Wolfsheimer, Bernhardt S.D. Council Victors

In a dramatic victory for environmentalists that will reshape the San Diego City Council’s philosophical balance, Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer retained her seat Tuesday while land-use planner Linda Bernhardt unseated Councilman Ed Struiksma in the city’s first district-only elections since early this century.

Breaking conservatives’ longtime dominance of the council and shifting power to a pro-environmental majority, Wolfsheimer narrowly defeated former county supervisorial aide Bob Trettin in the 1st District, while her former City Hall aide, Bernhardt, trounced Struiksma by a convincing 3-to-2 ratio in the 5th District contest.

The victories by Wolfsheimer and Bernhardt, both of whom drew strong backing from environmental groups as they faced opponents closely linked to the development industry, completed the ideological transformation of the council begun in last September’s primary by John Hartley’s upset of Councilwoman Gloria McColl.

Struiksma’s and McColl’s defeat, combined with Wolfsheimer’s narrow victory, also vividly demonstrated incumbents’ diminished political security, as the city’s first district-only races since the City Charter was approved in 1931 produced the bleakest electoral performance by sitting council members in more than a decade. Before Tuesday, only one other council incumbent--Trettin’s former boss, Bill Mitchell--had lost a reelection campaign in the 1980s.

“The No. 1 thing that won this election--and none of us should ever forget it--is the people of the neighborhoods,” Bernhardt said. “District elections finally gives the power back to the people.”

Conceding the defeat that even many of his closest backers regarded as inevitable after his dismal primary performance, Struiksma said: “When I get up in the morning, I’m going to be able to look myself in the mirror and know I did a good job for the people of the city of San Diego.”

The opening chapter in Tuesday’s election was written last November, when San Diego voters narrowly approved a ballot proposition replacing the city’s two-tiered electoral format--district primaries followed by citywide runoffs between the top two vote-getters--with district-only contests.

The move transformed the way the San Diego City Council had been elected for the past half century. It prompted candidates to rethink traditional strategies, added weight to neighborhood-oriented issues, affected fund-raising and left other indelible marks on the campaigns for the four council seats at stake this year.

Beyond allowing candidates to win outright in the primary--as Councilwoman Judy McCarty did against token opposition and as Hartley did by upsetting McColl--the other major structural change imposed by passage of Proposition E is that runoffs now are confined to districts. By virtue of the runoffs’ smaller geographic area, challengers are better able to neutralize incumbents’ financial and name-recognition advantages--which often proved insurmountable in citywide races--through their own door-to-door politicking and grass-roots organization.

Another factor that made this fall’s election especially compelling was its potential to alter the council’s philosophical balance on growth-management and other sensitive issues.

With Hartley’s 3rd District upset setting the stage, the runoff campaign began with the knowledge that victories by Wolfsheimer and Bernhardt, both of whom were endorsed by the Sierra Club, would create a solid managed-growth majority on a council that in recent years has been dominated by a conservative “Gang of Five.” A Struiksma-Trettin tandem win, meanwhile, would preserve the conservative coalition’s domination, while a split between the environmental and pro-development camps would leave the council nearly evenly balanced.

In the 1st District race, Wolfsheimer--viewing her pro-environmental record as her strongest asset in her northern San Diego district--sought to keep the campaign dialogue focused on the politically volatile growth issue. The district stretches along the coast from La Jolla to North City West, extending inland to Rancho Bernardo and the San Pasqual Valley.

Dismissing her opponent as “Bulldozer Bob” because of his strong financial backing from development interests, the 50-year-old former law professor often told campaign audiences that her election would help create a “limited-growth coalition that will put the needs of the people . . . before the desires of take-a-buck, make-a-buck and pass-the-buck.”

Unwilling to, in his words, “wear the black hat” on the growth issue, the 35-year-old Trettin portrayed himself as “every bit the managed-growth candidate (Wolfsheimer) is.”

Though developers supplied a sizable part of the $211,851 that he had received in campaign donations as of Oct. 21, “contributors don’t dictate how you vote,” Trettin said. Most of the money that Wolfsheimer spent came from her own pocket, as she loaned $250,000 to her campaign--more than three-fourths of her overall $315,684 contributions total.

A former aide to county Supervisor Susan Golding and, before that, to Councilman Bill Mitchell, who was unseated by Wolfsheimer in 1985, Trettin stressed in his standard stump speech that the district’s population grew by 35% during the past four years.

“If this is what Abbe calls growth management, the district and the city can’t stand four more years of it,” Trettin said.

The 5th District contest, meanwhile, saw Struiksma attempt to turn the election more into a referendum on Bernhardt than a judgment on his own eight-year record--a strategy born of necessity after his disappointing second-place finish behind her in the five-candidate primary, 39% to 33%. Bordered on the south by Mission Valley, the district extends from Linda Vista north to Mira Mesa, passing through Kearny Mesa and Serra Mesa as it reaches east to Scripps Ranch.

Faced with the lukewarm public reception to his “Getting Things Done” slogan, Struiksma recognized that his best--perhaps only--hope of reversing the primary’s outcome was to spend more time in the runoff trying to persuade voters not to vote for Bernhardt than explaining why they should vote for his reelection.

Describing Bernhardt as “a major question mark” beyond her pro-environmental slant, Struiksma criticized the former Wolfsheimer aide as “an inexperienced single-issue candidate . . . who would like to keep the questions unanswered until after the election”--a charge he supported by pointing to her refusal to attend several debates.

Seeking to raise questions about Bernhardt’s character, Struiksma, a 42-year-old former police officer, also accused her of defaulting on a $4,955 student loan in New Jersey. Though Bernhardt admitted missing several payments, she denied ever technically being in default.

Terming Struiksma’s attacks an effort to divert attention “away from his own build-at-any-cost record,” Bernhardt argued that her election would “help preserve the open space that’s left after eight years of Ed Struiksma.”

Emphasizing her diametrically opposed viewpoint, Bernhardt suggested a number of growth-control measures throughout the campaign, highlighted by a proposed ban on development along the Interstate 15 corridor until traffic is reduced and other related problems are alleviated.

Times staff writer Leonard Bernstein contributed to this story.

* PROPOSTIONS in other San Diego County communities. B1

Election Results 1st Council District

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Abbe Wolfsheimer* 16,072 50.9 Bob Trettin 15,501 49.1

5th Council District

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Linda Bernhardt 13,704 60.1 Ed Struiksma* 9,094 39.9

Tia Juana Water District

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % D.M. (Matt) Marschall 241 26.7 Floyd Wirthlin, sr. 222 24.6 Floyd R. (Junior) Wirthlin 185 20.5 Robert W. Bonner 132 14.6 James J. Jackson 122 13.5

Encinitas Park Bond

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Yes 4,634 55.2 No 3,760 44.8

Imperial Beach Utility Tax

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % No 2,292 79.5 Yes 592 20.5

Vista Unified School Bond

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % Yes 8,255 62.0 No 5,060 38.0

Ramona Pump Station

100% Precincts Reporting Votes % No 1,022 51.6 Yes 957 48.4

* Incumbent

** Results for absentee ballots and write-in candidates may not be available at edition time.

*** Percentages may not equal 100% because of rounding.