A surfer to the rescue of Enron-by-the-sea?

It’s hard not to root for a write-in candidate for San Diego mayor who’s a surfer campaigning on a platform of fiscal probity and opposition to taxpayer subsidies for a new football stadium. Donna Frye was also the only city council member to vote against underfunding a city employees’ pension fund (by $1.7 billion!) and often boycotted closed-door meetings, according to the LA Times.

Her opponent, incumbent Mayor Dick Murphy, is claiming victory by 2,200 votes. But the League of Women Voters is suing over refusal by the county registrar to count votes for Frye where the oval next to where voters wrote her name was not darkened. The league has not endorsed anyone in the race and is fighting for the principle that all votes should be counted. There may be 4,000 to 5,000 of these uncounted votes for Frye, the LA Times said.

In the race, the two candidates who appeared on the ballot were Murphy and County Supervisor Ron Robert, both Republicans. Two lawsuits attempted to have Frye disqualified. One lawsuit has been thrown out, while the other is going forward in federal court. If Murphy loses, he will be the first incumbent San Diego mayor to do so in 33 years. San Diego is in the midst of a financial crisis. The FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Security and Exchange Commission are all investigating, according to USA Today, which said the town had, under Murphy’s tenure, earned the nickname “Enron by the sea.”

Murphy alternately entered and left and entered the race last spring and Frye entered the race only five weeks before the election. The LA Times calls the race “unusual “ and said business leaders had favored the two Republicans, Murphy and Roberts, while environmentalists and labor union leaders backed Frye, a Democrat. That doesn’t sound very unusual (although you have to wonder about business leaders who back such an apparently fiscally disastrous candidate). On the other hand, three of the nine city council members were indicted last year, accusing of taking bribes from a strip club owner. Then again, that’s not so unusual either (just look north to Seattle, where a similar strip club scandal helped bring down members of its city council last year).

Weirdly, the LA Times gave its story the headline, “San Diego Elects Murphy Mayor, But Lawsuits Remain.” Aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? (Did the paper endorse Murphy?) I wonder about the arguments between reporter and editor that headline caused.