Eckmann to Run for Bernhardt’s Council Seat in Recall Election

Describing himself as a “moderate between extremes” on growth management, Scripps Ranch lawyer Mike Eckmann announced his candidacy Thursday for the San Diego City Council 5th District seat now held by Linda Bernhardt.

At a news conference outside City Hall, Eckmann, who finished fourth with 6% of the vote in a five-candidate primary in the 5th District in 1989, reiterated his strategy from that campaign by calling himself “the balanced and moderate candidate between growth and the environment” in this spring’s special recall election.

The recall election, expected to be held in April, will include two separate races: an up-or-down vote on whether Bernhardt should retain the seat that she won in November, 1989, and a tandem contest on would-be successors.

If Bernhardt draws more than 50% of the vote, the result of the other election would be moot. However, if Bernhardt is ousted, the candidate who receives the most votes in the other race would serve the rest of her four-year term.

Other candidates in the race include former City Councilman Floyd Morrow and corporate attorney Tom Behr.

Although Bernhardt will appear on a separate ballot from the other candidates, Eckmann said he hopes to position himself between her staunch environmental policies and what he characterized as Behr’s pro-development stance.

“I will build homes, but not as many as Tom Behr, but more than Linda Bernhardt,” said Eckmann, a 46-year-old county planning analyst and part-time economics instructor at Miramar Community College. “I can be fair to both the developers and the environmental community.”

To help finance the streets, libraries, fire stations and other public facilities necessitated by growth, Eckmann said he favors the establishment of so-called “citywide impact fees.”

Fearful that a new development fee, coupled with the nationwide economic downturn, could drive up housing prices and prevent businesses from expanding or relocating here, the City Council backed away from that approach last year after initially adopting impact fees.

Among other issues that he plans to emphasize, Eckmann called for placing a proposal to strengthen the mayor’s powers on the ballot and said that, if the courts return the council’s controversial redistricting plan to City Hall for additional review, he would work to reunite Scripps Ranch and Mira Mesa in the 5th District.