Gotch to Campaign for Killea’s Vacated Assembly Seat

Tempted to reenter politics by “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” former San Diego City Councilman Mike Gotch on Monday announced plans to seek the 78th State Assembly District seat left empty by Lucy Killea’s election to the state Senate last week.

Gotch, who only two months ago accepted a new job heading an agency created to develop a regional park in the San Dieguito River Valley, said Monday he is “unequivocally in” the race for the Assembly seat.

“I’m just cut out to be in government and involved in policy decisions,” said the 42-year-old Gotch, a strong environmentalist who represented the council’s 6th District from 1979 to 1987. “I live and breathe and talk these issues all the time, and I’m happiest when I’m dealing with them. That’s where I belong.”

When he accepted the $68,000-a-year job as executive director of the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority in October, Gotch assured the agency’s board of directors that political plans were not on his immediate horizon.

However, the vacancy created by Killea’s upset victory over Republican Assemblywoman Carol Bentley in last week’s nationally watched state Senate contest created an opening that Gotch said he realized “might never be there again.”

Accordingly, he asked his agency’s nine-member board of directors for permission to enter the race. When each director acceded to his wishes, the final hurdle to his candidacy was removed.

“If any of them had said no, that would have ended my candidacy,” said Gotch, who will step down from the park post at the end of this month. “They’re disappointed, but only for good reasons.”

Gotch, who plans to formally announce his candidacy later this month, becomes the third Democrat to indicate a willingness to accept the difficult task of trying to keep the 78th District in Democratic hands.

Although Democrats hold a narrow 46%-41% edge among registered voters, the district is the most heavily Republican area represented by a Democrat in the Assembly--a factor that prompted the GOP leadership in Sacramento to consistently, but unsuccessfully, target Killea throughout her four-term career.

Lawyer Byron Georgiou, a longtime Democratic activist and former legal affairs secretary to then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., and state Deputy Atty. Gen. Howard Wayne also plan to run in the 78th District, which stretches along the coast from Ocean Beach to Pacific Beach, extending inland to Miramar Naval Air Station in the north, south to downtown San Diego and east to East San Diego.

Potential Republican candidates include Jeff Marston, a former aide to former San Diego City Councilwoman Gloria McColl and former Sen. S.I. Hayakawa (R-Calif.), and lawyer Jay Wentz.

“I go into this certainly aware of the risks,” Gotch said. “At best, I’m looking at taking a $26,000 pay cut. At worst, it’s having to seek another career after this race. But I had to go after this opportunity. It’s a chance I might not have again.”

When Killea is sworn into the state Senate, Gov. George Deukmejian will have the option of scheduling the 78th District primary in either February or April. The latter timetable is considered more likely because it would save money by permitting a runoff, if needed, to be consolidated with the statewide June primary.