Goodby Independence, Hello GOP

When Gail MacLeod entered the San Diego City Council 8th District race earlier this year, she proudly cited her independent voter registration as something that set her apart from the other major candidates.

Now, however, MacLeod, a former registered Democrat, has come full circle by re-registering as a Republican.

At the outset of her campaign, MacLeod said she believed that the fact that she was not aligned with either major party would be a plus in the race for the nominally nonpartisan City Council seat now held by Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros.

But press coverage and the reception that she received within political circles quickly altered that thinking.

“What I found was, if you’re not with one of the two biggies, you’re not really taken that seriously,” said MacLeod, a 37-year-old Golden Hill resident who is planning director of the Rancho Santa Fe Assn. “I still feel strongly that voters want someone who’s independent. But, in a strange way, it looked like being registered nonpartisan was going to be a handicap and get in the way of what I had to say. If you’re registered nonpartisan, you’re not a credible candidate--that’s just a reality.”

So, why did she opt for the Republican Party rather than returning to the Democratic fold--particularly since the district itself is heavily Democratic?

“I switched to nonpartisan in reaction to some of the ultra-liberal policies of the Democratic Party,” MacLeod explained. “And now, I’m very comfortable with the Republican philosophy, especially in the economic area. . . . Or maybe I’m just getting a little older.”

No Surprises on This Endorsement

One of the worst-kept secrets in local politics was officially unwrapped this week when San Diego City Councilman William Jones named Wes Pratt as the candidate who he hopes succeeds him in the 4th District.

When Jones announced earlier this spring that he planned to step down from the council to attend the Harvard Business School this fall, he stopped just short of endorsing Pratt, whom he had hired when both worked for County Supervisor Leon Williams when he was a councilman.

At the time, Jones described Pratt, Williams’ executive assistant, as being “like a brother to me,” adding, “Anything he’d ask me to do, I’d probably do it to help him.”

So there was little suspense when Pratt’s political consultant called reporters this week to say that Jones planned to make a statement in front of City Hall.

At the news conference, Jones endorsed Pratt, calling him the candidate with the “broadest cross-section of support, the background and the respect to best fill the unique role on the council of keeping inner-city problems actively before his fellow council members.”

Anyone surprised by that announcement must be on the edge of his seat waiting to see whom Leon Williams will support in the race.

Democrats Rounding Up New Voters

Local Democrats gained about 200 new voters during a registration drive last weekend, but county Democratic Chairwoman Irma Munoz believes that the most important benefit to her party was not necessarily that accomplishment, but rather how it was attained.

Nearly 150 “very enthusiastic” volunteers walked door-to-door in Hillcrest and Golden Hill to enlist new voters, Munoz said, noting that the event was hardly commonplace for a party marked in recent years more by disorganization and internal sniping than by cooperative gestures.

“To have a roomful of Democratic volunteers exhibiting that kind of euphoria was history-making in itself,” Munoz said. “It really is a new day for the Democratic Party in San Diego. We’re planning, not reacting, and pulling together.”

Party leaders are so pleased with the results that they plan to hold similar monthly registration drives through the 1988 elections. (Two hundred registrations in a county with more than one million registered voters may sound inconsequential, but many precinct workers are happy if they can sign up even a handful of unregistered voters daily.)

“Every single registration helps,” Munoz said. “This is also a good way to remind ourselves that elections are not won two months ahead of time.”

Early-Bird Candidate for Congress

The award for the earliest candidacy announcement in recent local political history goes to Norman Mann, who is already two weeks into his campaign for the June, 1988, Democratic nomination in the 41st Congressional District.

“By speaking out now, there will be no one who can say that the Democrats of the 41st District stood on the sidelines while urgent issues were being discussed,” said Mann, a retired orthodontist who lives in East San Diego.

Unfortunately for Mann and other Democrats, the sidelines may be the safest place for them in the 41st District, which covers parts of downtown and much of northern San Diego. Last year, Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), the well-entrenched incumbent, was reelected to a fourth term with 68% of the vote. In his two previous reelection campaigns, Lowery received 63% and 69% of the vote.

Which makes jumping into the race now a bit like a San Diego Padres fan sending in his deposit for World Series tickets.