, but I’m not sure yet. I already know everybody.”

Nor is the Bailey-Woodward election a particularly hot topic of conversation in Jacumba.

“Most people know both of ‘em and don’t want to offend anybody,” explained Hank Blackwood as he stood in front of the Country Craft, Gift and Thrift Shop. “Everybody knows everybody here.”

Although the “Welcome to Jacumba” highway sign lists the community’s population as 400, local residents say it now exceeds 600. These are hardly boom times, however, for Jacumba.

About 75 miles southeast of downtown San Diego, next to the Imperial County line and the Mexican border, Jacumba resembles nothing so much as a down-on-its-luck Mayberry. The quarter-mile stretch of Old Highway 80 that comprises central Jacumba is bounded by run-down mobile homes at one end and the charred remains of the historic Jacumba Hotel on the other, with a handful of stores and dilapidated buildings in between.

Once famous for its mineral springs, which drew arthritics from across the country and Hollywood stars such as Clara Bow and Clark Gable, Jacumba’s decline is traceable to the same misfortune that befell innumerable other small towns--being bypassed by a major highway.

Until the late 1960s, U.S. Highway 80 was the major road between San Diego and Jacumba, bringing a steady stream of income from tour buses, truckers and other travelers. Then, Interstate 8 was built, and although it ran about only three miles north of Jacumba, things were never the same.

“The whole town’s been going downhill ever since,” said Woodward, a third-generation service station owner whose grandfather had the wisdom to move the family business from the heart of town to the freeway exit. “I plan to be here the rest of my life, so I want to do whatever I can to help change that. I’d like to have a voice in whatever happens.”

Bailey, who moved here two years ago, offers a similar reason for his entry into the race for the four-year term on the services district.

“If you’re going to live here, you ought to get involved,” said Bailey, who retired last month after 14 years with the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District.

“This town’s been laying here for years and hasn’t changed much, and what has changed hasn’t been for the good. I’d like to see things progress and make everything a little better for people here. I sure didn’t get in this for the money. It’s a non-paying job, and it’s already cost me $20,” to have a statement printed in the sample ballot.

Though neither candidate has run for public office before, both Bailey and Woodward have mastered the time-tested political technique of trying to anoint one’s opponent as the front-runner.

Bailey, for example, argues that Woodward’s service station--or, as Bailey’s wife, Joan, calls it in jest, “his political headquarters”--and 30-plus years in the community “give him a leg up on me.” Informed of that analysis, Woodward chuckled and said he considers himself the underdog because many of Jacumba’s residents are senior citizens, “and I’d say that’s probably Mr. Bailey’s field.”

Age is not the only difference between the two men. A New Hampshire native whose voice still has a distinctive Yankee twang, Bailey is active in various community affairs, senior citizens’ programs and charities.

In his spare time, Bailey, who has been married 39 years, makes wooden crafts such as footstools, children’s rockers and toys.

Woodward was born in El Centro but has lived in Jacumba since 1954. A fishing aficionado and frequent softball player, Woodward, who is single, describes himself as “a simple, outdoorsy type.” But he is seen in more glamorous terms by some of his neighbors.

“He’s kind of a jet-setter--he has a big boat and a fancy car,” one longtime resident said.

Despite being in Jacumba for a much shorter time than Woodward, Bailey has participated in a broader range of community activities during that period, several residents said.

Bailey is a frequent presence at most community meetings, and Woodward admitted, “To be honest, I don’t know much about what’s going on with some of this stuff, and that’s one reason I want to get involved.”

In big-city politics, such an admission might be seen as a major blunder; in Jacumba, though, it passes as simple candor.

Both men acknowledge that they have encountered good-natured kidding from their friends about the race. At weekly Kiwanis meetings, Bailey said, he gets “razzed a lot about being the mayor of Jacumba.”

Meanwhile, Woodward, a former Kiwanis Club president, recently told friends that he planned to delay a three-week Mexican trip until the day after the election “because I’m patriotic,” only to have fishing buddy Mike Taylor respond, “The only reason you’re staying to vote is that your name is on the ballot.”

Although the Community Services District, established last year by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, is roughly analogous to a city council, its major immediate duty involves taking over and upgrading the badly deteriorated investor-owned Jacumba Water Co. Cracked pipes and low water pressure have been longstanding problems, and residents complained that the water quality was so bad last summer that they had to boil it before using it.

“Believe me, you’d find some real nasty things in that water,” restaurant owner Joy Tuell said.

Using a $200,000 grant from the state, the Jacumba agency purchased the water system and plans to begin replacing the old pipes and making other improvements over the next five months, according to Dick Fauble, president of the services district. Longer-range plans call for a new reservoir and enhanced maintenance procedures to be financed by water rates.

The district, whose monthly sessions are similar to town meetings, also will oversee development of a 20-acre site donated to it by the county. In addition to baseball fields and picnic grounds, the property also is envisioned as the location for a new senior center.

As evidence of their altruistic motivations, both Bailey and Woodward cite the fact that the post they are running for is a volunteer job and is an unlikely steppingstone to higher office--a goal that interests neither man.

“It’s pretty simple--I’d like us to have the best water system we can, and anything else that would help this town come back,” Bailey said. “If I can do that, I’ll be satisfied.”

“Water controls everything here,” Woodward added. “I want to have a hand in those decisions . . . because that’s our future.”

Perhaps nothing better illustrates the low, low-key nature of the county’s smallest election than the fact that, last week, as other candidates elsewhere scrambled over 11th-hour preparations, Woodward left town to go fishing and Bailey readied some of his handicrafts for Jacumba’s annual Krazy Daze festival.

“When people know you this long, speeches and signs aren’t going to make up their mind,” Woodward remarked matter-of-factly.

In the end, there may be no loser in this race, because one current member of the services district has resigned, a slot to be filled via an appointment next month. That means that the loser on Nov. 4 could be appointed to the board--but there is no guarantee that that will happen.

The board has solicited resumes from interested parties, but district president Fauble doubts that the group will be deluged with requests.

“Only two people filed for this election--does that tell you something?” he asked.

Regardless, both candidates emphasize that there is no animosity between them. As proof of that, Bailey smiled broadly and said that if Woodward wins, “I’ll still buy gas there.”