Wolfsheimer Decides Against City Atty. Bid

San Diego City Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer, who flirted with the idea of challenging City Atty. John Witt for the office he has held for 19 years, announced Friday that she will not be a candidate for city attorney this year.

Wolfsheimer said the list of goals she hopes to accomplish as a council member and the early “janitorial” work she would have had to perform to rework the city attorney’s office were the major factors in her decision not to present Witt with his first serious opponent since 1973.

But political analysts said Wolfsheimer was more likely deterred by a lack of support and the prospect of funding her campaign with large amounts of her own money, as she did in the successful bid for her council seat 2 1/2 years ago.

“She wasn’t finding any support, and if she saw a poll, she couldn’t have been encouraged,” said political consultant David Lewis. “I’ve seen numbers that make me feel she couldn’t feel very encouraged.

“Most people line up their support and then jump in,” he said. “It seems like Abbe jumped in and then looked for the support, and I’m afraid it didn’t follow her in.”

Whatever Wolfsheimer’s reasons, her decision spares City Hall the awkwardness of a potentially bitter race between a council member and the man responsible for advising the council day in and day out.

“In that respect,” said a clearly pleased Witt, “the citizens of San Diego are the winners.”

“I think City Hall has been spared a great deal of turmoil, a very bitter and very divisive campaign,” said one City Hall insider who asked not to be identified.

Wolfsheimer took out nominating petitions Feb. 11.

In giving up a “free shot” at Witt--the La Jolla council member would have stayed on the council if she lost in the June primary or the November election--Wolfsheimer also added Witt’s name to the list of public officials expected to have little trouble retaining their offices this year.

Three county supervisors, four local congressmen and San Diego’s state legislative incumbents appear headed for easy reelection campaigns in which they will face relatively minor opposition. Still unknown is whether Supervisor Susan Golding will decide to run against Mayor Maureen O’Connor by the Thursday filing deadline.

The desire to foster political competition played on Wolfsheimer’s mind, but in the end, she said, she could not allow that to be the major factor in her decision.

“One of my original thoughts about why I should run was that we should have competition in these races, but that’s not a good reason to run,” she said. “That fell out as a deciding factor very quickly.”

Persistent Critic

Political soundings convinced her that Witt did not have high name recognition, “that he was rather a neutral being” who could have been beaten, Wolfsheimer said. The 49-year-old council member has been the council’s most persistent critic of Witt’s legal decisions and his office’s spending habits during her tenure.

Wolfsheimer said she will consider running for the city attorney’s office four years from now.

“Money was a factor, but not a major factor,” added Wolfsheimer, who spent more than $200,000 of her own money and $300,000 overall in defeating incumbent Bill Mitchell in the 1985 council race.

Witt disagreed. “I’m fairly confident that with the support I was getting from all segments of the community and particularly the legal community that she was not finding support out there in anything close to the numbers she needed,” he said.

In the end, it was the desire to keep working on projects such as gridlock along Interstates 5 and 15, a San Dieguito River Valley linear park, and community plans for the North City West and Torrey Pines areas that finally clinched the decision she had not made as of noon Friday, Wolfsheimer said.

“I feel that I would not be able to accomplish many of my projects if I were to run,” she said. “Campaigning takes time.”