The Troubleshooter & the Accountant

Journal

A former TV consumer reporter and a widely sought campaign treasurer face off in the District 7 city council race. You’ve heard of Marti Emerald. Meet April Boling.

APRIL BOLING AND I nearly get off on the wrong foot. I telephone to say I’m doing a column on her District 7 city council race. Would she be available for an in-person interview? “Well, is this going to be a continuation from the issue of your magazine where my opponent is named in your ‘50 People To Watch’ list?” asks Boling.

Gulp. Oh, yeah. Marti Emerald made our annual list. Awkward.

I explain that no, being on San Diego Magazine’s January watch list does not constitute an endorsement. It’s an election year, and six of our 50 picks were politicians——ones who have some name recognition and are known to attract the spotlight.

Emerald, you will recall, spent 22 years as the Troubleshooter consumer reporter on TV’s Channel 10. Her campaign’s own poll——which Boling believes——says the Troubleshooter has 84 percent name recognition. That’s extremely high. And it’s one of few things the two front-runners in this race can come close to agreeing on.

I ask both if they feel the media——yes, even this magazine——show favoritism to Emerald because she’s been a TV personality.

“No, just the opposite,” says Emerald. We’re meeting at Earth Blend coffee shop on Santo Road. She leans in, smiles and connects our gazes. “I think I get extra scrutiny from media because I’ve been part of the media community for so long. All of my good pals in the media now are standing back a little; they don’t want to look like they favor me . . . I wish they would.” She laughs. “That would be really nice.”

Boling: “I think there are inside relationships there that simply exist. And it’s going to be up to each member of the media to sort out what they personally are going to do about that . . . This is America, and anybody can run. I think it’s simply a challenge in our race. And it’s my job to get my background out in front of the voters and allow them to make the decision.”

CATHERINE APRIL BOLING was born and raised in San Diego. She attended Hoover High and the University of San Diego. A certified public accountant, she served for two years as volunteer chair of the San Diego Taxpayers Association and as campaign treasurer for more than 50 ballot measures and political candidates, including current councilmembers Brian Maienschein and Kevin Faulconer, former mayor Dick Murphy and present city attorney candidate Jan Goldsmith. (She is counting the cash for Goldsmith’s campaign, but will not endorse him or any other candidates.) Boling ran against and lost to Judy McCarty in a 1993 race for the District 7 seat.

We meet in Boling’s tidy, Navajo Road office, which has a sweeping view of Mission Trails Park. Even though she appears to be a stereotypical, prim-and-proper accountant——and wary of my possible media predilection for her opponent——we share a couple of laughs.

When I ask how it affects the race that two women are going head-to-head, she offers this anecdote: “It pretty much cancels out. As I’ve walked door-to-door——and I’ve walked 8,000 homes thus far——women will say to me at the door, ‘Oh, well, you have my vote——I always vote for the woman.’ And I thank them, and just kind of go on.”

As is customary with political opponents, neither likes to use the other’s name during an interview. They call each other “my opponent.” Boling made an early issue of her opponent not disclosing all campaign contributions. The law does not require candidates to disclose contributions under $100. But Boling made all her contributors known, and publicly called for Emerald to do the same (which Emerald did). Both now say they are for changing the law to require making all contributions public. Each also claims it was her idea to push for legislative change on the matter.

“And I don’t know why it should take a law for someone to do what’s right,” says Boling. “There’s no reason in the world not to disclose who all your contributors are.”

Reminded that one former client’s campaigns was beset by a similar mini-scandal——critics decried Mayor Murphy’s failure to disclose contributions of $99 and less——Boling says she does not recall that. None the less, she says, “I was the treasurer; that is a decision the candidate makes. I don’t recall being involved in that decision.”

JUST 84 PERCENT? At Earth Blend, Emerald has 100 percent name recognition. “Quick question for you, Marti, and it’s not political,” says a man sitting with two other elder folks at a nearby outdoor table. He asks if Emerald remembers a particular dog owner who used to frequent the coffee shop. The Troubleshooter pauses. No big deal. But she looks pained, as if failure here won’t look good to a constituent, or a reporter. And then: “He had red hair, right?” she asks. The three nod emphatically. Emerald somehow knows the dog owner has moved away. She shakes their hands, gathers their names and excuses herself to begin an interview.

She is most definitely running as the Troubleshooter. As a campaign slogan, it works. It blends into our roiling political zeitgeist——better than nicknames/catchphrases used by her TV contemporaries. Would you vote for “The Turko Filer” or “Consumer Bob”? Nope——not as catchy as a candidate who vows to enter a city hall full of trouble and shoot at it.

Emerald says she walked away from Channel 10 because it was time to refocus her advocacy. “The city needs help,” she says. “We have a lot of problems. We need to get people in there who are about solving problems, and that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 22 years.”

The Troubleshooter, a Democrat, concedes her Republican opponent has more political experience. “Sure, but what has she accomplished?” asks Emerald. “She was on the blue-ribbon committee looking at the city’s finances in 2002. They could have rung a bell on the pension underfunding and deferred maintenance, but did they? No, they shelved their report until the city council approved $170 million in bonds for the ballpark. When she was asked about [the pension] three years later, she said, ‘Oh yeah, I was worried about that.’ Why didn’t she say something at the time? If she had, maybe the council wouldn’t have continued to underfund the pension. Maybe we wouldn’t be knocked off the bond market.

“Truth be told, this was one of the big reasons I decided to run. Not just that I felt I could solve problems. But I didn’t want this person representing me on the city council. I find it ironic her issue with me is full disclosure, because that’s not been her practice.”

Boling says she rang her bell loud and clear in 2002. “I was mainly involved in the deferred-maintenance side of the report,” she says. “I was very concerned the backlog of maintenance was not quantified, and we had a whole series of city council meetings on that. I was not as involved in the pension aspect of the commission.”

Among voters who declare their party affiliation in District 7, Republicans and Democrats are evenly split, with 37 percent in each camp. A candidate who wins more than 50 percent of the vote in the June 3 primary wins the office outright. Emerald thinks she can do that, and end the half-century lock the GOP has had on this council seat.

Boling says name recognition alone does not win a race. But does she have a catchphrase at the ready? No. How about posters of herself swooping into City Hall as a Super Accountant?

“That’s actually a pretty funny visual,” says Boling. “A green eyeshade and a Wonder Woman cape . . . No, I don’t view myself that way. I do view myself as someone with the background and the knowledge to ask the right questions and articulate some of the financial issues we have.”

Kind of like a . . . troubleshooter?

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