Ballesteros’ Future Is Guessing Game; Assembly Is Hinted

The bright red cover on an invitation to a fund-raiser to be held next week for outgoing San Diego City Councilwoman Celia Ballesteros features this breezy salutation: “See ya!”

Under normal circumstances, the event would hardly raise an eyebrow within political circles. But, in this case, the timing of the fund-raiser--less than one week before Ballesteros unwillingly leaves office--combined with some suggestive wording inside the invitation, has fueled speculation about whether and where San Diegans may “see her” during the 1988 election season.

Most early guesses at answers focus on the 79th Assembly District. Ballesteros, who is stepping down from the council in compliance with a pledge made when she was appointed to the 8th District seat last December, has long been viewed as a potential successor--or challenger--to Assemblyman Pete Chacon (D-San Diego).

For her part, Ballesteros is rather noncommittal, noting that “all the pieces that will affect that decision . . . aren’t in place yet.”

In particular, Chacon’s interest in the job to which he was first elected in 1970 has appeared to wane in recent years, to the extent that he has occasionally publicly raised the possibility of his own retirement. He has not yet made a firm public commitment on whether he intends to seek a 10th two-year term in 1988. (In recent letters to his past supporters, however, Chacon said he plans to run again, and he made passing reference to a possible challenge from Ballesteros.)

Not Ruling out Running

If Chacon were to retire, Ballesteros said, she probably would run to succeed him in the 79th District, which extends from Lindbergh Field through downtown to North Park, east to Lemon Grove and Spring Valley and south to Bonita.

Though Ballesteros said that a decision by Chacon to seek re-election would make her “reluctant to run” against a fellow Democrat, she stressed that Chacon’s candidacy “would not be an absolute bar” to her own bid for the office.

“I’ve always supported Chacon, and I don’t want to get in a controversy with him or (Assembly Speaker) Willie Brown,” Ballesteros said. “But, no, I wouldn’t rule it out completely at this point. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

One early indication of “what happens” will be Ballesteros’ Dec. 1 fund-raiser, which will feature a jazz concert in a Gaslamp Quarter theater, followed by a reception at the Horton Grand Hotel. The theater seats about 250 people, and fund-raiser Maggie Mazur, who is coordinating the event, said she is confident that “we’ll fill it.”

Ballesteros herself, however, provided a wry cautionary note to counterbalance Mazur’s prediction.

“If you see a half-empty theater, I guess you’ll be able to say, ‘Well, Celia won’t be running for anything next year,’ ” Ballesteros said, chuckling.

Giving Donors an Option

Tickets to the event range from $50 to $250 per person, with donors having the option of targeting their contributions to either “The Celia Ballesteros Exploratory Committee” or to help retire Ballesteros’ $13,550 personal debt that remains from her unsuccessful 1983 council campaign.

The exploratory committee’s specific goal is not identified, but two sentences in the invitation make it appear that Ballesteros is pointing toward a state legislative race.

“State campaign law does not limit campaign contributions,” the invitation states. “Personal, corporate and/or PAC (political action committee) checks will be accepted.”

Because corporate and political action committee contributions are banned under local election laws, any such funds raised by Ballesteros could not be used in any race for the San Diego City Council, county Board of Supervisors or other local office.

Ballesteros readily acknowledges that she believes that, if she has a political future, it probably is in Sacramento. Even if Chacon opts to remain in office for the foreseeable future--and Ballesteros chooses not to run for that reason--redistricting could offer other legislative opportunities in the early 1990s, she noted.

“That’s where I think the opportunities for me are,” Ballesteros said. “It may be that those opportunities are down the pike. But it’s difficult for me to say, ‘I’ll do this this year,’ because in politics, things are always in flux.”

But Ballesteros and some of her prominent backers emphasize that they do not expect her political career to end when her one-year council term expires Dec. 7.

“I know she wants to remain in public service,” said Dr. Ralph Ocampo, a political activist who has known Ballesteros for the past decade. “How and where are the questions.”

Saying that she “dearly, dearly loved” serving on the council, Ballesteros admitted that she is “getting a little depressed” as her brief term draws to a close. While she would have preferred to seek reelection to the 8th District council seat in the Nov. 3 election won by Bob Filner, a college professor, Ballesteros had pledged not to when the council appointed her to the post last year in the wake of former Councilman Uvaldo Martinez’s guilty plea to felony charges stemming from his misuse of a city-issued credit card.

“I’ve decided I’m going to give politics one more shot,” said the 56-year-old Ballesteros, who also plans to resume her law practice when she leaves office next month.

“If I can’t make it next time, I’ll probably just settle into a law practice. I truly love politics, but I don’t want to be out there running forever. I want to get on with my life.”

A Move in the Offing

Though she now lives in Hillcrest, in the 78th District of Assemblywoman Lucy Killea (D-San Diego), Ballesteros said she plans to move next year, and coyly characterized Chacon’s 79th District as “a nice area.”

“I’ve got to get out of Lucy Killea’s district,” Ballesteros said, describing Killea as “a mentor, a great supporter” whom she would “never run against in a million years.”

The money raised at the Dec. 1 event, Ballesteros said, is intended to help give her a running start toward her as-yet undefined future campaign.

“I want to get some money in my kitty so I’m not starting from scratch,” she said. “The last time I ran, I didn’t have any money at the start. I don’t want to run that way again.”

The list of her fund-raiser’s co-chairmen is laced with San Diego business and civic luminaries, including bankers Gordon Luce and Peter Davis, civic leader Danah Fayman, developer Tawfiq Khoury, contractor William Rick, financier Thomas Stickel and dozens of prominent lawyers and leaders in other fields.

Ballesteros, however, said she has learned that support for a hypothetical campaign can sometimes wither away when that race is transformed to reality, forcing people to make tough political choices. As she prepares to leave one public office while pondering her chances of gaining another, Ballesteros said she hopes to keep that lesson firmly implanted in her mind.

“I’ve been in politics long enough to learn that a lot of people tell you a lot of things when you’re in the thinking stage,” Ballesteros said. “But when the battle lines are drawn, a lot of those people never show up. So, ultimately, the decision has to be your own, and that’s the way I’ll approach it.”