Toni Atkins

AFTER SERVING A DILIGENT APPRENTICESHIP as former San Diego Councilmember Christine Kehoe’s chief of staff, Toni Atkins was elected to the District 3 council seat in 2000 and reelected last fall. It’s been a heady experience, she says, for a girl who grew up in Appalachia, the daughter of a coal miner and a seamstress, in a house with no running water, no bathroom. The Virginia native went on to earn a degree in political science from Emory & Henry College before moving west to San Diego. A popular and hands-on politician in her urban district, Atkins has made affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization high priorities. When Mayor Dick Murphy abruptly resigned last July, Atkins became the city’s acting mayor—a title she relinquished with Jerry Sanders’ ascension to the office last month. Atkins, who lives in South Park, is a 20-year resident of District 3.

TOM BLAIR: So, you’ve had your taste of being mayor. Was four and a half months enough, or do you think you might be back running for mayor some day?

TONI ATKINS: You know, I’m not going to rule anything out. There were parts of it I found fascinating. You have a different perspective sitting in the mayor’s office than you do as a councilmember.

TB: A wider view of things?

TA: A much broader perspective. You feel the weight of the responsibility. We have a lot of challenging issues, but even with all that it was an incredible opportunity.

TB: You stepped into the role of acting mayor at what may have been a nadir for our city. The elected mayor resigned; two councilmembers were convicted and ousted from office; City Hall was under fire from all sides in the pension crisis; and a new city attorney was lobbing grenades in all directions. Were there times you just wanted to run screaming from the scene?

TA: I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say, “Absolutely.” I certainly took a lot more Tylenol. The hardest part was trying to have open communication and work with the city attorney’s office. And trying to push the audit issue along. We had hoped to be much further along than we are now. I really stressed over that.

TB: Well, you earned a great deal of new respect and won points for your personal and political integrity. In an editorial in December, the Union-Tribune wrote you were “the political leader of America’s seventh-largest city for a while during its time of worst crisis. And, unlike some others, survived with [your] head held high.” Did those accolades surprise you?

TA: It was a very pleasant surprise. But I had a lot of help. My relationship with the Chamber of Commerce improved 100 percent. You know, we disagree about many things. My report card from the chamber last year was probably one of the poorest. But I called them in and said, “I need your help and support over these next four months, and our focus has to be the fiscal issues facing the city.” We sat down and we agreed to work together on that—and on the Broadway complex, and some of the strong-mayor transition issues.

TB: Of course, not everybody was throwing roses. City Attorney Mike Aguirre questioned your fitness to serve in office. How did you feel about that?

TA: Given the relationship, I wasn’t shocked. I wasn’t as upset as many of the people who called me. I had tons of messages on my home machine from Aguirre supporters who were absolutely furious, and thought I should be. I’m not overly confident, or arrogant, but I’d never been called incompetent before. I’m an elected official; people are going to criticize. You sort of have to say, “How much of this is valid? And how much of it is that I’m just a target?”

TB: Has the city attorney been helping or hurting our city?

TA: There are some who say we might have been through some of the audit, by now, had we not had someone raising a lot more issues. But then he raised issues the city needs to deal with, and quite a number of issues I actually agree with him on. I endorsed him, I supported him. I wanted change. We needed a legal adviser who was going to get us more information. But I don’t necessarily agree with his style.

TB: The pension fund crisis has the feds, the district attorney, the SEC and even your own city attorney conducting some sort of ongoing investigation. The big guessing game is how high culpability goes—who may or may not be indicted. Do you worry about your own chances of being indicted?

TA: Well, there’s a lot I didn’t know, so no. But I do have some concern about how we’re going to fare in terms of what the SEC does. I think the issue is going to be whether the SEC believes the council should have known better, and there’s a whole range of things they can determine. Were we negligent? Were we not given the information we needed to make certain decisions? I don’t know. I’m more concerned about the city than myself.

TB: Even if you and the rest of the council are cleared of any wrongdoing, or negligence, a cloud is likely to remain for some time. Do you expect that will adversely affect your political future?

TA: It could, of course. There could be scapegoats, and there could be casualties, and that may be deserved; it may not be deserved. We’ll just have to see this play itself out. I’m a very conscientious person; I read everything. But I also counted on people to advise us.

TB: Let’s talk about your future. At Thanksgiving time, you quietly filed a candidate statement with the county Registrar of Voters for a potential race this year for county supervisor.

TA: It sure didn’t stay quiet very long. I thought the press might ignore it. (Laughs.) But it did take them three days!

TB: So, do you expect to challenge Ron Roberts, and do you think you can win?

TA: I’m not going to presuppose I can win. I think the demographics of the seat are supportive of a candidate like me. I love my job as a councilmember. It’s going to take a long time to get through some of the things that Chris Kehoe implemented, that I picked up, in terms of infrastructure improvement. So I would love an opportunity to stay at the city. But I’m not going to have that [because of term limits]. So I have to be thinking about the race for supervisor.

TB: Like your predecessor, Christine Kehoe, you’ve made it a point that you represent all of the constituents in your district, and in the city. But also, like Kehoe, you’re an openly gay elected official. Do you feel that in any way gives you special responsibilities—or that you owe anything in particular to gays and lesbians?

TA: I do. I’m mindful of the fact that I represent the gay and lesbian community. Even though we have so many more people across the country from that community as elected officials, we’re just not there yet. As many people pointed out, I was, for a period of time, the openly lesbian mayor of the seventh-largest city, so I didn’t want to mess up. Even bigger than being a role model, I appreciate my base in that community. I come from a very poor background. For me, it’s the responsibility of representing under-represented communities. I see it as having an extra responsibility to people who don’t always have a voice.

TB: You were the most outspoken member of the council when it came to denying a Balboa Park lease to the Boy Scouts because of their refusal to allow homosexuals to be scouts or leaders.

TA: I had to be, not just politically, but because I really believed it. I think scouting is a wonderful thing for young boys. It’s the administration that I have issues with. They could work on this if they wanted to; they could have found some middle ground. It could have just as easily been about other minority groups being excluded, and you’ve got to be consistent.

TB: Are you a Chargers fan?

TA: Yes. I know most people might not know that, based on some of the land-use and political decisions I’ve had to make. But I love football.

TB: Are you a fan of the Chargers’ latest proposal for a new stadium?

TA: Tell me what their latest proposal is! I personally don’t believe you give away land. And I’m still concerned about the density in Mission Valley. I don’t want to see the Chargers leave San Diego. But we’ve got to find a way, due to the circumstances of the city, to do it with the realization there are many citizens who don’t support tax-funded stadiums. I don’t want to hinder our ability to negotiate with the Chargers, but we should make this a countywide issue. There are fans all over this county who love the Chargers. If people consider the Chargers something valuable, I think we need to open it up and work throughout the county to see what our solution is.

TB: Why haven’t we done that?

TA: Well, let’s give Jerry at least an hour.

TB: Would you work with him to do it?

TA: Absolutely.

TB: I’m going to throw out a few names on the political roster, and ask you for a gut reaction. Let’s start with former mayor Dick Murphy.

TA: A nice guy, in over his head.

TB: Ralph Inzunza and Michael Zucchet.

TA: Unfortunate. Ralph, a very affable guy. Mike Zucchet, very intelligent. I think the whole situation for the city and for them and their families was very unfortunate.

TB: Mayor Jerry Sanders.

TA: Sincere, direct, accessible and never forgets anybody’s name. I’ve always had a great deal of respect for him. When he was police chief, I enjoyed working with him as a council rep. He always treated us with a lot of respect.

TB: Councilmember Donna Frye.

TA: My friend. Tenacious. Hard worker who cares a lot, and I’m glad we’re going to get to continue to work together.

TB: Duke Cunningham.

TA: Disappointing. I’m a Democrat. He’s a Republican. But when someone falls into this trap, it is so disappointing, because it hurts everybody. It hurts the city of San Diego. The county. It hurts all elected officials, [because] people decide this is routine; that this is how we do business. And I will tell you it is not.

TB: City Councilmember Toni Atkins.

TA: Oh, gosh, Toni Atkins. I’m just grateful that I’ve gotten to do what I’ve been able to do. I never imagined in a million years that this little girl from Appalachia would be able to act as mayor of the seventh-largest city. I still can’t believe it’s all happened. I’m just honored, and humbled.

TB: Try to stay that way. It’s probably the key to being around for a long time.

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