San Diego (special) -- If Mayor Susan Golding can secure the Republican nomination against U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif) she hopes to hammer her and the Democratic administration with the theme that America has let its military so deteriorate that it could not muster the same level of force today as it did to fight the Gulf War against Iraq. 

The San Diego mayor focused on such issues as military defense, tort reform, tax cutting and welfare reform during a preview of her campaign Thursday, July 31, at a meeting with fellow members of the San Diego Jewish Republicans, an affiliate of the National Jewish Coalition.

"We could not fight the Gulf War today, either with manpower or equipment as we did during the Gulf War," she said. "That does not make me rest easy for Israel, or for stability in the Middle East or for being taken seriously by our allies," she said.

"We spend less as a percentage of our gross domestic product today on defense than we spent before Pearl Harbor," Golding said. "If you remember history or if you read it, you know that no one felt we were adequately prepared at the time of Pearl Harbor."

Whereas the United States does not face a threat from the Soviet Union anymore, Golding said, the recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem's Jewish Market (Mehane Yehuda) underscore the volatility of the Middle East.

"It does not make me feel good that we could not fight the Gulf War today if we needed to," she said.

On the issue of support for Israel generally, she said: "I can easily support making Israel safe and secure from a purely national defense standpoint. I also support a strong and safe Israel because I am Jewish, and I think even those who are not Jewish understand the historic purpose of Israel and the difficulties Israel deals with every day."

The mayor said she hoped that in reaction to the suicide bombings "Arafat will finally do something." She expressed disappointment that the bombings failed to receive "the world censure that would have been visited upon Israel if it had been reversed."

hConcerning tort reform, Golding recalled to approximately five dozen persons assembled in a conference room at the Doubletree Hotel in Mission Valley "my favorite lawsuit -- the one against the city by a political consultant (Bob Glaser) who saw a woman go into a bathroom in a men's room (at the stadium) and sued for emotional damage for $5 million against San Diego."

"I guess he never subscribed to Playboy, " she commented in an aside. "It was your tax dollars that were spent instead of going for something you would really want it to go for to defend the city against that really frivolous charge. And those are the kinds of things that go on every day."

She said while she supports a citizen's right to sue, "we are the only industrialized nation that has no real penalties if you know you don't have a case and you use it just for financial leverage."

Golding asserted that industry suffers in California as a result of such lawsuits, causing leaders in biotechnology and high tech companies "to rethink their position" about remaining in the state. She said Boxer has opposed the kind of tort reform legislation she would support on a national level.

The mayor told of San Diego's experience having competitive bidding for streetsweeping to convey her message about tax cutting. "The competitive bid process that we instituted in the City of San Diego is good for the federal government," she said. 

Street sweepers were told that private industry would be permitted to bid. The mayor said employees responded by devising a plan that, for the same money, increased street sweeping in residential areas from once a year to once a month, and in commercial areas from once a month to once or twice a week.

"So you can imagine what would happen at the federal government if the employees were challenged," the mayor said. 

Turning to another issue, the mayor said she has been asked by single women who are on welfare to try to reform the system. She said she was told by one mother ''if I really work, I lose money and I can't afford to because I am supporting my kids myself." Golding said such a system is not compassionate "because that woman has no future, she will have no job history, no increase in salary; she will just have welfare."

She said that Boxer did not support the welfare reform measure put forward by Repoublicans in the Senate. "That is not compassion: that is sentencing a person to be dependent for the rest of their lives," she said.

One questioner wanted to know how Golding would differentiate herself in the primary from Republican opponents Matt Fong, the state treasurer, and Darrell Issa, president of Directed Electronics of Vista, a manufacturer of car alarms.

"It's hard to say; they don't have voting records on most of these issues,' she replied. "I am the only one in the race who has a history, a strong history, of being able to build coalitions across partisan lines."

The mayor said she did not believe the fact that she takes the pro-choice position on abortion hurts her in the Republican primary . She said she will be aided by the fact that California voters will be permitted next year to vote in either primary regardless of their party registration.. 

Given the fact that Boxer thus far faces no major opposition in the Democratic primary, Golding believes many pro-choice Democrats will be tempted to cross over and vote for her.

Golding said she also believes she can attract away from Boxer Democrats who are more conservative than the U.S. Senator, who generally is regarded as a liberal. 

When asked if pro-Boxer Democrats theoretically might seek to have the weakest Republican candidate emerge from the GOP primary, Golding responded that in her observation voters tend not to vote "strategically" but rather for the candidates that they like.

The mayor estimated that it will cost between $5 million and $6 million to run a primary election campaign and between $20 million and $26 million to run in the general election, saying 80 percent of that would be needed just to pay for various forms of campaign advertising. 

She noted that the money must be raised from individuals in maximum contributions of $1,000 for the primary and $1,000 for the general, and said if those limits could be raised, she would favor prohibiting political action committees (PACs) from making any contributions at all. Currently PACs are limited to contributions of $5,000 per candidate.

Two other issues raised in the question-and-answer session with the San Diego Jewish Republicans concerned her positions on illegal immigration and on gun control.

She said like Gov. Pete Wilson she opposes extending benefits to illegal aliens. Further, she said, she believes "we have to have a far more serious conversation with Mexico" about illegal immigration. She said Mexico has been reluctant about stopping illegal immigration in part because capital flows from undocumented workers in the United States to their families in Mexico, giving that nation's economy a boost. 

When one questioner rose to "applaud your courage in standing up to the anti-gun lobby on this bogus Saturday night special issue," the mayor took some pains to explain that while she opposes violence, "this particular piece of legislation that was in front of us (the San Diego City Council) was not good legislation and even the (police) chief (Jerry Sanders) said that it was symbolic only. "

She said instead of the ban on the tiny handguns, she successfully backed requring trigger locks to be installed on all guns sold in San Diego, which she said would reduce the number of accidental shootings.

The mayor contrasted her position on gun control with Boxer's legislation to eliminate "junk guns."

"It sounds good; it sounds terrific," Golding said of Boxer's proposal. "Who wants 'junk guns' or 'unsafe guns?' But the most amazing part of the legislation is that it talks about how these guns are unsafe...but there is an exception there....she says it is okay for law enforcement to have them.

"Well, if the guns are unsafe, why would I want a police officer to have one?" the mayor asked rhetorically.