April 30, 1999
Tuesday April 27 was to be a happy occasion for Assistant Chief of the San Diego Police Department, David Bejarano. He knew he would be selected as the next Chief of the San Diego Police Department (SDPD). How did he know? Mayor Susan Golding, in contradiction to what the City Charter says had injected herself in the selection process!
The Mayor had, in secret, met privately with the four finalist at a local hotel and conducted interviews, without the knowledge of the members of the City Council, in spite of the fact that the City has a City Manager form of government. The elected Mayor and Council are prohibited from injecting themselves in the selection hiring process of the Chief of Police (among others in top management). This process places the entire responsibility upon the shoulders of the City Manager. It has worked well in the past and keeps politicians out of turning the whole process into a circus and hiring people only on political reasons and not on qualifications & experience.
The Mayor, it is now alleged, did consult with the City Manager before the meeting. It is now known, that the City Manager, at the Mayors request, called the four finalist and asked them to meet secretly with the Mayor! This is gross interference with the selection process and is highly unethical of the City Manager. It is now clear that Assistant Chief Bejarano was blessed by the Mayor! That the members of the City Council were outraged is understandable.
It appears now, that the Mayor once exposed, rung up the City Attorney and had him issue a statement that the Mayor had not broken any law or failed to follow the City Charter! It seems that the City Attorney has in the past, and is now acting as the Mayor's personal attorney and not as the attorney for the city i.e. the citizens of San Diego. He should be protecting the interests of the citizens and not OF THE MAYOR! Without any investigation, the City Attorney failed to protect our interests in seeing that our city charter is abided by!
The selection process has been abridged. The office of the City Manager has been compromised! And, our City Charter has been threshed by the Mayor!
It is our considered opinion that these are serious matters and should be acted upon immediately by the Grand Jury, and possible the State Attorney General, as it appears that the City Attorney is unqualified or as compromised as the City Manager to act in behalf of the citizens of San Diego or in the interests of the city.
(This Editorial is not intended to be in any way a reflection on the four finalist. They may all probably be well qualified... We don't really know. What we do know is that the Mayor, Susan Golding, the system failed them and that is unacceptable).
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