Local Politics

Donna Frye and Jerry Sanders, San Diego's two candidates for mayor, have begun their big preparations for November's runoff election with their first debate held at UCSD's Price Center. I was lucky to have a boyfriend who was shooting the debate in its entirety for UCSD-TV, so I got to sit in the booth and watch the whole thing. (I actually got to stand at the podium before the debate so they could check lights, and check on the candidates before they walked on stage . . . it's good to know people at the top . . . but I digress).

I don't claim to be an authority on local politics. I DO know that Dick Murphy was corrupt and our city was being run and supported by outsiders who were more interested in protecting the interests of the developers than of the people. I know the mayor's office has been full of problems for years and this is why Dick Murphy resigned and we are having this run-off in the first place. Anyway, I was interested to learn more about these candidates during the debate. I had not made up my mind about either of them going in.

I'm still just as confused about who I want to back.

I know Donna Frye is the candidate backed by most of the liberal citizenry (I wrote her name in during the last election), and I know Jerry Sanders is backed by all of the old Dick Murphy supporters, which instantly makes me suspicious. I feel like Donna is the one I should instantly be behind, but there are some things she said that made me a bit suspicious.

Actually, both candidates I think have a hard time finding things they disagree with. Everything they differ on sits in the "small potatoes" category as far as I can tell. They were right there together on the Charger's stadium and on affordable housing (a bullshit topic if you ask me. Everyone claims to be interested in fixing the housing problem but never does a damn thing about it. John thinks that once a person becomes a homeowner, they forget to care about housing period).

However, when they were asked about restructuring the mayor's office and putting together a cabinet, Ms. Frye stated that she was planning to do a nationwide search for her cabinet. I guess this isn't a terrible thing, but I'm not sure it looks that great that Donna Frye doesn't have enough confidence in the people of San Diego to think there would be viable candidates here for her cabinet. I don't know how it's better to bring in people who have no idea about the needs of our community. Strike one, in my opinion.

The most egregious thing that Ms. Frye did, however, had to do with a question about the gay and lesbian community . . . and I am of course biased on this. She was asked what she feels is the mayor's office's role in gay and lesbian rights, and then was asked what events she has attended for the glbt community. She vacillated for a while, said she didn't understand the question, then said something that suspiciously sounded as if she didn't think the mayor's office could do anything for gay and lesbian rights. In terms of attendance, she said she couldn't remember and then mumbled a bit and said the gentleman could look at her calendar later if he wanted to know. Wrong answer.

Sanders was very eloquent in answering the question. He was, like every politician, a bit vague about how the mayor could help, but he did say that he would fight for equal rights for every one of his constituents He then listed off a string of glbt events that he attended and reminded the crowd of his track record of marching in the Pride Parade every year. Jerry looked very, very good.

Perhaps it seems silly, but San Diego has a very large glbt community for the size of the city and many of us were backers of Donna Frye. Her seemingly apathetic attitude towards this community could prove very detrimental to her election.

I, for one, am in the process of thinking twice.