Almost a year before the voters will go to the polls, Paul Eckert has launched what he calls a "preemptive campaign" to quell the hopes of anyone who might deprive him of a third term on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Eckert is raising money, seeking community support and crisscrossing his sprawling North County district to speak and cut ribbons, reminding his 400,000 constituents of what he's done for them since he was first elected in 1978.
Since October, Eckert has had political consultant Herb Williams on a $1,000-a-month retainer to help chart the coming campaign. And the supervisor, never known as glib, has been taking private lessons for several months to help improve his speech-making ability.
At the same time, at least four North County political figures are exploring the waters to find out what chance they have of beating Eckert, the 51-year-old moving company owner who went to the county board as an outsider but has since become increasingly identified with the status quo.
Carlsbad City Councilman Richard Chick announced Thursday that he will challenge Eckert. Oceanside City Councilman John MacDonald, Vista Mayor Michael Flick and Clyde Romney, an aide to Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), have also said they are considering running for Eckert's seat. The primary election will be held next June.
If any of them decides to run, he will be hoping to string together a coalition of anti-Eckert voters ranging from coastal residents upset with rapid growth to inlanders bothered by Eckert's support for a controversial trash-fired power plant.
Any campaign against Eckert would likely try to tie him to the county's ongoing problems, including a scandal involving the letting of a $25-million contract for a telephone system and continuing crises in the Department of Health Services. Eckert's opponents also say they will have no qualms about bringing up his brief association in 1983 with a woman indicted on prostitution charges, an incident that may loom larger in the eyes of politicos than in the memories of the voters.
For now, though, those thinking of challenging Eckert are hard-pressed to cite specific issues or events they believe will hurt his chances of winning a third term. Instead, they talk about a nebulous, gut-level feeling they have that Eckert's hard-hitting style has offended enough voters in seven years to make him vulnerable.
