Mayor Is Losing Ground

In real estate, the rule is location, location, location. In politics: timing, timing, timing.

By the latter dictum, Mayor Dick Murphy is in trouble as he seeks a second term on the Nov. 2 ballot.

Murphy, a mild-mannered Republican and former judge, is the point man for a cascade of bad news from City Hall as San Diego faces its worst financial debacle.

Different polls have different numbers, but all agree that Murphy’s once-comfy lead over county Supervisor Ron Roberts is gone. The race is either tied or Roberts is leading.

Murphy, 61, has the background (Stanford law, Harvard MBA, Army service), experience (City Council, Superior Court bench), political lineage (an acolyte of former Mayor Pete Wilson) and image (family man, devoted to church and youth sports) that normally spells victory here.

This year is different.

The city pension deficit is soaring to $2 billion, the U.S. attorney and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating, and a management review ordered by the City Council found the city administration riddled with oddball dealings and middling competence.

It’s a turnabout from four years ago, when the major issues seemed to give Murphy an advantage over Roberts, an architect, fellow Republican and former City Council member. Murphy won easily.

In 2000, the city was reeling from a scandal that, given the immensity of the pension problem, seems almost quaint: a city councilwoman forced to resign for taking unreported gifts from Padre owner John Moores.

Murphy made ethics his top issue. When it was reported late in the campaign that Roberts had taken a free ride on Moores’ plane to Hawaii, his candidacy was sunk.

Four years ago, Roberts told voters that the city’s financial house was a mess. The message spoke softly then; now it booms.

“The pension scandal is so overwhelmingly bad, it dwarfs every single issue in terms of impact,” Roberts told a candidate forum in the upscale Tierrasanta neighborhood last week. He said bankruptcy “may be difficult to avoid.”

Despite the polls, Murphy soldiers on, insisting that the pension deficit is manageable and that Roberts is yelling fire in a crowded political arena.

Roberts, Murphy says, is being “irresponsible.” For Murphy, that’s tough talk.

In normal years, San Diego politicians use the city’s grassy parks and gleaming beaches as campaign props.

Two weeks ago, Murphy held a news conference beside a large poster bearing the word “Bankruptcy” with an overlay of a red circle and slash.

Roberts has demanded that Murphy halt plans for a downtown library until a pension bailout is accomplished. Murphy refuses.

“I refuse to give up on my vision for this city,” the mayor said.

He did not originate the scheme whereby the City Council depended on an ever-bullish stock market to pay generous pensions for city employees.

But when the market slumped and several critics pointed out the pension deficit, Murphy and the rest of the City Council were slow to act.

The mayor says he is now fully engaged in finding solutions, but his critics have not let up. They include the editorial page of the San Diego Union-Tribune, which endorsed him four years ago.

An eleventh-hour complication has been added to the race: Last week, Councilwoman Donna Frye, a Democrat, qualified as a write-in candidate.

Frye, 51 and married to surfing legend Skip Frye, was a lone vote against renewing the pension under-funding two years ago.

Considered a longshot, she finds Murphy and Roberts two peas in a Republican pod.

“They’re very nice men, but it’s time for someone else,” Frye said. “It’s time for the public to raise hell.”