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Interview (continued) San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders talks corruption and the "Strong Mayor" form of government Let’s get to the City Council. Councilman Peters is on record as saying that he may not support total transparency of proceedings going on in City Council. How do you anticipate your relationship with Scott Peters developing and advancing from this point forward? Well, I think Scott’s a smart individual. I’m very happy to work with him. I think he was a good choice. You know, you can’t have total transparency on council issues when you’ve got issues of litigation that affect the city, or you’ve got issues of negotiations. You can’t do those publicly. Otherwise, you’re telling the other side what your bottom line is, and you can’t negotiate that way. So, there are always going to be some issues that need to be behind closed doors while a strategy is being worked out and implemented. And I think Scott’s got that firmly in mind. Pension plan. Would it be fair to say that greed and avarice on the part of city management and union reps led to the pension plan crisis? Well,…[laughing]…I don’t know that it’s that strong. I think what happened was tough decisions were avoided for a long time. And I think those tough decisions should have been funding it at a full rate,…or it should have been raising revenue to be able to fund other things. I think it’s pretty tempting when you’ve got a huge pension fund sitting there that’s doing very well to decide not to pay all of it at that amount. Then, when you start working out deals with the union leaders, and you start working out deals to cut the city’s payments or not to pay in the right amount, then I think all those things start playing in. That’s what starts creating a problem. You’re dealing with a completely different animal at that point. There was a comment that a political analyst made: “You don’t need a strong mayor structure. You need a strong mayor.” What’s your reaction to that statement? It’s one thing to implement a strong mayor structure, but if the guy at the top isn’t as strong as the structure, the structure may collapse. Well, I think that there are a lot of organizations and a lot of positions that have strong powers. But, if you put somebody in there who doesn’t exercise the leadership they need to, it doesn’t matter how powerful a position is, it’s going to be a weak individual in there. I really think it revolves around the leadership making those decisions, pushing programs forward that are important. You can look at Pete Wilson. He was never a strong mayor, but nobody was ever confused that he was the one in charge. The City Council can override the mayor’s veto power with five votes. Does that undermine your strong mayor notion at all? Nobody knows that right now. We haven’t seen it in operation yet. Naturally, that could, but I think one of the things that a strong leader does is, he has to work with the various constituencies, whether they’re council members or other people, to lead them to where you should be and to convince them why they should be on your side. It may be that that does create a problem, but I don’t think you want a mayor who’s going to veto everything that comes forward. So, it’s fair to say that consensus building will be a part of the strong mayor form of government? I think that’s very important in a strong leader. Moving on to some of the other players. How do you anticipate your relationship with Michael Aguirre being? I think it’s going to be a good relationship. We meet with Mike frequently right now. He’s providing the legal services we need. He’s providing good advice. He’s also been supportive of the things we’re trying to do. I appreciate the stance that he’s taken since I’ve been elected. I would think that that would continue, and I have every hope of working closely with Mike. As a strong mayor, are you concerned about keeping individuals in city government within their boundaries? We all have a role, and I think that once you have people in all those positions, those roles will clear up for everybody. I think we’ll achieve a balance. Right now, we have literally not had some of the people in positions. It’s hard to know who goes where and who does what. There’s actually been a vacuum there that some people have felt. Do you feel, at all, that a lack of definition in roles and positions in city government has led to some of the problems, to some of the corruption in the city? I think that the issues of corruption we’ve seen in this city have been very clear-cut issues. I don’t think that people being gone, or leadership, or anything else has affected them. I think it’s been the individuals that have participated in it. How closely will Ronne Froman be working with City Council? Ronne Froman and I will be working with City Council every day. We’ll be working with Mike Aguirre every day. We’ll be working with the employees every day. We really need a team effort to solve the problems we have, and everybody’s going to have to play a part in solving these problems. How’s your current working relationship with Donna Frye? I think we can have a very respectful relationship. I’ve talked to her a few times already. I’ll be meeting with her next week. I think she’s got some great ideas, and I want to listen to her and understand where she comes from on certain positions. I’d like her to be a strong part of the team, and I think she will be. Looking back at the election, is there any one point, or one issue that you thought carried the day for you in the election? Well, I think Donna bringing up the tax increase probably helped me out quite a bit. Mr. Sanders, I appreciate you taking the time. Oh, it’s no problem at all. Page 1 | Page 2 ------ Larry Knowles is the editor of Vyuz San Diego. He can be reached at lgkiii@vyuz.com. Suggested Vyuz reading... Steve York, UCSD student pornographer, chooses law over porn | By Larry Knowles The bare facts about Brazilian waxing | By Romina Cleary What pilots look for in airports, women | By Rob Potochnik A serial networker walks among us | By April Labine-Katko Of mice and men: an adult's visit to Disneyland | By Larry Knowles |
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