Scandal-Weary San Diego To Elect New Mayor
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Bob Filner's resignation as San Diego mayor amid widespread allegations of sexual harassment has given Republicans a chance Tuesday to recapture an office they held for much of the last four decades — and an opportunity for a rare win leading a major American city.
Filner, the city's first Democratic leader in 20 years, resigned less than nine months into a four-year term after nearly 20 women — including a retired Navy rear admiral and a San Diego State University dean — publicly identified themselves as targets of his unwanted advances, including kissing, groping and requests for dates. He pleaded guilty last month to one felony count of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor counts of battery for his behavior toward women during his brief time in office.
Kevin Faulconer, a two-term city councilman, is the lone high-profile Republican in Tuesday's election, facing several prominent Democrats. If no one wins a majority — a likely scenario with 11 names on the ballot — the top two finishers advance to a runoff.
Faulconer, 46, is widely considered a shoo-in for a runoff against David Alvarez, a first-term city councilman, or Nathan Fletcher, an executive at wireless technology titan Qualcomm Inc. and former state assemblyman who finished third in last year's race.
Filner, a former 10-term congressman, has barely been mentioned in campaign mailers or televised debates. But the major candidates have adopted his successful campaign mantra of pouring more money into neglected neighborhoods, promising more money to repair crumbling streets and sidewalks and faster fire and ambulance response times.
"Nobody is talking about (Filner) but they're all using his narrative of neighborhoods first," said Steve Erie, a political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. "They're all talking the talk, but the question is whether they will walk the walk."
Making the Filner debacle a campaign issue carries risk for Republicans because members of the disgraced former mayor's own party were first to expose his behavior, and national and local party leaders, including Alvarez, quickly demanded that he resign, Erie said. Faulconer also has little to gain by highlighting his Republican credentials in an increasingly Democratic city, he said.
Democrats hold a 13-point advantage over Republicans in voter registration in San Diego. Barack Obama trounced Mitt Romney by 25 points among city voters in last year's presidential election.
Faulconer announced his bid after about 30 Republican leaders and their allies invited him and other potential contenders to the La Jolla living room of a prominent developer, and the group decided to coalesce around him. During his seven years on the City Council, the mild-mannered former public relations executive was a close ally of Mayor Jerry Sanders, Filner's moderate Republican predecessor. He made one of his biggest splashes by supporting a ban on alcohol consumption on city beaches after a Labor Day melee in 2007 in his oceanfront district.
Fletcher, 36, has eluded easy definition, becoming a Democrat in May, barely a year after bolting the Republican Party to become an independent. He is endorsed by Gov. Jerry Brown, Attorney General Kamala Harris and several law enforcement labor unions.
Alvarez, 33, is backed by the San Diego County Democratic Party Central Committee and the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, the largest coalition of organized labor.
A strong showing for Faulconer on Tuesday would give Republicans a rare dose of good news in urban America, long an area of strength for Democrats. The vote comes two weeks after Bill de Blasio was elected New York City's first Democratic mayor in two decades.
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