Sport-Blog.com

San Diego has been in trouble for some time. The city has seen three mayors in the month of July alone, but they will not have to wait until November to elect a new one. However, the frontrunner of the 2005 mayoral election in San Diego is anything but your average politician. Councilwoman Donna Frye, 53, is a surf shop owner and advocate of the water sport up and down the west coast. It's not everyday a bonafide surfer runs for mayor, and chances are come November, she'll be mayor of the town she loves.

Frye led a field of eleven candidates in last Tuesday's mayoral election but fell short of being elected by a slim margin. Now, she will have a face-off against former Police Chief Jerry Sanders on the November 8 ballot. Unofficial results showed Frye with 43 percent of the county's vote, Sanders having only 27 percent, but since neither candidate reached a majority, they are forced under Californian law to be put on the ballot in November's run-off election.

Earlier in the month, Mayor Dick Murphy resigned admits controversy surrounding his pension fund that discredited City Hall. Seventy-two hours later, his replacement also resigned for taking bribes from a strip club owner, after being convicted of corruption by the local courts. Frye actually almost won a write-in campaign last year when supporters began to whisper that Murphy was in trouble.

Frye has since asked her supporters to stay behind her during the road to the election. She's also asked that they support the interim mayor, a fellow Councilwoman, who will micromanage the government leading up to the elections in November. She doesn't want to jump the gun, and she's afraid her supporters might just do that, by trying to get her elected sooner than the run-off against Sanders.

Most are confident that Frye will be crowned mayor in the November election. She's seen by supporters as one of the honest-to-God politicians left in the city. Even her competition has praised her efforts to clean up the political waste that has left a sour taste in the mouths of San Diego residents who are fed up with the backroom dealing going on without their knowledge or consent and definitely not for the betterment of their city.

Frye began her political career four years ago when she campaigned for ocean pollution regulation when her husband began suffering from symptoms related to the pollution of local waterways. This led her to gather a fan-base of surfers and young adults who support her causes and feel closer to her because of her surfing background and support.

She has vowed, if elected to office, to continue supporting causes close to environmental awareness as well as to bring repute to the San Diego City Hall which has seen far too much corruption on the national scene. Frye wants San Diegans to feel comfortable and to trust in their local government again, something that most who live in the county have walked away from since the scandals broke.