We Told You So...

HINDSIGHT: As another year turns, and another gallery of People To Watch graces the pages of San Diego Magazine, it’s time for a look back. Maybe even a double-take or two. For the first time in a long time, it appears, not one of our Watchables from the previous year was indicted or imprisoned. Who says we never give you the good news?

Not that all our People To Watch for 2005 lived up to their billing—or their promise. City Attorney Mike Aguirre comes to mind. After years of failed attempts to win public office, he rode the city’s pension scandal into the city attorney’s office—where he promptly decided he’d rather be mayor. Most of us who voted for him hoped he’d tone down his grating personality but still shake things up. He shook things up, all right— with a scorched-earth policy that shook City Hall harder than Ricky Martin’s bon-bon. In case you don’t recall, this is what we wrote last January: “Aguirre says he will not be the flamboyant elected official people are expecting.”

Hey, he can’t help it. It’s in his DNA.

David Copley, a 2005 Watchable, had a big year. We predicted the billionaire newspaper publisher’s long-awaited heart transplant would come through; it did, in the spring. We didn’t predict his $5 million donation to Sharp Hospital, where he got his new heart.

With Alan Bersin poised to step down as superintendent of San Diego’s city schools, we wrote, “Don’t expect him to go out like a lamb.” He didn’t. He accepted Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s appointment as state education secretary— just before the latest test scores showed his ambitious and divisive literacy and math reforms for San Diego were a wash, at best.

“The guillotine was being sharpened” for San Diego State University football coach Tom Craft, we said last January. And at the end of his fourth season without a winning record for the Aztecs, the blade fell. His head rolled in early December.

We told you to watch Donna Frye and Dick Murphy. A few months later, Murphy virtually disappeared from the local scene. The embattled San Diego mayor resigned just months into his second term, and has since been incommunicado. Frye, on the other hand, continued to make noise with a feisty campaign for mayor she ultimately lost to Jerry Sanders.

Long after a San Diego Magazine investigative story about alleged improprieties at the charity she headed, Episcopal Community Services executive director Amanda May was still deflecting accusations of mismanagement and financial irregularities. A district attorney’s investigation is ongoing, so no charges, yet. But May finally resigned in November under pressure from the Episcopal bishop, who also restructured the charity’s board of directors in December.

On a more positive note, we told you to watch Drew Brees, who turned out to be eminently watchable in 2005. The Chargers designated quarterback Brees the “franchise player,” giving him a $9 million contract and an unwritten option on his future. Once again, he proved a bargain— Brees is likely to be wearing the Chargers uniform for years to come. We also told you to watch Brees’ backup, top draft choice Philip Rivers, who never soiled his jersey last year. This year, you may be watching his back as he leaves San Diego for another NFL franchise.

LOSE SOME: Okay, we did not tell you to watch Randy “Duke” Cunningham. Sorry. The crystal ball was foggy. But we had our eye on him. In March—well before the Union-Tribune and U.S. Attorney exposed Cunningham as a crook, and he copped a plea to taking millions in bribes from defense contractors— our Etc. column explored the congressman’s softer side with a series of questions. The answers were revelatory. How would he save the world? “Continue to do what I’m doing now—looking after people to save my country.” What’s one thing he won’t leave the house without? “My silver dollar, which teaches me to never give up.” His favorite TV character: “Tony Soprano.” Biggest fear? “I may not be around for my grandchildren.”

CARPETBAGGED: With Duke Cunningham booted out of Congress in disgrace, former congressman Brian Bilbray is among the contenders jockeying for the vacant House seat. Bilbray, who lived in Imperial Beach last time he went to Congress, used to be known as Mr. South Bay. Now, apparently, it’s Mr. North County. It’s not clear where he’s stashed his family, but Bilbray’s moved into his 85-year-old mother’s Carlsbad home. “Imagine how she must feel,” says Wendy Butler. “She’s 85, and she still hasn’t gotten rid of all the kids.”

LOST IN TRANSLATION: Editorial cartoonist Steve Kelley, who left San Diego for the New Orleans Times-Picayune four years ago, continues to commute to his second home here. Occasionally, he finds himself in a culture warp. Catching a flight out last month from Lindbergh Field, Kelley gazed up at the wall behind the American Airlines’ ticket counter and found political correctness has yet to be translated into all languages. The top sign, in English: “HAPPY HOLIDAYS.” Just below it, in Spanish: “FELIZ NAVIDAD.”

Listen for Tom Blair’s Friday reports on KOGO News Radio (600 AM) at 7:25 a.m. You can also click here to listen to his column.

Items for the magazine or radio may be e-mailed to tblair@sandiegomag.com.

© 2006 San Diego Magazine

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