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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (242275)	7/20/2005 3:30:32 AM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1588162

Now that the GOP has stunk up the joint in San Diego, where do you think you guys are headed next? *********************************************************** San Diego officials are hard to find - literally - amid scandals ELLIOT SPAGAT Associated Press SAN DIEGO - For about one of every four people in this city of 1.3 million, there is no councilman to call about that nasty pothole or spot of graffiti. Two councilmen convicted of extortion, fraud and conspiracy have been suspended from office. Don't complain to the mayor - he resigned. His replacement? Well, nobody is quite sure.** Leaders in the nation's seventh-largest city are hard to find - literally - following a stunning 72-hour chain of events that left many wondering why City Hall was caught so unprepared. San Diego had no backup plan in place when Mayor Dick Murphy left office Friday, resigning in the face of mounting problems at City Hall, and his replacement - Michael Zucchet - was convicted Monday on his first business day in office. The city attorney scrambled to come up with a transition plan, even citing Robert's Rules of Order, a 19th century parliamentary guide. Zucchet, 35, resigned Tuesday, fighting back tears as he explained that he was leaving a job he loved because he felt it was the best thing for his district. "It pains me greatly that some people will infer that I am somehow giving up or making an admission of some kind. Nothing could be further from the truth," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "Simply put, I am devastated. My wife and I have endured two years and two months of pure hell. What kept us going was the belief that justice would be served in the end." The council. too, appears to have been operating on the assumption Zucchet would be acquitted. Two weeks before the verdict, at least two council members said they had not considered the fallout from Zucchet's conviction. Councilman Jim Madaffer said at the time he believed Zucchet would be found not guilty. City Attorney Michael Aguirre said he asked Zucchet to consider such a worst-case scenario, but the councilman rebuffed the request to vote on his backup, saying more time was needed to notify the public. Carl Luna, professor of political science at San Diego's Mesa College, said the lack of a plan B shows the council doesn't have its act together and deals with tough problems by hoping they go away. "They had a 50-50 shot that it was going to go either so they should have been prepared," Luna said. "Unfortunately, they are way out of their league. They would have great bunch of school board leaders when there is plenty of money coming in and no hard decisions to make." A federal jury convicted Inzunza and Zucchet Monday of taking payments from a strip club owner who wanted to lift the city's "no-touch" rule preventing dancers and patrons from touching in nude clubs. Inzunza, 35, was planning to submit his resignation later this week, his attorney, said Michael Pancer, adding that he was proud of Inzunza. "He's taking it as well as could be expected," the attorney said. The six remaining shell-shocked council members picked Councilwoman Toni Atkins to perform the mayor's duties through Tuesday. On Tuesday, Aguirre said Atkins would remain mayor pro tem until next week, when the council reconsiders an interim replacement. A July 26 mayor election is expected to require a Nov. 8 runoff between the top two finishers. There are now only six occupied council seats, down from nine on Friday. Five votes are needed to pass legislation. Members of the City Council are vanishing so quickly that the odds of getting anything done are shrinking. "Everyone is stunned," said Denny Knox, executive director of the Ocean Beach Main Street Association, a business group in Zucchet's district. The city still has plenty on its plate. Among other things, the city manager is leaving after less than two years on the job and the U.S. Attorney's office is continuing its investigation of the city's deficit-ridden pension fund. The council voted unanimously Tuesday to move ahead with plans to ask a judge to place the pension fund into receivership. Much of former Mayor Murphy's staff was at work Tuesday - even though the boss is gone. The remaining council members promised to pick up the slack for voters who no longer have a representative. Getting to a person in charge has not been an easy task, as researchers for the RAND Corp. found out earlier this month. San Diego's business leaders commissioned the Santa Monica think tank to do a $150,000 report on a voter-approved measure to transfer power from the city manager to the mayor by Jan. 1. When the researchers tried to interview then-Mayor Murphy, he was unavailable. When the report was done, researchers didn't even bother to contract Murphy, then in his final days. "By that time it was clear to us that he wasn't engaged," said Kevin McCarthy, co-author of the report. mercurynews.com