Partying Pols Left in the Dark, Powerless on Election Night

News of the whirl.

* It’s a San Diego tradition for politicians to rent suites in hotels across from City Hall on Election Night.

When Election Central closes, the pol and his or her supporters need a place to continue their party or wake. But this year there was something new: Total darkness.

Unbeknownst to the pols, SDG&E; had notified the Bristol Court and Westgate hotels that the power would be cut off from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. Wednesday.

Candidates and their entourages arrived to a darkened scene that was compared to something from the “Twilight Zone.” Some managed to stumble to their rooms and sit there sputtering until the lights came back.

Several were still angry hours later when it came time to pay their bills. Some got discounts; others got promises of free rooms for the November runoff.

One candidate took matters into his own hands.

Skip Cox, a loser in the Republican primary in the 49th Congressional District, grabbed the bill from a startled desk clerk and loudly announced he wasn’t paying a dime for a room without lights.

Cox stomped out before Bristol Court Manager Dan Ponder could apologize. “Coming on top of the election, it was quite a night,” Cox explained.

Ponder says he has followed up with a letter meant to sooth ruffled Cox’s feathers: Cox will not be charged for the $140-a-night room.

* Roger Batchelder, the Peace & Freedom Party candidate from the 50th Congressional District, only got 79 votes Tuesday, contrasted with 125 two years ago.

But the week wasn’t a total loss.

On Wednesday he got good news from the Social Security Administration: The government is resuming his $742-a-month disability checks and Medicare coverage (he suffers from depression and fatigue).

There had been a dispute over whether Batchelder’s part-time job made him ineligible.

Batchelder, 43, can now do the two things he wants most--resume sessions with his psychotherapist and continue his run for Congress:

“If I had not won this thing (his dispute with Social Security), I’d have had to get a full-time job, and that would have left me with no energy or time to campaign.”

Riots, Ride-Alongs and Racism

Look at this.

* To get a close-hand view of the L.A. riot damage and aftermath, Mayor Maureen O’Connor went on a five-hour ride-along a few nights ago with a Los Angeles police sergeant assigned to the 77th Street Division, the riot flash point.

The neighborhood is quiet now, but anger remains.

Take the many yellow ribbons that have been stuck to trees and poles. The ribbons show sympathy for the four men accused of beating trucker Reginald Denny.

* Speaking of Skip Cox and enlightenment, don’t look for him to win any awards for promoting brotherhood.

In a last-minute mailer, Cox said Alan Uke was only running “to elect a candidate of Turkish ethnicity” and Ray Saatjian was only running “to elect a candidate of Armenian ethnicity.”

He listed his own reason as “to get rid of the tax sucking, check bouncing, junketeering, professional politicians who are ruining America.”

Cox says that Uke and Saatjian had already raised the issue of ethnicity (which the Uke and Saatjian camps deny) and that he was only responding.

Despite Cox’s defense, the talk in political circles is that the hit piece reflects poorly on his consultant, Jeanette Roache, wife of Sheriff Jim Roache.

National and International Pastime

Baseball beat.

* The San Diego Police Department’s crisis intervention team--civilian volunteers who assist traumatized crime victims--will be honored before tonight’s Padres-Braves game at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

No, intervention members have no plans to console reliever Randy Myers on the untimely death of his control. I checked.

* How big is baseball in Tijuana?

An estimated 7,000 persons lined Avenida Revolucion for a parade this week featuring a 12-foot-tall baseball that will be a centerpiece for Fanfest, the July 10-14 gala at the San Diego Convention Center.

Several thousand people came to autograph the megaball. Including a squad of police officers, who used a forklift to reach a prime signing spot at the top.