By
Donald
H. Harrison
With former Assemblyman Howard Wayne deciding to run for San Diego city
attorney, the Jewish community — as well as the rest of San Diego— has a
candidate in whom we can take great pride.
Wayne is a man of impeccable integrity. He's a hard worker, devoted to public
service. And he's modest. That's why I figured I¹d better tell you about him.
I was among the people who urged him to consider running for city attorney,
and I know he won't be blowing his horn the way some other political figures
do.
Wayne is familiar to most of us as the three-term Democratic assemblyman who
represented the beach areas of San Diego until term limits prevented him from
seeking re-election.
While other legislators rushed before the cameras to get themselves quoted on
whatever the hot topic of the day might have been, Wayne quietly worked on
developing lasting legislation to protect the health of Californians.
For example, he authored and then shepherded through the Legislature a bill
requiring that the waters off our coast be regularly tested, so that upstream
sources of pollution could be detected and ameliorated.
You can bet this testing program has and will continue to save lives up and
down the 1,100-mile coastline of California.
He also persuaded his fellow legislators and the governor that it wasn¹t fair
to deny breast cancer treatment to women who were too rich for Medicare
assistance but nevertheless too poor to be able to afford it themselves.
Among fellow legislators, Wayne was known as the guy who actually read — and
understood— the bills on which they were all voting. Before serving in the
Legislature, he worked for two decades as a deputy attorney general (the job
to which he returned in 2003 at the conclusion of his legislative service) and
therefore knew very well how court cases could turn on the wording of a bill.
His attentiveness in the bill-drafting process, as well as his assiduous work
to improve his colleagues' bills as they went through the legislative
committee process, didn't win him headlines. Nevertheless, that was the
welcome and highly-respected role he played in Sacramento.
While Wayne works as a state prosecutor, his wife, Mary Lundberg, is a federal
prosecutor in the local U.S. attorney's office. If elected to the office of
city attorney, Wayne will bring a rare combination of insights to the
position. He will be a man with unparalleled knowledge of how law
enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal levels can cooperate to
fight— and prevent — crime.
If one looks at the office of the city attorney in San Diego, one sees that it
encompasses two major areas of responsibilities. Wayne is well qualified to
carry out both of them.
The city attorney is in charge of prosecuting misdemeanors and infractions
committed within the City of San Diego, such as traffic violations or
noncompliance with zoning. As an experienced prosecutor, Wayne also foresees
the possibility of deputy city attorneys also handling certain kinds of felony
cases — assuming Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis agrees. "There¹s no
reason, for example, that city attorneys couldn¹t help do gang
prosecutions," Wayne says.
The city attorney serves as the lawyer for the government of the City of San
Diego. As the City Council drafts ordinances, it needs the same kind of advice
that Wayne so successfully gave his fellow legislators.
As the city government enters into contracts, it needs the kind of advice it
failed to receive when it negotiated unfavorable agreements with the San Diego
Chargers and the San Diego Padres. Wayne will read, amend, reread, and
re-amend such contracts before they ever go to the City Council. He'll watch
out for the taxpayers and, occasionally, like activist city attorneys in
other municipalities, he may file public-interest lawsuits against intentional
polluters and other corporate miscreants.
The current cloud of scandal hovering over City Hall— with a federal grand
jury questioning what influence, if any, the sex club industry has upon
members of our City Council— reinforces the people's desire for leaders
known for their integrity and ethics.
Wayne says that the City of San Diego ought to require City Council members
and their staffs— upon taking office— to attend the same kinds of ethics
classes that are mandated for state legislators and members of the attorney
general's staff.
One of the side benefits of Wayne running for city attorney is the clear shot
that it gives Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe in the Democratic party primary
for a position in the state Senate that will become vacant when State Sen.
Dede Alpert retires because of the three-term limit for state legislators.
Wayne had been mulling a run for that office, but to do so, he would have had
to battle Kehoe in the Democratic primary. When you have two good people such
as Wayne and Kehoe, you hate to see them forced into a fight that one of them
has to lose. Now the people stand the chance of being double winners.
I¹m also happy to tell you that Wayne and his family have been longtime
contributing members of San Diego¹s Jewish community. His parents were among
the founders of the Conservative Congregation
Beth Tefilah in the eastern portion of San Diego. After a merger with Adat
Ami Synagogue, the two congregations took on the new name of Ohr
Shalom Synagogue. The congregation today is at Third and Laurel Streets.
Wayne, himself, is an active member of the American
Jewish Committee, an organization that seeks to improve relations among
Jews and members of other ethnic and religious communities. His interest in
bringing people together, rather than dividing them, is another strong reason
why he'll make a wonderful city attorney.
I hope that members of our community will get behind his candidacy early on.
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