18-Year-Old Takes Political Big Spin, Joins 13 Others in Race for S.D. Mayor

Leighton Worthey thought about it and decided: Why not? If those guys can do it, so can I.

So now he’s running for mayor of San Diego, at 18 years of age the youngest of the 14 wanna-bes. He’s undeterred by the bad vibes he got when he announced his intentions on a computer bulletin board.

“I got trashed bad on the board. It was a junior high school board, where I still have some friends.”

He lives in Clairemont with his mother and graduated last June from Twain Mesa continuation school. He’s written a book of song parodies, “Some Things Are Better Left Said.”

He plans to enroll at San Diego City College. Right now, he’s working as “telemarketing representative” (read: cold-call phoner) for a loan arranger.

His campaign manager, Tricia Rafferty, 20, a 1989 graduate of Mt. Carmel High, is a veteran of Associated Student politics. She foresees a campaign of back-yard barbecue fund-raisers: “We don’t need the glitz and glamour of $100-a-plate dinners.”

Worthey is slow-growth (they learn young in San Diego), wants more cops on the street and is willing to cut the mayor’s salary 40% when he takes office: “I could live on $36,000; I don’t need $60,000.”

He’s youthful but resolute.

“I will not take any developer money. I’ve said many times: ‘Nobody represents me and I represent nobody.’ I’m non-establishment. I can elaborate on many cloves of the stem.”

Cloves of the stem?

“It’s a phrase I just made up.”

He plans a clean campaign: “I have no reason to sling mud. I have no reason to go after (Susan) Golding or any of the ‘big’ candidates.”

He figures he’s one of 14 San Diegans (that number may go up or down before the March 5 filing deadline) with a chance at hitting it big, politically speaking.

“In a certain way, I’ve created my own lottery. I’m my own Big Spin. If I hit a million dollars, I hit a million dollars.”

Yes, but if he should get elected, he’ll be too young to toast his victory with champagne.

“It’s all right. I’m an R.C. (Royal Crown Cola) fanatic anyway.”

Politics of Sensitivity

People who need people.

* Assemblyman John Vasconcellos (D-San Jose) comes to the Del Mar Hilton today to give a keynote speech to the “Different Voices: Shared Destinies” conference (billed as the meeting of Liberated Women and Manly Men).

Vasconcellos, who sponsored the state’s celebrated/ridiculed Self-Esteem Task Force, says society needs a new way to approach political and personal matters.

Last week he mailed a handwritten note to San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor: “After my most troubling year in the capital, I am calling for a truly new politics. Does it touch you? Join me.”

Explains Vasconcellos:

“The Democrats are cynical about the people’s ability to know what’s good for them. The Republicans are cynical because they don’t care what’s good for people.”

* The tabloid TV show “A Current Affair” is sniffing the case of ex-Sheriff’s Sgt. Dennis Hartman, a suspect in a prostitution-ring case.

And having trouble finding anyone who will go on camera and admit patronizing Yung Acupressure in La Mesa, the massage parlor run by Hartman’s wife.

* How slow is the real estate market?

In Encinitas, a real estate agent is going door-to-door searching for new listings. If the answer’s no, he’s got a second offer: He’ll wash your windows.

“I do windows in the morning.”

Early Returns

The political season is still young, but there are already strong contenders in two important categories.

Best Media Question at a News Conference.

Newspaper reporter to congressional hopeful Byron Georgiou: “I have only one question: Would you be offended if I left to put a quarter in my parking meter?”

Best Proof that Politicians Say the Darndest Things.

Supervisor Susan Golding to the United Jewish Federation forum: “I have been able to work well with anybody I’ve ever sat on.”

(Others heard it as any body . The tape is inconclusive.)