A Healthy Ego Dispenses With the Politically Correct

Things political.

* Straight talk.

The flamboyant B.T. Collins, now running for Assembly from a district near Sacramento, comes to San Diego on Thursday night to address the City Club.

If his speech is half as candid as his fund-raising letter, it should be an earful.

His letter to San Diego Republicans calls his candidacy “my latest venture into ego mania.”

He itemizes how much he needs for mailers, rent, phone bill and food for volunteers, and adds:

“However, since I got off the booze--February 17, 1987, at 1 p.m. (who’s counting?)--that’s a saving of $500 a week. So, if you think your check doesn’t make a difference, think again.”

Parting shot: “And yes, if there is a surplus, a statue will be erected.”

* Del Mar Fair Board member Ray Saatjian, a lawyer and owner of an Escondido nursery, may challenge Rep. Bill Lowery in next year’s Republican primary.

* Lucy redux.

State Sen. Lucy Killea, the beneficiary of much money and campaign help from the Democratic Party in past elections, says now she will dump the party as she tries for reelection in a district where Republicans outnumber Democrats.

Shocking? Not really.

This is not the first time Killea has changed her self-definition to suit her political needs.

When Killea represented the blue-collar 8th District on the San Diego City Council, she stressed her liberal credentials and her experience as a cultural liaison for Fronteras de la Californias.

But, in 1982, when she ran for Assembly from a more conservative area north of Interstate 8--and not long after the Reagan landslide--a new Killea emerged.

She fought a court battle to be listed as a “businesswoman” on the ballot and revealed that she spent considerable time managing heretofore undisclosed real estate interests in Ohio, Texas and Washington, D.C.

Her Republican opponent in that election complained that Killea was trying to hide the fact that she’s a Democrat. Little did he know.

The Sequel: How to Pay Your Ticket

News and other things.

* Participatory journalism.

The Times on Tuesday had a story by reporter Amy Wallace on Dr. Louis Kartsonis and his book, “How To Beat Your San Diego Traffic Ticket.”

Now it can be told: When Wallace was hurrying back to the office last week to finish writing her story, she got a traffic ticket for making an innovative left turn.

Sorry, doc, she’s going to pay rather than fight.

* The recession is hurting even small-time operators who will paint your house number on the curb.

“People in $200,000 houses won’t pay $3 to have their numbers painted,” sighs one. “I don’t understand it.”

* Leave it to the . . .

None of the celebrities (Schwarzenegger, Reynolds, Hackman, Danza, et al) hyped as possibly attending the Norris-Lally fight at the Sports Arena actually attended.

Only Jerry Mathers, the former Beaver Cleaver.

* In flux.

San Diegans hosting a planned Sept. 8 visit by a contingent from Vladivostok (including the mayor) as part of a city-sister exchange are unsure whether the visit is still on.

Also unsure of the future: National University officials who are organizing a Sept. 5 seminar: “How To Do Business in the Soviet Union.”

Paper Has Its Priorities Straight

Local angle.

The deep thinkers are all over television and the newspapers talking of the worldwide effects of Mikhail Gorbachev’s ouster.

Here’s one they may have missed: Gorby’s removal may persuade the Vista Press to push back its Sunday deadline.

When word of the coup in Moscow was flashed to the West Coast (about 9 p.m.), the Press’s Monday morning edition was all but printed.

Only a scramble got the story into the paper at all, at the bottom of the front page with a modest two-column headline, “Soviet Hard-Liners Seize Power from Gorbachev.”

Leading the paper that day was a local story, with a blazing four-column headline, “PTAs Do More Than Have Bakesales.”