Filner Leaps Into Race for 8th District Seat

Describing himself as the only candidate whose leadership skills have been “proven and tested” in elective office, former San Diego school board member Bob Filner declared his candidacy Monday for the City Council’s 8th District seat.

At a downtown rally, Filner pledged to be a “strong and vigorous spokesman” for the 8th District, which he characterized as “the most diverse district in the city . . . (with) tremendous problems but enormous potential.”

If elected, Filner said, he will push for “real decision-making authority for neighborhoods at City Hall” and become an ally of Mayor Maureen O’Connor on issues ranging from growth management to crime and sewage control.

“District 8 has suffered in recent years from lack of effective representation (and) has not received its fair share of city attention and resources,” Filner told about 75 supporters at the rally.

“We need quality and visionary leadership on the City Council if we are going to meet the challenges of the year 2000. With such leadership, we can take the diverse elements of District 8 and unite around a respect for neighborhood goals and neighborhood decision-making.”

One of 3 Front-Runners

Filner, who has played the role of an active non-declared candidate for months, is widely viewed as one of three early front-runners in a race that is shaping up as the most wide-open, crowded, competitive council election in recent history.

Lawyer Mike Aguirre and Neil Good, administrative assistant to County Supervisor Leon Williams, round out the leader pack--a preeminence accorded them because, like Filner, they begin the race as well-known figures in political and civic circles, with varying degrees of name recognition among the public at large but substantial fund-raising ability. All three major candidates in the nominally nonpartisan race are Democrats.

The field in the September primary, however, is expected to include nearly a dozen candidates--a fact that, combined with the traditionally low voter turnout in the heavily Democratic district, creates the potential for candidates with limited resources to emerge as major contenders. The top two vote-getters in the district primary will face each other in the November citywide general election.

Other declared or potential candidates include land-use planner Gail MacLeod, former investment broker Ty Smith, city planning commissioner Henry Empeno, businessman Bob Castaneda Jr., former TV news reporter Jesse Macias, San Ysidro community activist Paul Clark, frequent candidate John Kelley and former City Hall aide Danny Martinez.

The 8th District, which stretches south from Hillcrest through downtown to Otay Mesa and San Ysidro, currently is represented by Celia Ballesteros. She was appointed to the seat in December after Councilman Uvaldo Martinez resigned. Martinez pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from his misuse of a city-issued credit card.

Agreed Not to Run

As a condition of her appointment, Ballesteros agreed not to run for the post this fall, setting the stage for the first race for an open seat in the 8th District since the 1971 victory of now-Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego). The three other council members who have held the seat in intervening years--Martinez, Lucy Killea and Jess Haro--all were initially appointed.

Filner drew attention to that recurring cycle of appointments in his speech Monday, emphasizing that this fall’s election will mark the first time in 16 years in which 8th District voters will “elect their own representative,” rather than having a council member “anointed by the powers that be.”

A 44-year-old history professor at San Diego State University, Filner contends that his candidacy will be strengthened by the fact that he is the only one of the three major contenders who has served in elective office and run in the district on three separate occasions--twice in his successful 1979 school board race and in his narrow 1983 loss to San Diego City Councilwoman Gloria McColl.

Because his loss to McColl occurred in the 3rd District, Filner’s opponents have accused him of “shopping for a district” by entering this year’s 8th District race. In response, Filner notes that he represented more than three-quarters of the district as a school board member, giving him, he argues, “the strongest base in District 8.”

“I live in the district and I’ve worked on its behalf before. I’m not an outsider,” Filner said.

During his four years on the school board, including one year as its president, Filner’s persistent and often acerbic criticism of school policies led to development of a mandatory homework policy, tougher graduation requirements, stricter discipline and attendance regulations, and a streamlining of the district’s administration. He currently serves as chairman of a special blue-ribbon panel that is studying the needs of education in the 21st Century.

Some of the poorer areas of the 8th District--in particular Otay Mesa and San Ysidro--have rightfully felt neglected by City Hall for years, Filner said Monday. To symbolize his commitment to the southern areas of the district, Filner rode the San Diego Trolley to San Ysidro after the downtown rally for a fiesta with his supporters, and pledged to open a branch council office in south San Diego to enhance those communities’ access to City Hall.