Environmentalists Urge ‘No’ on Recall, Warn of Precedent

Warning that San Diego City Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt’s recall would touch off unending turmoil at City Hall, a coalition of environmentalists urged voters Wednesday to reject the “unfair, manipulative” attempt to oust her in next month’s special election.

At a news conference outside City Hall, representatives of about half a dozen local environmental groups largely repeated arguments used by Bernhardt herself in strongly praising her 15-month council record and urging a “no” vote on the recall April 9.

If Bernhardt is recalled, the environmentalists said, it could spawn other recall attempts in which interest groups seek to mold a council majority favorable to their policies by eliminating members with whom they disagree. Success by one side could prompt retaliation from another, with recalls being a commonplace strategic tactic, not the electoral rarity they now are.

“A recall sets a dangerous precedent,” said Sierra Club member Linda Michael, the coalition’s spokesman. “A recall should only be used in extreme cases, not simply because someone may disagree with the decisions made by the officeholder.”

With little variation, Bernhardt has used that argument as the cornerstone of her campaign to survive the city’s first council recall campaign since early this century.

In her standard campaign speech, Bernhardt charges that she is being unfairly victimized by the same pro-development interests that opposed her when she won the 5th District seat by defeating two-term incumbent Ed Struiksma in 1989. Not content to wait until she faces reelection in 1993, her opponents have “manipulated and twisted the political process” to try to unseat her now, she argues.

“We didn’t feel we could wait,” Kathy Gaustad, chairwoman of the Recall Bernhardt Committee, said in an interview Wednesday. “District elections were supposed to improve neighborhood representation. When you’re dissatisfied with the representation you’re getting, you shouldn’t have to wait three or four years to do something about it.”

From the anti-Bernhardt group’s perspective, the councilwoman broke faith with her constituents by jettisoning Scripps Ranch and Mira Mesa to another district under a controversial redistricting plan approved by the council last year. Her opponents argue that Bernhardt’s credibility was further tarnished when, after her election, she began accepting contributions from developers, contrary to campaign pledges not to do so.

On those and other issues, the environmentalists strongly defended Bernhardt’s record, noting, for example, that she has not violated the narrow definition of “developer contribution” used in her 1989 pledge.

“The question is whether they take developer money, then turn around and sell their vote on a project, or whether they work with the entire development community, try and work out win-win solutions that satisfy both the environmentalists and the builders,” said Don Wood, former president of Citizens Coordinate for Century 3. “That’s what Linda’s trying to do.”