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.