With Wilson in Power, S.D. Hopes the Party Has Just Begun

With enough nacho chips and guacamole to feed the Marines at Camp Pendleton, hordes of San Diegans descended on the state capital Saturday to throw a going-away party for their former mayor and future governor.

The party--dubbed the “Inaugural Fiesta”--attracted more than 1,500 people to a Cal Expo exposition center, where they ate Mexican food from El Indio, listened to strolling mariachis and mingled with San Diego’s civic elite in an event that officially kicked off inauguration week for Gov.-elect Pete Wilson.

During the campaign, Wilson continually emphasized his political roots in the state’s second-largest city, where he held forth as mayor from 1971 to 1982. And his inaugural committee decided to carry over a San Diego theme on the first night of inauguration week as a sort of sentimental transition before Wilson becomes the 36th governor of California on Monday.

About two-thirds of the by-invitation-only crowd were from San Diego, said inaugural spokesman Dan Schnur.

“The theme for the whole day is a San Diego send-off for Pete Wilson,” Schnur said about Saturday’s event. “This is an opportunity for the city of San Diego to wish their favorite son well.”

It was also a chance for San Diego to show off for the rest of the state.

One of the first to grab the spotlight was the San Diego Chicken, who rested his wings by traveling to Sacramento on USAir Flight 1073. In fact, so many San Diegans were on the afternoon plane--the radio team of Hudson & Bauer among them--that airline personnel dubbed it “Pete’s Flight.”

Also on board were employees of Karolyn Dorsee, Wilson’s San Diego-based political fund-raiser. Greeting them at the airport was Gayle Wilson, California’s new First Lady.

Other San Diego notables finding their way to the state capital were Mayor Maureen O’Connor, city council members Linda Bernhardt and Wes Pratt and state Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim), whom Wilson has chosen to fill his seat in the U.S. Senate.

Mingling in the crowd, Bernhardt predicted that Wilson’s inauguration will pay dividends for his hometown 500 miles south.

“For the city of San Diego, it’s a wonderful opportunity,” she said. “With the combination of having Pete up here in the governor’s seat and the assistance of the delegation, we’ll be able to bring our fair share of (state) funding down south.”

O’Connor, in tandem with her twin Mavourneen, waded into the crowd shortly before 8 p.m., dressed in a smart grey suit adorned with gold buttons up the front and down the back. When one San Diegan came up to the mayor and remarked on her unusual attire, the Democratic mayor quipped: “My sister said you have to wear a lot of gold to Republican affairs.”

O’Connor said she has already talked to Wilson about helping San Diego out with “innovative” solutions to its social ills, specifically its over-crowded jails. She said she has discussed receiving a no-interest loan from the state, and Wilson has found the suggestion appealing.

Asked if San Diegans weren’t heaping too many parochial expectations on the new governor, O’Connor said, “That’s true of any new governor, but he is also very loyal to San Diego.”

At 8:15 p.m., Wilson and his wife, Gayle, entered the central exhibition hall to the cheers of his supporters and immediately drew laughter by referring to the most conspicuous San Diegan there--the Chicken. As the yellow-feathered mascot took his place next to the next governor on the stage, Wilson pronounced it “California’s First Chicken” but apologized for the fact that the guests were eating chicken burritos.

On a more serious note, Wilson said he looked forward to his inauguration in two days. “The one thing I assure you will not change and that is my love of my hometown,” he said.

Besides the verbal bouquets, the crowd was treated to more substantial treats--the handiwork of El Indio restaurateur Ralph Pesqueira.

His restaurant has become one of Wilson’s favorites over the years, and on occasion has fielded requests from his U.S. Senate staff by dispatching bags of food to his Washington office by Federal Express, said Eva Sanchez, the restaurant’s director of catering.

“From time to time, he orders chips for his office in Washington,” she said.

Saturday’s event was a bit more daunting, she said. The only party El Indio has catered on this scale was during the 1984 Olympics equestrian event at Fairbanks Ranch.

This one, however, was complicated by the elements, including a bone-chilling cold. Wintertime fog in Sacramento meant that an early morning plane with El Indio cooks couldn’t fly into the city and had to be diverted to San Jose from where they were bused. Pesqueira said he was thrown into a “panic” because food preparation didn’t start until about 2 p.m.

Pesqueira himself pitched in by dumping taquitos into three huge fryers outside the exhibition halls to make sure there was enough food for the up-beat crowd. He said providing the food cost a little less than $10,000, an expense that he and San Diego produce suppliers absorbed.

The final menu was enough to feed an army: 200 pounds of nacho chips; 70 quarts of salsa; 130 quarts of guacamole; 1,900 beef taquitos ; 1,400 tamales; 1,600 small chicken burritos; 1,500 quesadillas ; 100 pounds of buneulos, or cinnamon crispy desserts. Like precious cargo, the food was dispatched from San Diego in a 14-foot truck trailer on Friday night.

The food was laid out buffet-style in two separate rooms around brightly-colored center-pieces that featured cacti, and a few dance steps away from mariachi bands blaring Mexican music. One of the bands was Los Elegantes, a salsa band.

A wide range of people came to celebrate Wilson’s election including TV personality Mary Hart and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, a guitar player from the rock bands Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers.

Each person paid $30 to fete the governor-elect.