Mayor Urges Vote for Both Growth Measures : Cites Building Industry’s ‘Disgusting’ Tactics; Turnaround Stuns Political Allies

San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor, fearful that massive campaign spending by the construction industry could doom both slow-growth measures on the ballot, Thursday called on city residents to vote for both Propositions H and J.

The mayor’s abrupt change of policy, which comes just five days before voters go to the polls, stunned political allies who have worked for months to win passage of Proposition H--backed by the City Council--and defeat rival Proposition J, which is sponsored by Citizens for Limited Growth.

But O’Connor, who continues to favor Proposition H, has grown increasingly dismayed by construction industry political advertising that she called “disgusting.” She said the time has come for supporters of the rival propositions to beware of the builders’ “divide-and-conquer” strategy.

Leaders of Citizens for Limited Growth have repeatedly stated that the builders are attempting to split the large majority of San Diegans who support growth controls, which polls show to be as much as 70% of the population.

“The Proposition J people, for their backup position, should be voting for (Proposition) H, and the (Proposition) H people should be voting for (Proposition) J,” she said in a telephone interview. “They better vote for both of them, or they’re not going to have anything.”

Asked about her sudden support for both measures after a campaign that she has largely watched from the sidelines, O’Connor said the growth of the building industry’s campaign budget and its “deceptive” advertising tactics had sparked her dread that the election would leave the city without growth controls.

The construction industry political committee, San Diegans for Regional Traffic Solutions, had raised $1.77 million as of Thursday in its effort to defeat both city propositions, as well as two more slow-growth propositions that would apply to the unincorporated areas of the county. All four measures would cap home building and restrict construction on “environmentally sensitive lands.”

“They put up a million dollars, they’re using deceptive tactics like I’ve never seen in this community before,” O’Connor said of the builders’ political committee. “It’s deceptive and, in my opinion, it’s disgusting.

“If they get everybody to vote ‘No,’ then the day after the election they can hold a press conference and say, ‘San Diego doesn’t support growth controls.’ ”

Mike Madigan, spokesman for the building industry political committee, issued a statement saying that “we are disappointed in the mayor’s position . . .

“The mayor is attacking our campaign spending, but what she fails to understand is that we are defending the jobs and families of the 100,000 people who directly or indirectly rely on the construction industry for their livelihood.”

Madigan said the builders’ expenditures on the campaign amount to less than $20 per person “to defend these jobs.”

Met Earlier This Week

Paul Downey, the mayor’s press secretary, said leaders of Citizens for Limited Growth met with him earlier this week in an effort to moderate O’Connor’s stance on Proposition J, but said the meeting had nothing to do with O’Connor’s change of heart.

With polls showing that support for both propositions is slipping, O’Connor’s extraordinary announcement adds a new wrinkle--and perhaps more confusion--to a three-way political campaign that is already bitter, complicated and costly.

On the same day that Citizens for Limited Growth held a press conference to denounce “lies” in the builders’ advertising, O’Connor called television and print reporters individually to accomplish much the same thing.

A major complication in O’Connor’s strategy to support both measures, however, may not appeal to Proposition J backers because of the presence of a so-called “killer clause” in the city plan. Under those terms, if both propositions are approved and Proposition H receives more votes, Proposition J would be declared invalid.

Richard Carson, an economic adviser to Citizens for Limited Growth, praised O’Connor’s assessment of the builders’ activities, but expressed tepid support for her strategy because of the presence of the clause.

‘Sort That Out Later’

“I believe that the mayor has indeed correctly assessed the situation . . . . We see the real problem with the killer clause in Proposition H,” Carson said.

But O’Connor, who unsuccessfully urged her council colleagues to leave out the killer clause when they wrote their plan this summer, responded that “we’ll sort that out after the election.”

“To have the killer clause problem after the election is better than to have no controls at all,” she said.

Meanwhile, members of the Coalition for a Balanced Environment, who have spent the past three months explaining to city residents why council-backed measure H is the only reasonable growth-control plan on Tuesday’s ballot, expressed astonishment and dismay at O’Connor’s change of heart.

“In our opinion, it was illogical for her to do this,” said Mac Strobl, the coalition’s campaign coordinator. “And a great many people who early on expressed reservations to (Proposition H), who we convinced that (O’Connor) was committed, are going to come back to us and say ‘See, we told you so. We can’t trust her.’ ”

Councilwoman Judy McCarty, one of the most active campaigners for Proposition H, said, “It certainly is a surprise, and I would like to see (O’Connor) put that effort into Proposition H, because with her out in front of Proposition H, we could pass it.”

But O’Connor received support from fellow slow-growth council member Bob Filner, who also agreed that city voters must pass some form of growth control.

“I think the mayor has a really constructive approach,” Filner said in a telephone interview from Florida, where he flew earlier this week to be with his mother, who is ill. “It’s going to be a disaster if nothing passes.”