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How Bob Filner would be mayor and wannabes won’t
He's not as handsome, not as ambitious, not as powerful and probably not as smart, but somehow Bob Filner engenders the same kind of animosity from some Republicans that President Clinton elicits. That's probably fine with Filner, who is indeed pretty smart and has a killer instinct as a candidate. In fact, if his mayoral candidacy should so enrage Republicans that even more GOP loyalists enter the mayor's race, that will only help San Diego’s only Democrat in Congress come home.
"I’m considering it and I haven't made any decision," he says. "I’m trying to decide where I could do better for San Diego. With the seniority I’ve accumulated in the Congress (six years), if the Democrats get a majority in the next Congress (with two more years), then I can make a real contribution and that’s a consideration.
"My background being on the school board four years, and the City Council five years, and then at the federal level now, that’s a combination of experience that nobody could match or has matched for leadership in our city."
In case you missed it, Filner has contributed mightily to San Diego since his election to Congress. "Through my membership on the Transportation Committee I was able to stop the so-called upgrade of our sewage treatment plant, saving us conservatively about $3 billion," he recalls. "It was my legislation that gave us the waiver."
We thought it was Susan Golding's accomplishment.
"Yeah, right.
"Also, based on that Transportation Committee, we got hundreds of millions of dollars for investment in San Diego, especially for (Mexican) border infrastructure, roads and hopefully a train that will be up and running in the near future. There's about $10 million there for an intermodal transfer yard where trucks and trains transfer. Plus there are programs from which the train is eligible to get grants. We wrote it so this train qualifies. I’m second highest-ranking Democrat on the Veterans Committee and have done a whole series of things that restore or help veterans, of whom we in San Diego County have the largest number in the country. I’m also very proud of individual things we do for people who have various problems, whether social security or veterans affairs. We’ve literally saved people’s lives by getting them proper medical attention from their HMOs, gotten people benefits they'd given up on.
"What the city has been lacking in the last two administrations is a coherent program, which we can call vision, with a leadership that shows us how to get there and brings people together to get it done. We don’t have a vision of economic development, of education, of a place on the border, all integrated into a program for the future. Neither Maureen nor Susan have articulated a coherent program and then were able to inspire people to follow it and get them to work together to achieve it.
"I know the elements of it, which include economic development and infrastructure investment and educational policy that Susan sort of hints at but doesn’t know how to achieve; a safe city, of course, and a view of the border that realizes the advantages of two cultures and two nations rather than looking at that border as a problem.
"But I don’t want to talk about the election because I haven't decided on doing this.
"The people of this city are incredibly hungry for strong leadership. They've seen a series of missteps. They've seen no real coherent vision, and nobody pulls it together for them. The mayor of the city has the ability to do that... Whatever Maureen did to turn off Democrats, Susan did to turn off Republicans. People are looking for people who'll take stands.
"I was the only Democrat on a school board that elected me its president. I was elected deputy mayor on the City Council. So my colleagues do have some sense that I know how to bring things together."
As for the wannabes, Juan Vargas may run for Congress if Filner runs for mayor and otherwise is disqualified from the mayor's race because he foolishly ran against Filner for Congress before; Byron Wear has way more dues to pay to match Roberts and doesn’t enjoy the same large loyal block of voters that Warden has cultivated; Chris Kehoe, no chance; Steve Cushman, no chance; Ben Haddad, too young; Julie Meier Wright, no right; and Dick Murphy makes a very, very fine judge.
The nicest thing about the 2000 mayoral race is that all the top candidates are qualified and Peter Navarro lives in Orange County.
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