(Column No. 2, January 4, 2011)
By Donald H. Harrison
MAYORAL SPECULATION — Gary Rotto suggests the possibility of an all-Jewish runoff election for mayor of San Diego, with Congressman Bob Filner, a Democrat, facing District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, a Republican, in the 2012 officially non-partisan race to succeed incumbent Mayor Jerry Sanders.
Of the two, Rotto suggests that Filner has a greater incentive to run. A long-time member of the House of Representatives, Filner only four years ago worked his way up to the chairmanship of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. And then came last November’s election, making Republicans the majority party in the House. Poof! Filner’s chairmanship disappeared. Being now in the minority party, Filner may well look to San Diego as a greener pasture. Before his election to Congress in 1992, Filner had served as a member of the San Diego City Council. The issues haven’t changed that much in the interim.
As for Dumanis, she has served as the county’s top prosecutor since 2002, having been reelected in 2006 and again last year. Although it has its frustrations, as for example seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger on his last day as governor, reduce the prison sentence for convicted murderer Esteban Nunez (son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez), Dumanis rules the roost of the law enforcement community. Once upon a time, Bill Kolender had contested her status as the “top law enforcement official” but he has since retired. On the other hand, election as mayor would further increase the visibility of Dumanis, and showcase for anyone in the nation who doubts it, the competence of lesbian officeholders. So we will see.
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REDEVELOPING REDEVELOPMENT –San Diego City Councilwoman Marti Emerald, meanwhile, is getting ready to serve as vice chair of the Council’s new ad hoc committee on redevelopment, which plans to rethink exactly how redevelopment ought to be conducted and how the money the process raises should be spent. Some of the hot issues are how to divide redevelopment efforts between downtown and suburban districts of the city; what incentives to provide private re-developers to risk their capital, and how to divide the increased tax revenues resulting from redevelopment. The ad hoc committee will have its first meeting before the end of January. … Emerald also wants to redevelop, in a sense, some of the streets in her district. She urges constituents in the 7th Councilmanic District to let city officials know if the recent storms created any potholes that need immediate fixing. The hotline number is (619) 527-7500.
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SAN DIEGO JEWISH OFFICIALS — With Emerald on the city council, Dumanis a top county official, and Filner and Congresswoman Susan Davis serving at the federal level, San Diego also has Jewish representation at the state level of government with Marty Block serving in the Assembly. Now that Jerry Brown has returned to the governor’s office, it’s possible that Lynn Schenk, his one-time Secretary of Business and Transportation, could be appointed to some position of statewide importance. We’ll keep watch!
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DISHEARTENING VIDEO — Gerry Burstain of Escondido forwards to us a StandWithUs video mimicking the “Jaywalking” segment of television’s Jay Leno Show. This time, the subject is the Middle East, and the clueless respondents are students at UCLA which, gulp, is my alma mater. Writes Burstain: “It is hard to believe that these students think that there are “7 Jewish states” and that Palestinians have lived in Palestine for 1,000 years, but the Jews have lived there for only 75 years. With all the news about terrorism around the world, students confused Hamas with hummus.”
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MIDDLE EAST LECTURES — Perhaps more UCLA students need to enroll in the classes of Political Science Prof. Stephen Spiegel , who serves as UCLA’s director of the Center for Middle East development. Spiegel will be one of four professors who will be lecturing at Congregation Beth Israel this spring as part of San Diego State University’s lecture series on Israel’s relations with other parts of the world. Spiegel opens the series Feb 28 with a talk on the U.S. and Israel under Obama and Netanyahu.
He’ll be followed on March 7th by Prof. Sam Edelman, executive director of Scholar for Peace in the Middle East, who’ll discuss anti-Israel sentiment at American universities. Next up March 14 will be Oren Meyers, a visiting professor from Israel at San Diego State University, who’ll describe the role the Holocaust played in shaping Israel’s memories. Concluding the series on March 21 will be Henri J. Barkey, a former Lehigh University professor, now a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace, speaking on Israel’s worsening relations with Turkey.
The series is being coordinated by SDSU’s Jewish Studies Program, at which, on an interim basis, Lawrence Baron is doing a return gig as director while the permanent director, Risa Levitt Kohn, studies in Israel on a sabbatical. With the marketing help of Jackie Gmach, former cultural programming director at the Lawrence Family JCC, SDSU’s Jewish Studies outreach has become energized.
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MEDICAL RESEARCH IN THE NEGEV — While we’re on the topic of study in Israel, some results from studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev will be the topic of a dessert and coffee reception at 7:30 p.m., Thursday evening, January 27, at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Sergio and Ariela Berkstein.
The speakers will include Dr. Pablo Blinder, who will review his research into the relationship between brain function and vascular dementia; Dr. Adrian Israelson, who’ll talk about his search for a cure for Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and Dr. Mordechay Gerlic, who will tell of research into the war between viruses and our bodies.
Others who’ll address the gathering will be Doron Krakow, executive vice president of American Associates of Ben Gurion University and Rabbi Arnold Kopikis, former spiritual leader of Ohr Shalom and Ner Tamid Synagogues, who is now serving as associate director for the San Diego chapter of the university’s support group.
To arrange to attend the free meeting, call Kopikis at (858) 452-9718.
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JERUS-ALIENS– And finally, our local science fiction writer (and astrophysicist) David Brin was intrigued by a science
fiction movie imagining an alien take over of Jerusalem. Here’s the trailer:
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Share your items with him at (619) 265-0808 or via sdheritage@cox.net