Ex-assemblyman from San Diego

Mike Gotch, 60, a former assemblyman and city councilman from San Diego, died Sunday night at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas after battling melanoma for the last year, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

A native of San Francisco, Gotch earned a degree in public administration at San Diego State. He served on the town council in Mission Beach before his 1979 election to the City Council in San Diego. He was reelected in 1983 and won a record 91.4% of the vote. According to the Union-Tribune, Gotch also served on the governing board of the city’s football stadium and was instrumental in instituting a smoking ban in the facility.

He was elected to the Assembly in 1990 representing the 78th District, which included portions of San Diego, Chula Vista, Bonita, Spring Valley and Lemon Grove. Facing an increasingly Republican district, he chose not to seek reelection in 1993. During his time in the Assembly, he moved his primary residence to Napa Valley and commuted to San Diego.

Gotch returned to Sacramento in 2000 as the legislative liaison for then-Gov. Gray Davis but left that post in 2003 after what the Union-Tribune said was a falling-out with Davis’ staff. He made unflattering headlines in 2000 when he was arrested on a drunk driving charge and pleaded no contest.

He retired from politics after leaving the governor’s staff and went into private consulting.