CA: San Diego's mayor-elect seeks end to federal probes

ap on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 11/09/05 | Elliot Spagat - ap

[NormsRevenge]

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Mayor-elect Jerry Sanders said Wednesday he wants to talk to federal investigators this week about how to end long-running probes of potential wrongdoing at City Hall.

Sanders, a Republican former police chief making his first run for public office, decisively defeated maverick Councilwoman Donna Frye Tuesday in the city's third mayoral election in a year.

Sanders, 55, raised about three times more money than Frye, 53, who came within a whisker of being elected mayor in November as a write-in candidate. She finished first in a July primary after Dick Murphy resigned, but the Democrat fell short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff.

Sanders admitted that some of his backers in the city's business elite were more worried about a Mayor Frye than excited about a Mayor Sanders. Still, he denied that he was a product of the city's old guard.

"I think the reason I've been portrayed as the establishment candidate is because I'm a white male with gray hair," he told reporters outside his campaign headquarters.

Sanders won 53.9 percent of the vote, compared to 46.1 percent for Frye.

"It was really a question of how radical a change people wanted in City Hall," said Cynthia Vicknair, a Republican political consultant. "Jerry Sanders was a more comfortable choice."

Sanders takes office Dec. 5 during turbulent times in the nation's seventh-largest city. A $1.37 billion pension deficit has spawned federal investigations into whether officials hid bad news from bond investors. The city hasn't produced a financial audit since 2002, crippling its ability to borrow money.

Sanders said he wants to meet this week with representatives of the U.S. Attorney's Office and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission who have been investigating city finances since early last year. He also wants to set deadlines for completing financial audits for 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Sanders pledged to fire about 150 managers and renewed a threat to lay off 10 percent of all employees outside of the police and fire departments if municipal labor unions refuse to make concessions.

Frye's remedy was riskier. She wanted to immediately rescind pension benefits that the city attorney deems illegal - a move that Sanders says would be illegal itself - and ask voters in tax-averse San Diego to approve a half-cent sales tax.

Voters also cast ballots Tuesday in two City Council districts to replace Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza, who were convicted in July on federal corruption charges and are scheduled for sentencing Thursday.

No one won a majority in either race, forcing Jan. 10 runoffs between the top two finishers.

[Brilliant]

Looks like it was the "Culture of Corruption" within the Dem party that put Sanders in the mayor's office.

The way I read the news today, though, it was a clean sweep for the Dems.