San Diego Magazine / September 2007 / Jerry Sanders

 Email  Print  Feed

Jerry Sanders

Dialogue with Tom Blair

THE 34TH MAYOR OF SAN DIEGO, Jerry Sanders took office two years ago after winning a special election to succeed Dick Murphy, who resigned under the cloud of the city’s pension crisis. Elected after promising to promote better ethics, streamline city operations and make city government more accountable, Sanders has posted a mixed record. His credentials were strong, but his tasks were Herculean. A veteran of the San Diego Police Department, he served 20 years before being promoted to chief (1993-1999). After retiring from the PD, he took over as CEO of San Diego’s embattled United Way and helped turn the local charity around. Sanders lives in Kensington with his wife, Rana Sampson.

TOM BLAIR: Okay, let’s get to the most serious issue first: Are the potholes in your Kensington neighborhood as bad as the potholes in my Point Loma neighborhood?

JERRY SANDERS: You don’t have any potholes in your neighborhood. But we’ll be out within two weeks of any time you call.

TB: Good politics. You’re coming up on two years as mayor. And you’re already laying the groundwork for a reelection campaign next year. When I interviewed you before the election in 2005, you said, “The job always seems bigger than it turns out to be when you get there. But when you get there, the calm comes.” Do you still believe that?

JS: Okay, the job’s been much bigger than I thought it was going to be. I don’t think I had a clue how complex the issues were. I don’t think I had a clue about how many issues there were, and how difficult politics is.

TB: And yet you’re ready to go another round?

JS: You get started, and you realize you can’t finish everything in three years. It’s important to get a lot of the stuff done that we’ve started. We’ve got a lot of people working hard on issues, and I think it’s important to keep going forward.

TB: San Diego was on the brink of bankruptcy, and you inherited a horrendous mess when you moved into City Hall. Is the city in better or worse shape now?

JS: I think it’s in much better shape. We’ve got payment schedules worked out with this five-year plan and the budget we just adopted for fixing most of the major financial issues. That’s whether it’s the pension system, which is on a 20-year [payback] schedule——and we’re actually paying in more than we’re required to——or whether it’s the retiree health-care issue, which nobody had even anticipated.

TB: What’s the debt there?

JS: It’s $1.4 billion. We’ve also started putting money away for that, and we’ll ramp that up significantly in the next several years. The infrastructure——you brought up the potholes——we’ve got a plan for $600 million over the next five years to start fixing that. Part of that is bonding, but most of it is pay-as-you-go.

TB: You say start to fix the infrastructure. What would it cost to fix it all?

JS: The best estimate is $700 million to $900 million——and we’ll be putting in $600 million. So that’s substantially reducing it to a level we can finish off. And we may even be able to expedite that, depending on property sales and some other things. When you look at those indicators, I’m confident we have things under control——at least in terms of the things we know about.

TB: Where are we on issuing new bonds?

JS: Our 2005 audit [is due very soon], and then we should be able to go back out into the market. We’ve been told by the rating agencies that, most likely, after they see the ’05 audit, they’ll reinstate our credit ratings——unless there’s something really out of the ordinary. We’ve got the 2003 and 2004 audits out. The 2006 will be out by the end of the year, and then we’re in line with where we need to be.

TB: In our 2005 dialogue, you talked about some of your priorities if elected. First was getting the audits out. And then you mentioned affordable housing. And ethics. And then, streamlining government and making city employees more accountable to the public.

JS: Well, we’ve streamlined city government. We’ve brought the budget into balance by cutting nearly 700 employees. That’s through business process re-engineering and some good, old-fashioned cuts we had to make to be competitive. Affordable housing’s been a more difficult issue. As we’re finishing categorizing the properties the city has, we’re looking at parcels to see where we are. That’s one of the [goals] that’s slipped a little, but I did support the governor’s initiatives on 1C [a $2.5 billion state housing bond initiative], and worked very hard, and [we] got that passed.

TB: You also said San Diego’s problems wouldn’t be solved with new taxes. I just got a water bill with a 6.5 percent hike, imposed by the city. Isn’t that a tax?

JS: A water-rate increase is a commodity increase. It’s also an investment increase. I didn’t consider that a tax, and I talked to a lot of people about that. That’s one you can mitigate by conservation, so that it doesn’t cost you more money. In my estimation, a tax increase is one that’s a general thing that goes toward financing government. This is about financing infrastructure that has to be in place.

TB: Our other mayor, City Attorney Mike Aguirre, has high public approval. But he also has powerful detractors. Early on, you two seemed to be getting along. Now, the honeymoon has clearly ended. Do you think the city attorney is serving the city well?

JS: First, Mike and I are still working together on issues. I’ve been very clear throughout this that we don’t have to be dating all the time in order to get things done. But we do have to work together on issues, and I think we’ve continued to do that——although I think some people have kind of reveled in the fact that we’ve had a big argument over a couple of aspects. The public has said very clearly, “We’re not interested in the fighting over there. We’re interested in you getting things accomplished.” That’s what we’ve tried to do. Mike has been effective in some things. As for other things, you’d have to ask him whether he thinks he’s effective.

TB: That’s your business relationship. But not too long ago, he called you corrupt. How’s your personal relationship?

JS: I’ve been very clear with Mike that I didn’t appreciate that. It’s something I take very seriously. That’s the reason I asked the [state] attorney general to investigate. But I want to reiterate that we’ve worked together on issues.

TB: After taking the buckshot approach to his job, Mike seems to have hit the target on the Sunroad building fiasco. It’s made him look like a hero, to some. What did you do wrong?

JS: What we did wrong was to try to solve a problem, instead of just stepping up and saying, “Hey, that’s not going to happen.” And that comes from a background in problem-solving, and we weren’t best served by that. I should have stepped up sooner; I should have stopped it sooner. And that’s one of the things I’ve acknowledged to everybody.

TB: The internal investigation you ordered on the Sunroad project determined you made “unintentionally inaccurate statements.” That involved the city using the services of Ted Sexton to fashion a compromise on the height limit of Sunroad’s high-rise near Montgomery Field. At the time Sexton was hired, you went on the radio and flatly denied he was working on the Sunroad project . . .

JS: What I denied was that he came over specifically for the Sunroad project. He worked on the FAA stuff; that’s one of the things I have said. But from the very early days of our administration——and I still kind of chafe at this, a bit——we had talked about whether we should be running airports or somebody else should be doing it. In the first few months of the administration, we had conversations with the Airport Authority about bringing somebody over to work on the issue of whether we should be running Brown Field and Montgomery Field, and what we should be doing on Lindbergh and all the rest. And so I thought that’s why we had brought Ted over, and I was wrong. We brought him over to work on [those things], but we also brought him over to work on Sunroad.

TB: And yet you signed the letter to the Airport Authority that led to his hiring——and the word Sunroad was in the first sentence. Do you think San Diegans might be concerned that San Diego’s mayor signs important letters without even reading the first sentence?

JS: I can tell you I sign literally dozens of letters every day. I’ll read some, and others, I don’t——after being verbally briefed, or thinking I know what they’re about. I have trouble sometimes telling people what I did the day before. And I don’t think anyone can possibly realize how complex this job is, or how many things you see come across your desk every day. I did not intentionally deceive anybody with that, and that’s just the way it is. My credibility is my number-one thing, and I’m certainly not going to lie to anybody about something that, actually, I consider fairly minor.

TB: I’m not judging your credibility. I’m giving you a chance to explain. But there’s also the matter of Sunroad’s owner being one of your contributors and holding a fund-raiser for you. That could make some people put two and two together——and maybe they come up with five.

JS: I agree. And that’s one reason I think it’s highly appropriate that we have limits on how much anybody can contribute to a campaign. And somebody contributing $300 [for the primary] or $300 for the general election, or bringing other people in [to contribute——there’s never a huge amount. And there’s never enough of an amount that you’re going to put your personal credibility on the line for anybody.

TB: You say dozens of letters come across your desk, and I get dozens, too. But if somebody brings me a letter to sign——a letter they know is really important——they usually tell me.

JS: That’s part of the issue on this whole thing. I’m not sure everybody took it as seriously, at least from the start, as we should have. And I certainly read every letter that comes across my desk much more carefully now. Nothing goes across my desk that I don’t have a complete understanding of, or ask a question about later on. I’m willing to say I should have read it more carefully; I’m not trying to absolve myself of any responsibility.

TB: It’s been noted in the press that your top aide, Ronne Froman, resigned after just 18 months as the city’s CEO——half as long as the three years she said she would serve when she took the appointment. . .

JS: She told me she’d serve two years.

TB: She was quoted in the press as saying three years.

JS: Well, she told me two years. And I think that’s what we had always said. And she really did work for two years, because she quit the Red Cross as soon as I went into the campaign after the primary——she came on board to help us with policy and all the rest. So she did serve the two years that she promised she’d serve, at least in her estimation. And I don’t disagree with her; those were a tough two years.

TB: Still, when she quit, I think it took a lot of people by surprise. She did say she’d done all the work she’d set out to do, but insiders were skeptical. Now there have been rumblings that Froman might be made a scapegoat in the Sunroad debacle, with your press aide [Fred Sainz] reportedly saying she gave him bum information. What’s the story there?

JS: She’s not going to become a scapegoat, because she didn’t do anything wrong. Ronne gave Fred exactly what she was given. And I don’t think there was any attempt to deceive, whatsoever. I know Ronne too well. I know she only gave me what she got when she asked for it.

TB: Okay, let’s talk about something potentially more fun.

JS: What could be more fun? [Laughs.]

TB: Is the city of San Diego even paying attention to the Chargers and their stadium search outside the city limits?

JS: Absolutely. It’s been our understanding from the Chargers and people around them that they’re very aggressively pursuing other sites. So we’re not involved in those conversations. If anything ever happens, we’re always willing to talk with the Chargers. But we’re very interested——all of us, as fans——in having them in San Diego [County].

TB: When you look across town at Petco Park, and see the huge financial boon it’s become for the city, don’t you wonder, “Why couldn’t the same thing happen with the Chargers?”

JS: I don’t think we have another area like there was with Petco Park. Downtown was a target-rich opportunity. So much of it was underutilized, and had been for a long time. You don’t see the same thing in Mission Valley.

TB: Well, Qualcomm Stadium is a classic example of underutilized property.

JS: Absolutely, but I don’t know that the Chargers [would have the best] impact on it. If we were to put that on the market tomorrow, and allow someone to come in and develop it, I’m sure you’d have people standing in line——without the Chargers issue. If we had an area where we could put a stadium that would have exactly that same impact as Petco, that’s obviously a win-win. But I don’t know of another place like that in the city. Was that supposed to be the fun part?

TB: Well, Charger football’s fun. So, let’s say you’re reelected next year. What’s going to be the hallmark of your second term?

JS: Much the same as the first term. Financial stability is the strongest issue, and we’ve got to continue that. We’re only in the first year of the five-year plan. We also need to look for opportunities to create more park property and develop more parks and do things for San Diegans that give a sense of civic pride.

TB: Can you do that and be tight-fisted at the same time?

JS: I think so. We can leverage assets. We can look at bonding. We can use some of our property sales to finance capital projects like building parks.

TB: So filling the potholes on Chatsworth Boulevard in Point Loma is not among your top two priorities?

JS: Oh, those should be fixed fairly soon.