Wolfsheimer Over Mitchell; McCarty Wins

Bill Mitchell, the idiosyncratic councilman and self-styled populist who represented San Diego’s 1st District for eight years, was narrowly defeated by Abbe Wolfsheimer in San Diego City Council elections Tuesday.

In District 7, Judy McCarty, a 45-year-old former aide to Assemblyman Larry Stirling, beat Jeanette Roache, a 37-year-old aide to Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier, to fill the seat vacated in July when Councilman Dick Murphy became a municipal judge.

The outcomes were expected to shift the ideological makeup of the council to the right on critical issues like growth. Mitchell has been viewed as a strong defender of managed growth; Wolfsheimer and McCarty are perceived as conservatives and pro-development.

In District 3, which includes much of San Diego’s Mid-City, one-term Councilwoman Gloria McColl trounced Arthur Salzberg, a 55-year-old businessman and doctoral candidate who reported spending only $110 on the race.

In District 5, which includes Mission Valley, Mira Mesa, Scripps Ranch and other communities, conservative one-term Councilman Ed Struiksma easily beat Bob Switzer, a 33-year-old Democrat and businessman.

The voting Tuesday topped a desultory campaign season: opponents seemed notable more for their similarities than their differences, the media appeared absorbed by the saga of Mayor Roger Hedgecock and voter turnout in the primary hit a record low.

Even Proposition A, controversial on its own, failed to embroil the candidates: six opposed it and one, Mitchell, remained neutral. The only endorsement came from the candidate with the lowest profile, Salzberg, who was outspent by a factor of 1,000 to 1.

Voter turnout was projected throughout the day at 30%--a relatively low level that some predicted would benefit conservatives.

During the campaign, the incumbents spent most of their time listing their accomplishments. Their opponents tried to pick them off. Several candidates cried foul, but more lackadaisically than angrily, and accused their opponents of misrepresentation.

Only the long shots seemed willing to risk specific proposals.

Switzer, challenging Struiksma, proposed drug screening for the mayor and council. Salzberg, challenging McColl, said he wanted rent stabilization for senior citizens and a shelter for the homeless in an empty federal building.

But the two bigger races focused less on substance than style.

The District 1 race pitted Mitchell against Wolfsheimer--two Republican, middle-aged, lifelong San Diegans, talking about public safety and growth. Observers suggested their only real differences concerned growth, but even that issue became muddy.

Wolfsheimer came out against Proposition A--but on legal and financial grounds, she said. Mitchell sidestepped coming out in its favor--but he signed the petition to put it on the ballot, agreed with the concept, and supported “the people’s revolution,” he said.

Equally murky, he received support from environmentalists, who described him as one of the council’s strongest supporters of the Growth Management Plan. Yet some critics accused him of going soft on development, and he received extensive contributions from builders.

Wolfsheimer distributed lists of those contributions, saying Mitchell had failed to fend off density. Yet builders’ representatives said they felt more kinship with Wolfsheimer, who is separated, but not divorced, from prominent land-use lawyer Louis Wolfsheimer.

Perhaps their most clearly stated and telling difference concerned the community plans, an integral part of the city’s Growth Management Plan. Mitchell repeatedly promised support for the plans; Wolfsheimer repeatedly said they needed amending and updating.

During the last weeks of the campaign, observers and the candidates gave increasing weight to Wolfsheimer’s campaign artillery--leaflets and television and radio ads often attacking Mitchell and financed primarily out of her own pocket.

They could work either way, observers said. They could swing the election in her favor if voters agreed with her criticisms. Or voters might turn against her if they agreed with Mitchell that the literature was unfair.

Apparently, the tactic worked in Wolfsheimer’s favor.

District 7 lacked even the distinction of incumbency, after Murphy vacated the seat in July. When Democratic candidate Evonne Shulze confounded predictions by losing the primary, the two remaining candidates seemed strikingly similar.

Both were Republicans with no experience in elected office, living in the same section of the city, San Carlos. Roache was on leave from the staff of Assemblywoman Sunny Mojonnier (R-Encinitas). McCarty had resigned from the staff of Assemblyman Larry Stirling (R-San Diego). Both stressed a history of involvement in community issues.

Both opposed Proposition A, though McCarty signed the petition to put it on the ballot and was seen as slightly less pro-development. Both favored rapid completion of California 52 and spending more for public safety, though Roache presented herself as a “law-and-order” candidate.

Only in the lower-profile races, in Districts 3 and 5, did there appear to be sharp differences between challengers and incumbents. But both challengers spent little and failed to scramble out of the position of long shot.

McColl, 55, was appointed to the council in 1983 and won election that fall to a two-year term. She emphasized her efforts to revitalize the Mid-City area and wipe prostitution off El Cajon Boulevard, and her work on social and human services, especially for the elderly, in District 3.

Struiksma, a 38-year-old former policeman running for a second four-year term, spoke rather generally about his support for public safety programs and what he called “quality of life issues” such as housing and transportation.

SAN DIEGO

City Council

848 of 848 precincts counted

1st District

Bill Mitchell (Inc.) 64,926Abbe Wolfsheimer 70,505 3rd District

Gloria McColl (Inc.) 101,981Art Salzberg 28,813 5th District

Ed Struiksma (Inc.) 93,937Robert Switzer 35,440 7th District

Judy McCarty 69,183Jeanette Roache 57,398Proposition A: Urban growth initiative

Yes 77,352No 60,484CHULA VISTA

City Council

69 of 69 precincts counted

Seat No. 1

Gayle McCandliss (Inc.) 6,395Penny Allen 3,533 Seat No. 2

Leonard Moore (Inc.) 6,920George Brining 2,737 MONTGOMERY

15 of 15 precincts counted

Proposition L: Annexation to Chula Vista

Yes 1,765No 1,224Proposition M: Incorporation (advisory only)

Yes 588No 2,072ESCONDIDO

Union School District board (3 Seats)

81 of 81 precincts counted

John Abernethy 1,173Barry Baker 2,837Russell Estes 2,330Pamela Hewitt-Smith 1,798Sidney Hollins 3,366James Lund 3,095Sally Stewart 1,472Corinne Tranchina 896 IMPERIAL BEACH

16 of 16 precincts counted

Proposition G: Card-club casinos

Yes 1,395No 2,416Proposition H: Redevelopment agency

Yes 1,725No 2,095 VISTA

32 of 32 precincts counted

Proposition K: Redevelopment agency

Yes 3,702No 3,703Proposition J: Rezoning

Yes 3,181No 4,142