Golding Choice as Chief of Staff a Political Surprise

Starting the formation of her City Hall team with a major political surprise, San Diego Mayor-elect Susan Golding on Friday named Richard Ledford, a tourism industry official who was not active in her recent campaign, as her chief of staff.

Ledford, a 40-year-old former county and state legislative aide who for the past two years has been a vice president of the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau (ConVis), was chosen for the $69,000-a-year post over veteran Golding campaign and staff aides--both to their and his own surprise.

“It’s an unbelievable opportunity that I would have never thought I’d have a chance to realize,” said Ledford, who was chief of staff for Assemblyman Robert Frazee (R-Carlsbad) for 12 years before joining ConVis in 1991. Before working for Frazee, Ledford served four years as a legislative assistant with the county.

Golding’s 19-member transition committee solicited Ledford’s application, which he acknowledged both flattered and surprised him “because it’s not like we’ve been friends or worked closely together for years and years.” In Golding’s narrow 52%-48% victory over rival Peter Navarro, Ledford played a relatively minor role largely limited to helping to organize a fund-raising event for her campaign.

“To be quite honest, I’d not have thought to even submit an application otherwise, because some of the names being kicked around were pretty solid ones,” said Ledford, who lives with his wife and two children in Rancho Penasquitos. “So, for this to turn out this way is really exciting.

“For anybody involved in public service, the opportunity to help develop the policies and agenda of the mayor of the sixth-largest city in America is absolutely incredible. I’m so excited I can’t stand it. This is bread and butter for me.”

Although Ledford recently was seriously considered for the presidency of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, his name is relatively unknown even in political circles and was not among those mentioned since Golding’s election as strong contenders for the chief of staff position.

Instead, much of the speculation had focused on Craig Lee, Golding’s top aide in her county supervisorial office, and Dan McAllister, a longtime Golding adviser who managed her general election campaign and is widely credited with eliminating the internal organizational disarray that undermined her primary race. Both Lee and McAllister, however, are expected to fill other key posts in Golding’s administration.

Lawyer J. Michael McDade, one of the co-chairmen of Golding’s transition committee, explained that Ledford “quickly stood out as an exceptional candidate who was perfectly suited” to the mayoral chief of staff position, a crucial job that McDade himself occupied under former Mayor Roger Hedgecock.

“He has all the skills you’d want in a political position like this--he’s very organized, forceful and skillful at getting things done,” McDade said.

Golding added that Ledford “brings many years of valuable government and administrative experience to the table.”

Ledford’s appointment, McDade said, underlines Golding’s commitment to making economic development a top priority of her administration.

“When you think of economic development, you think of the building blocks, and one of the major building blocks is the tourism industry,” McDade said. “Richard’s very well connected in that industry and brings a lot of good ties with him.”

Ledford’s future City Hall salary represents a $7,000-a-year pay cut from what he now earns as Convis vice president for community relations, a reduction that he described as symbolic of the tone of austerity that Golding hopes to set as she grapples with the city’s daunting economic problems.

“This is my personal contribution to the city of San Diego, and it’s one I gladly made to be able to be part of the exciting things (Golding) has planned for the city,” Ledford said. “An opportunity like this is why you go into public service.”