In the seven months that he has been mayor of San Diego, Mayor Bob Filner has shocked many with his outrageous behavior, his incivility and his eagerness to bully anyone who gets in his way. But for those who dealt with Filner in his last stint at City Hall, his actions could not be more predictable.
In 1991, the city of San Diego went through one of its most tumultuous periods in modern history culminating in the lopsided recall of Councilwoman Linda Bernhardt. The primary catalyst for this unprecedented event was the disastrous attempt to gerrymander San Diego’s City Council districts as part of redistricting based on 1990 census results. Following the submission of some 40-odd maps, the final plan was adopted following last-minute negotiations between lawyers and politicians.
The sole individual responsible for these atrocious events was then-Councilman Filner, leader of the Gang of Five and the orchestrator of a malicious campaign to take control over the City Council while concurrently attacking his political opponents. During this contentious era, several of the council meetings went on until two and three o’clock in the morning as hundreds of people lined up to protest Filner’s destructive campaign of political gain and biased revenge.
As part of his efforts, Filner manipulated the members of his “gang,” making Bernhardt his primary shill. After campaigning on a “progressive” program of “no growth,” environmental protection and anti-development, Bernhardt immediately abandoned her constituents by working with Filner to send Councilman Bruce Henderson north by twisting the district boundaries so that Henderson would end up in Bernhardt’s now-jettisoned and environmentally sensitive communities of Scripps Ranch, Rancho Peñasquitos and North City.
Under Filner’s scheme, Bernhardt was going to represent Clairemont and Linda Vista, older, built-out communities while Henderson was supposed to represent the northern portions of the city where developer-friendly politicians like Henderson were not welcome. An outraged community coalesced and a recall committee formed and litigation was filed. Undaunted and unashamed, Filner continued pressing his agenda at great expense to taxpayers as he was firmly in control of the City Council, much to the chagrin of Mayor Maureen O’Connor.
During that period — thanks to Filner’s demeanor and unheralded obliteration of civic decorum — the council’s effectiveness as a political body came to a standstill. Tensions were so thick that you needed a large knife to work your way through the City Council offices.
As part of the litigation process, subpoenas were served and council staff members were ordered to appear to testify about what they saw and heard. Key to the prosecution of the lawsuit was the alleged violations of the state-mandated Brown Act, prohibiting the gathering of City Council members to discuss matters such as this, in private, out of the public’s eye.
The ever-resourceful Filner orchestrated a devious plan to circumvent state law by arranging for his majority of five to attend Padres games in the city stadium box seats, making sure that none of his opponents were in attendance. In these days, when the seats were not scrutinized as they have been in recent times, it was not uncommon for council members to trade seats with each other. Filner and his allies, working through their staff, made sure he and his “gang members” were the only ones to attend the games to the exclusion of his unwitting opponents.
He thus circumvented the formal limitations imposed by the Brown Act by watching a baseball game with his allies while freely discussing their gerrymandering efforts as well as devising other ways to punish Henderson and other political opponents.
When the subpoenas were issued, the first persons served were the staff people who had arranged to swap the seats around. Once the scheme unfolded, these otherwise-naive city employees were deemed complicit in violating the Brown Act and after being served, they agreed to testify as to what they did and who asked them to take these steps. It was only under the threat of damaging testimony that Filner and the City Council agreed to sign the final map, one that was equitable and that satisfied the legal objectives of a redistricting map.
When I formed the recall Bernhardt committee in response to these tawdry efforts, Filner and his allies — vicious at times and not adverse to physical assault — did everything to discourage the committee’s noble efforts. As he later learned, those supporting recall came from every facet of the community and included Democrats, Republicans, homemakers, retirees, men and women. In short, good folks from every walk of life.
As expected, in opposing the recall, arguments were made regarding the cost of a special election and the damage it would do to the city. But in the end, the recall succeeded not because of the influence of Democrats and Republicans but because the city had grown tired of the bickering and inability of the council to function as a representative body.
To quote George Santayana, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Again, we, as a community, find ourselves in a difficult place.
