Yeeeeeeeehawwwwwwww !!! Mayor Murphy Resigns ......

[doublethink]

down here in San Diego !!! Putting my Donna Frye yard signs out there again today !!!! Never took my Kerry stickers off my truck also !!!! That might be a bit harder to pull off though...:think: Taking this country back one step at a time. Keep the faith people. Peace. :)

[begin_within]

1. So my vote for Donna Frye will FINALLY count for something?

[doublethink]

4. We have to vote again in a special election Nov 8th ......

And Donna Frye just came on TV saying YES SHE IS RUNNING !!! It should be a landslide this time, no more of this write in bullshit .... peace. :)

[rinsd]

9. Landslide?

Wishful thinking.

She got a bare plurality running against a split Republican ticket.

She is going to have to work very hard to win here. Especially since the city also approved the strong mayor format.

[Liberty Belle]

17. Plus no paper trails are required until 2006, so

votes will be unverifiable.

[cascadiance]

12. Here's the article on her announcing she's running.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/4413876/detail.html

Some people speculate that she'll have a tougher time running against Roberts (or perhaps another Republican) one-on-one.

I'd say that it might not be as problematic as people think.

First, I know of many Democrats and other progressives that voted for Murphy in the past, thinking of him as a "nice man", and have made a point to not vote for Ron Roberts. I don't think Ron will enjoy getting all of the votes Murphy had for this reason.

Secondly, I think San Diego citizenry are very paranoid now about who they will put in office and want to find someone with integrity first and foremost to help clean it up. Someone that rises above the manipulative work of others that are currently running our city's government.

Donna Frye is on record as being one of the few folks on the City Council and in our government championing more open government than they've had. That I think will work for her in this coming election, even amongst some Republicans that might normally not have voted for her (thinking she might vote against the stadium, etc.). She should emphasize this in her campaign.

She has to tread lightly on the stadium funding issues. I think as long as she takes the attitude of being a "responsible" person that wants to ensure that San Diego's finances are not going to be jeapordized by any such deal, I think she'll get support. She has to be careful and not sound too anti-sports team in her campaign though. If she shows that she has a middle aground and is negotiable for a responsible deal with the Chargers, etc. I think that would get her a lot of additional support.

[Sandpiper]

2. How long before KOGO offers him a job?

I'm sure Hedgecrook could use a guest host.

[doublethink]

7. Oh I'll bet 'Hedgecrook' is fuming right now !!!

I may have to listen to him instead of Air America today, just to LMAO for a bit ..... :) peace.

[begin_within]

8. Murphy probably got a job with the Chargers campaigning for a new stadium.

[rinsd]

10. Murphy was better than Golding in that respect.....

Reluctantly have to give him credit when it comes to the Chargers. He got rid of the ticket guarantee, got all the lawsuits and couter suits tabled and made no firm commitments to spend city money on the Chargers. Now if the NFL would keep their freakin nose out, we could be alright.

[dicknbush]

3. a little more deatial on this please. Why is he resigning.

Does this mena a new election or is Donna the winner after all?

[doublethink]

6. He just said something like his time is up?

there was a story in last weeks Time Magazine I guess calling him one of the three worst mayors in the USA .... guess it got to him, don't know? He said it was time for a new face to lead this city or something rather , kinda vague. Anyway see post #4 above .. another election will be held. peace. :)

[Senior citizen]

14. No, it didn't get to him. Nothing got to him unless it came from

big money interests. He had no interest whatsoever in what the public thought. He claimed the Time article was a set-up by his enemies, and that they were trying to harm the business environment.

IMO, he only stepped down because big money had no other way to forestall the invitable outcome of a recall, which would have been to put Donna Frye in Murphy's place. Murphy always took his orders from the, uh, "business environment," and unless they'd asked him to step down, he wouldn't have. IMO, of course.

[Liberty Belle]

18. Maybe he didn't like being named 3rd worst mayor in America

by Time Magazine this week.

[silverweb]

5. Excellent news!

So now, according to the article, he steps down July 15th and we have a special election to pick a new mayor.

Get ready. Donna's going to walk away with it, I hope, but you can bet that Roberts and the reTHUGS are going to do their best to smear her and/or try to steal it again. This is going to be interesting.

http://www.10news.com/news/4413099/detail.html

On edit: Add link to local news channel.

[rinsd]

11. Donna Frye will have to work very hard.....

....she got a bare plurality in a split Republican ticket.

[Senior citizen]

13. The special election will be in November.

Meanwhile, Murphy will be replaced with the next in line, Zukket, who is under investigation for pay-offs.

Had the recall gone through, Frye would have been mayor more quickly, I believe. A recall asks if you want someone recalled, and, if so, which candidate you want to replace them. I guess the polls showed that Murphy would have been recalled and Frye would have been mayor, so the pukes had to act quickly.

I expect lots of dirty tricks between now and November. I get the impression that big money is on an "anybody but Donna" campaign, and will bring in any candidate they think could appear, with a little election fraud, to have won, and then spend as much money as they need to make that scenario plausible. They couldn't get away with it in a recall, so they had to stall for time. Big money NEEDS a mayor they can buy, and an honest mayor is totally unacceptable to them.

On edit: The "Full Focus" panel on PBS just mentioned that by resigning as of July 15th, Murphy will remain in control until the 2006 budget process is complete. The representative of the Better Business Bureau said that Donna had suggested imposing fees and taxes on business to help resolve the city's fiscal problem. Big money doesn't like to pay fees and taxes--that's for us "little people."

[cascadiance]

15. Well if Zuchette is found guilty quickly...

... by courts, then perhaps a recall could be done on him? Not sure how that would work and if the six month time period would reset when he takes office or if he's viewed as interim and could be replaced at any time for "cause", even if a "recall", which would have mechanics that would favor Frye. I would think if this is a possibility, we'd want to have the court cases pushed through quickly.

[Senior citizen]

16. I don't think there is any chance whatsoever of a quick conviction.

Our courts only work quickly when big money wants them to. Zukket's case will probably be resolved before Ken Lay's is, because he's smaller fry, but the principle is the same.

IMO the best hope is that the 6 months isn't required for someone not elected to office. Otherwise, I think we'll have big problems--the kind of big problems that only big money can create. Of course we still couldn't recall him until he takes office, which won't be until AFTER the 2006 budget is completed. I wonder how many highly-paid right wing lawyers and political consultants it took to come up with this gambit....

My guess is that you can't recall anyone until they've been in office for six months, but I've emailed someone who might know for sure. IMO Murphy wouldn't have resigned unless it was to ensure that the people of San Diego lose out in favor of the "business environment" again.

On edit: July is probably too close to November. I don't think the powers that be will permit a recall, because they know they'd lose. An election, on the other hand, is something they know how to manipulate. I think we're going to have to start right now getting everyone who intends to vote for Donna to put themselves on record somehow. If big money is faced with PROVEN overwhelming numbers prior to the election, they might consider cutting their losses.

[Liberty Belle]

19. You are correct. You can't start a recall until 6 months after

the election.

It's no coincidence that Murphy announced his resignation ONE DAY after a "Recall Murphy" group went on TV and announced they would be circulating recall petitions starting June 7th (6 months after Murphy's fraudulent election).

He knew they'd get the signatures, so he resigned to avoid being recalled, bottom line.

I heard a poll on a local news station saying more 60% of San Diegans think he made the right decision to resign. So he was toast either way.

[cascadiance]

21. Fox 6 News poll shows...

polls on two questions:

1. Will the Mayor's resignation help the city of San Diego?

Current votes:
Yes: 70.7%
No: 29.3%

2. Who would you like to see as Mayor of San Diego?

Current votes:
39.5% - Donna Frye
20.6% - Ron Roberts
13.0% - Pete Wilson
4.4% - Peter Q. Davis
22.4% - Other

Go here to vote:
http://www.fox6.com/

Not that scientific, but Donna carrying around 40% of the vote is around 10% higher than the number of votes she had as a write-in in the election. She's doubling the amount for Ron Roberts. Not bad.

Still with "Other" running second at 22% it's still too early to know whether she can win or not and who her challenger would be.

Just an hour ago, her count was a bit over 40% when the 10:00 PM news came on. Not sure if that's a good sign of those residents watching the news not voting as much for her or not.

[Liberty Belle]

31. I didn't see the poll; they probably took it down because

Donna was so far ahead.

40% is strong, but if she doesn't get a majority there would be a run-off election. We still have more than half the people voting for Republican candidates or "other."

On the other hand, if a campaign is mounted promoting Donna as what's needed to restore honesty and integrity to San Diego's City Hall, I think she could win. Especially if progressives do a bang-up GOTV on election day.

....provided they don't rig the machines, of course.

[silverweb]

24. Did you hear about the offer to drop the lawsuit?

The guy who filed suit to count all of Donna's write-in votes said he'd drop the suit if the city council "does the right thing" and appoints Donna mayor.

It's a brilliant tactic. Donna really won the last election anyway and appointing her would save our bankrupt city the expense of a special election.

:D

[rinsd]

25. Kind of blows away the whole democracy argument.....

...I was disappointed to find LTTEs today in the Unino-trib calling for Frye to be appointed and to avoid the special election, very similar to what you're proposing.

Kind of runs counter to the whole argument of being democratically elected, if you ask me.

[cascadiance]

27. I'm sure the wingnuts would spin it that way...

Part of me wants her to win outright anyway in another election.

But it does make sense from the standpoint, that:

1) from many people's viewpoints, she did win the election with the votes that weren't counted for her, even if courts weren't supporting this view in the earlier lawsuit resolutions.

2) it would save San Diego money of not having to trigger a special election if in fact the courts were to rule in Donna's favor to have had won earlier.

I think what would upset non-Donna Frye supporters is if they felt that judges making future judgements on these lawsuits weren't basing their opinions totally on the validity of claims for #1 here. They wouldn't want to think that any judgement would be affected by the judge's concern to "save money" by rendering in favor of Frye. In a way, I can see that concern. Though I think "money" persuaded earlier decisions to go the other way, I could see how the other side could complain that "money" would sway it to Frye now.

In a way, stopping the court battles now would actually be unfair to Donna and her supporters for the quest for a correct judgement on how the election results should have been counted. Whether Murphy resigns or not shouldn't impact whether she might be found to have actually won the election earlier, if that's still on the table.

I would hope now that the courts, if still looking at the initial voting issues, would take money out of the equation now, and just look at the merits of the case purely and be able to persuade the public that they did so in that fashion. If they are unable to do so, then lets all campaign for Donna to win the special election.

[rinsd]

36. My problem is point #2.....

...if via the court Donna Frye was to be declared victor. No problem. But to appoint her because the "elected" mayor stepped down kind defeats the purpose of getting votes counted in the first place. While money is an issue, the other option is potentially disastorous as 2/3 of the voters didn't vote for her. Also without a special election, the appointed person will serve till 08. I don't think San Diegans will be happy with that.

She needs to win the election and likely needs at least 40% (assuming a multi head ticket) to really be perceived as elected. That's part of the reason Murphy resigned.

This is a meme that I hope dies a quick death.

[Liberty Belle]

32. She WAS democratically elected. The Repugs just didn't count

the votes!

Council should just admit the Registrar was wrong not to count the votes and declare Donna mayor, though she might well decline to accept an appointment. She has stated she wants to see an election, to make sure the people's voices are heard.

Could you imagine any Repug being so ethical under the circumstances?

[silverweb]

33. How so?

Donna really won the election and should already be mayor in the first place!

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. All I can say is SWEET!!!!!

GO DONNA GO!

[Senior citizen]

22. Bob Filner has decided to run for mayor.

Filner is the bravest white man in Congress. When the Congressional Black Caucus stood up to protest the fraudulent Florida vote he was the only white man in Congress to stand with them.

He is a Democrat with a proven progressive record. Until I heard that Filner planned to run, I had planned to vote for Donna. Now I'm not so sure, because I have nothing but admiration for both, but Filner actually has more political experience. This is a heartbreaker for me--I love both Filner and Frye. But I'm sure that if Filner is elected, Frye's proposals will be given as much support as he can give.

I never dreamed that there would be another candidate I respect and admire as much as Donna, but Bob's that candidate. He is probably the only person in San Diego who has more support among progressive voters than Donna.

So, last night I was sure I would vote for Donna (again), but this morning I'm undecided as to whether to vote for Donna or for Bob.

I'm originally from New York, and when I moved to San Diego about 15 years ago, I thought it was a rather unexciting city. Shows how ignorant I was!

On edit: This is a totally new political experience for me. I have to choose between the better of two great candidates, instead of the usual choice of the lesser of two evils. I like it! I'd like to see this happen in more elections.

[cascadiance]

23. Interesting...

Well, if he enters the race, then having a primary to decide who faces each other at the end would be more valuable.

I too am going to have to look at Filner more. I really do still like Donna Frye though:

Pluses for Donna Frye winning:
- She's a known quantity here, and has already picked up a lot of recognition from the earlier write-in campaign.
- Bob Filner by comparison might be viewed as a "carpet bagger" by comparison.
- Donna does have the track record sitting on city council and championing things that the city sorely needs like Open Government to deal with the pension crisis, etc.
- many of us already have Donna Frye "campaign materials" now, so it won't cost as much to promote her.

Pluses for Bob Filner:
- as you note, experiences.
- an outsider at this point might be good and viewed as "untainted" by current messes with the pension fund, etc.
- if he wins, then we have both him as mayor and Donna Frye on the City Council, which might be better than whomever takes over Donna Frye's council seat along with Donna at mayor.
- he doesn't have a record on stadium funding too. Being an "open book", might help him be perceived as more open to doing a deal with the Chargers with the business community to gain their support. However, he'll have to make sure and not give away *ANY* of taxpayer's money this that is going to make the city worse off.

One thing I was thinking yesterday is that it might be valuable for Donna (or Filner for that matter) to talk to Jerry Brown up in Oakland. Brown came in as Oakland's mayor in similar circumstances. The city was a mess after a real messed up ticket guarantee deal to get the Raiders in to the city, and it was also in debt as well. He took a very pragmatic approach in dealing with and fixing those problems. Of course San Diego is a bit more of a conservative area than Oakland is, but I still think what he could give in terms of advise on how to deal with similar issues that San Diego faces might be very valuable for the one that faces the Republicans for the seat in the special election. San Diego *needs* one of them to take charge now.

[maveric]

28. Juan Vargas should run.

He's bright and a go-getter.

[doublethink]

29. Vargas next shot should be Senator.

forget Mayor. :)

[maveric]

30. To take Feinstein out?

Vargas and Boxer would make a great team.

[Liberty Belle]

34. No! We need Filner in Congress.

Damn that registrar for screwing up things so badly. I wish the court would intervene on an emergency basis and rule Donna the rightful mayor, right now, and put a stop to this lunacy.

[siliconefreak]

26. oh god...

I just read that Pete Wilson is a possibility. Yuck.

[Liberty Belle]

35. Our worst nightmare...Pete Wilson.

Democrats need to put up just one candidate on the ballot, so as not to split up the vote. I prefer Frye, because she has inside knowledge of the council's workings (and shenannigans).
Keep Filner in Congress, where he's doing a great job. Besides, the Repugs would tar him as a liberal if he tries to run for Mayor; his Congressional district is liberal enough, but the City of San Diego isn't that blue.

Let the Repugs put up multiples and divvy up their votes, just like Murphy and Roberts did before. Dems should unite behind Donna.