O’Connor Is the Choice

Since Pete Wilson left for the U.S. Senate in 1982, there has been too little continuity in the mayor’s office to provide the leadership needed in a city that is the nation’s seventh-largest and rapidly growing. Four people have filled the job, two as acting mayors.

Tuesday’s mayoral election--the seventh in those six years--promises a more stable future. And it can’t come a moment too soon. The problems of growth have come to a head during this leadership vacuum, and, in the next five months, the City Council and the voters will make far-reaching decisions on how much to limit that growth.

The citizens initiative on the November ballot calling for strict housing limits is strong evidence that San Diegans not only want growth greatly slowed but distrust their elected officials’ ability to accomplish that.

Overcoming that distrust will, in large part, be the responsibility of the next mayor.

Maureen O’Connor brings strong qualifications to the job. Over the past two years, she has developed an intimate working knowledge of the growth issue and played an instrumental role in fashioning the Interim Development Ordinance, which temporarily reduced the number of building permits being issued.

That knowledge, coupled with her popularity and the public perception that she is someone who understands and cares about San Diego, provides her with a solid foundation for leadership.

O’Connor has had other significant accomplishments during her short tenure. The Housing Commission has been revamped. The city has changed its tack on the sewage problem, dropping its counterproductive pursuit of an exemption from federal clean-water laws and instead planning for a secondary-treatment facility and pursuing federal funding.

O’Connor also pushed for the decision to raze most of the Navy Hospital buildings as a way to restore open space in Balboa Park, in spite of heavy pressure from many groups that wanted to use the buildings.

O’Connor was overwhelmingly favored going into the race and still is, a fact that kept most significant opposition on the sidelines. But former City Councilman Floyd Morrow had the courage to run, and should be commended for providing voters with a reasonable choice.

Morrow, an attorney who served on the council from 1965 to 1977, has also served as chairman of the county Democratic Party. He would bring considerable experience and dedication to the job.

However, his experience is more than 10 years old and is insufficient to overcome the liabilities of changing mayors again.

O’Connor often has been criticized for being inaccessible to community leaders and some fellow council members, even on relatively important matters, a charge for which there is some evidence.

But a more troubling aspect of her leadership style is her strong preference for working behind the scenes. When confronted with questions about a wide range of issues, from the credibility of the Police Department to waterfront development to relocating the airport, her frequent response is that she is working behind the scenes to address those issues.

We don’t question that backstage work is a necessary ingredient for successful political leadership, and O’Connor has had her successes. But what that style lacks is forthrightness.

If O’Connor is to become a strong leader in her next four years, she will need not only her popularity and her behind-the-scenes acumen, she will also need to put forth a specific and public agenda.

Her call for a Soviet arts festival may have been an attempt to do that, but without the rest of the agenda--without specific proposals on persistent problems--an arts festival begs for criticism. Alone, it appears to have a higher priority than it merits, given competing needs. In addition, the average citizen, whose input O’Connor so values, is left out of the process that takes place behind the scenes.

On balance, however, O’Connor’s accomplishments in the past two years and her understanding of the growth issue and residents’ frustration with city government arm her well for a second term, in which growth will continue to be a major issue.

We urge that Maureen O’Connor be reelected.