San Diego Politics

The morning commute is underway and radio personalities Joe Bauer and Mac Hudson, faithful barometers of the local zeitgeist, are gagging it up about Bruce Henderson, the designated villain in the red-hot controversy that threatens to drive the Super Bowl and the Chargers out of town. Bauer: "Let's talk about how proud Bruce Henderson must be today because the Holiday Bowl may skip San Diego as well. Good work, Bruce."

What a difference a decade makes. Ten years ago Dist. Atty. Edwin L. Miller Jr. was in headlong prosecutorial pursuit of Mayor Roger Hedgecock, a battle that raged daily in the courts and the media. Miller emerged triumphant and Hedgecock was ousted from office, protesting that he was the victim of a vendetta by his political enemies, Miller and the press.

Mayor Dick Murphy, who won a disputed election five months ago, abruptly announced his resignation Monday amid mounting criticism of his handling of the city's pension deficit and threats of a recall. Murphy read a short statement and took no questions. "It is clear the city needs a fresh start," the 62-year-old Republican and former Superior Court judge said at a hastily called news conference.

One local television station this week banned use of San Diego's longtime slogan -- "America's Finest City" -- until further notice, deeming it too "arrogant and cynical" for a municipality in the throes of national humiliation. The local paper raised the editorial question Thursday: "Can San Diego sink any lower in the eyes of the world?"

San Diego's sunshine has turned noir. Lauded as one of the nation's best-governed cities in the late 1990s, America's self-proclaimed "Finest City" now has the reputation of being among the most poorly managed.

This city is not known for civic toughness. Politically two-fisted cities like New York and Chicago, definitely. Los Angeles, maybe. But San Diego, sun-drenched, image-conscious, tourist-friendly, zoo- and SeaWorld-centric San Diego? No way.

Fire prevention has emerged as the dominant political issue as officials trade accusations over whether runaway growth and a lack of firefighting resources had left the county vulnerable to the disastrous fires.

In the final act of a legal drama that has dominated local politics for months, San Diego Councilwoman Valerie Stallings resigned Monday after pleading guilty to receiving unreported gifts from Padres majority owner John Moores. The most expensive of the gifts, worth about $2,300, were airplane tickets so that Stallings' daughter and sister in Kansas could come to San Diego to be with Stallings during a mastectomy and chemotherapy in 1996.

Like a baseball manager arguing nose to nose with an umpire, much of this city is furious at Bruce Henderson. If City Hall, the Chamber of Commerce and the local newspaper could spit tobacco juice, the shoes of the former city councilman turned serial litigator would be covered in glop. At issue is Henderson's relentless opposition to the voter-approved plan to build a ballpark for the San Diego Padres as the centerpiece of the largest downtown redevelopment project in city history.

He last ran for local office in 1979. He redeployed to Washington in 1983, leaving no successor and no political machine. He has not attempted to meddle in city affairs from afar, despite plenty of opportunities. When he left his state job in Sacramento last year, he moved to Los Angeles. Still, Pete Wilson, former San Diego mayor, U.S. senator and California governor, hovers over this year's San Diego mayor's race like a blimp at the Super Bowl.