Stepping Onto a Bigger Stage

As delegates, reporters and others arrive for the Republican National Convention, they are greeted at the airport by three welcoming banners and three movie poster-sized pictures of Mayor Susan Golding.

Along with giving San Diego the attention it has long craved, the GOP convention affords an opportunity nonpareil for its Republican mayor, whose name is being circulated by insiders as a possible candidate in 1998 either for governor or the Senate seat held by Democrat Barbara Boxer.

“This is Susan Golding’s moment in the sun to convince the Republican power elite that she has a statewide future,” said Samuel Popkin, a nationally known UC San Diego political science professor. “This is her chance to prove she is the kind of tough, smart, savvy moderate that the party needs.”

Golding is determined that nothing will mar San Diego’s first national political convention.

On Monday, she declared that police will not tolerate antiabortion protesters blocking clinics and may use martial arts weapons to make arrests. On Thursday, an Operation Rescue group confronted her outside her office. Politely but firmly, she refused to back down.

In public, Golding, 50, is sophisticated and personable. In private, she is a demanding boss, a stickler for details and a tough negotiator.

“She’s smart, she’s disciplined, she’s ambitious and, when she needs to be, she can be ruthless,” said Republican political consultant John Kern. “The last time San Diego had a politician like that, the name was Pete Wilson.”

The comparison to Wilson, who served 11 years as San Diego mayor before becoming a U.S. senator and now governor, is not tossed off lightly.

Golding got her start in politics in 1981 by being appointed to the City Council with Wilson’s backing. She is a longtime friend of George Gorton, the consultant who has guided Wilson’s career.

In the 1994 gubernatorial race, Golding played the role of Democratic candidate Kathleen Brown during mock debates with Wilson.

By adroit timing, perseverance and hardball campaigning, Golding fought her way to the top of the political ladder in San Diego in a little over a decade.

She has survived two libel suits by political opponents and a scandal involving her second husband that many observers thought would keep her from becoming mayor.

Boosters say that no one is as tenacious as Golding when she attacks an issue: blocking a landfill in a residential neighborhood, convincing Congress to lift a requirement that San Diego build a billion-dollar sewer plant, or getting the council to pass a conservation ordinance.

“When you match brains, wit and grit with drive, it’s a lethal combination,” Scott Harvey, a former Wilson aide and city councilman, said admiringly of Golding.

Detractors say that Golding gauges every issue to determine its political value before committing her staff and her reputation.

“She has very carefully crafted a career based on minimizing risk and always pointing to the next level of politics,” said political activist Bob Glaser.

Without Golding, it is doubtful the GOP would be bringing its convention to San Diego.

Golding brought together local political and business leaders to fashion a proposal to outbid cities with larger convention centers and greater access to corporate cash.

“She was clearly the most important player from San Diego and California in attracting the convention to San Diego,” said Michael Grebe, the Milwaukee lawyer who served as chairman of the Republicans’ site selection committee. “She was incredibly determined.”

Golding and her staff have been involved in details, small and large, from line-editing the official delegate and media guide to assisting in corporate fund-raising. Golding visited boardrooms in New York, Washington, Detroit, San Francisco and Orange County.

Golding sidesteps any speculation about how the convention, which opens Monday, will help her political career. “I’ve made no decision to run for anything,” she said. “I love being mayor.”

Her love of being mayor notwithstanding, Golding declined during her reelection campaign this spring--in which she got 78% of the vote against four little-known opponents--to pledge not to run for another office during her term. Under a city law, she is limited to two terms as mayor.

“She’s clearly one of the bright rising stars in the Republican Party,” said Benjamin Ginsberg, former counsel to the Republican National Committee.

Golding is the first Republican woman mayor to host a presidential convention, and the first Republican mayor of either gender to host a convention since 1976.

“The convention gives Susan a wonderful chance at national exposure and the opportunity to hobnob with delegates, financial people and news people,” said Steve Merskamer, former chief of staff to Gov. George Deukmejian.

Golding supports keeping abortion legal. She opposed Proposition 187 and is skeptical about Proposition 209, the measure to end affirmative action programs in state hiring and college admissions.

She is a favorite of business groups but was also endorsed by the Sierra Club for her support of the conservation plan.

She championed a curfew for teenagers and a crackdown on aggressive panhandling. At her urging, the Police Department was reorganized to institute community-oriented policing at all levels.

As President Clinton noted during a recent visit, San Diego is the safest big city in the nation and the crime rate continues to drop.

Under Golding’s leadership, the city cut business taxes and water fees and streamlined the building permit process. California Business magazine named San Diego the state’s most business-friendly city.

Golding has led the drive to expand San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium and the convention center, to build a library and to make the county “water independent” by importing water from the Imperial Valley.

The daughter of Brage Golding, retired president of San Diego State, Golding has a bachelor’s degree in government and international relations from Carleton College and a master’s from Columbia University. She studied French literature at the Sorbonne and taught as a doctoral fellow at Emory University. Twice divorced, she has two grown children.

Before being appointed to the City Council, Golding taught French at a community college and was a partner in a weekly newspaper venture with Gorton and Jack Ford, son of former President Gerald Ford.

She was reelected to the council in 1982 and then, after Wilson was elected to the U.S. Senate, she took an appointment in 1983 as deputy secretary of business, transportation and housing in the Deukmejian administration in Sacramento.

She returned to San Diego in 1984 to win an open seat on the county Board of Supervisors, was reelected in 1988, and was elected mayor in 1992 against business professor and slow-growth advocate Peter Navarro in a bitter campaign.

She was sued for libel by her 1982 council opponent but the case was dismissed. She also was sued by her 1984 supervisorial opponent--former Rep. Lynn Schenk. Golding’s insurance company settled out of court for $150,000, a move Golding said she opposed.

If Golding does run for statewide office, it is possible that the criminal conviction of her second husband, Richard Silberman, a former top aide to Gov. Edmund G. “Jerry” Brown Jr., could become an issue.

Silberman was caught in an FBI sting in 1989 for offering to launder drug money for a Colombian cocaine cartel. At the time, the scandal was blamed for Golding shelving any thought of running for lieutenant governor.

Golding maintained her husband’s innocence and stood by him during his trial. After he was sent to prison, the couple divorced. Golding explained that Silberman had deceived her, and no evidence surfaced to suggest that she knew of his criminality.

“It’s old news,” said Golding.

Any talk of higher office is for tomorrow. For today, San Diego is finally getting prime-time attention.

Golding says she is positive that delegates, reporters and others will depart with the belief that “San Diego is a great city to visit or a great city to do business in.”

And what does she hope their impression will be of the city’s mayor?

“Hopefully, they’ll have positive thoughts,” said Golding with a knowing smile.