Mayor Dick Murphy abruptly announced his resignation Monday as the top official in California’s second-largest city amid mounting criticism of his handling of the city’s pension deficit and threats of a recall.
“It is clear the city needs a fresh start,” said Murphy, 62, a Republican and former Superior Court judge. “A good leader knows when it is time to move on. It is time for me to move on.”
Murphy had become the focus of public anger toward City Hall over a pension deficit of nearly $2 billion and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. attorney’s office.
His stature as mayor, already damaged by the city’s weak response to 2003 wildfires, was further undermined by a disputed election last November. He was declared the winner only because thousands of votes for a write-in challenger were declared invalid.
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Last week, Murphy was singled out by Time Magazine as “one of the three worst mayors in the country.”
“At some point he realized it was just not going to get better,” said John Kern, his former chief of staff.
Murphy said he would stay in office until July 15, just seven months into his second term. He declined to answer questions.
Deputy Mayor Michael Zucchet will assume Murphy’s mayoral duties once he leaves and until a successor is either elected or appointed. Zucchet and Councilman Ralph Inzunza are set to stand trial in May for allegedly taking bribes from a strip-club owner.
Neither of the federal investigations has yet resulted in criminal or civil charges and there is no indication Murphy is a target of either investigation.
Still, newly elected City Atty. Michael Aguirre had branded Murphy a hindrance to solving the city’s legal and financial problems, and earlier this month called on him to resign. An organization seeking Murphy’s recall was preparing to gather signatures.
In December, Murphy was declared the winner in his bid for a second term only after a judge ruled that several thousand votes for write-in candidate Councilwoman Donna Frye were invalid because the voters had not darkened the oval on the line where they had written her name. If those votes had been counted, Frye would have beaten Murphy.
In his resignation statement, Murphy acknowledged the damage done by the way he won the election. “The city will need a mayor elected by a solid majority of the voters and with a clear mandate,” he said.
Frye, a Democrat, immediately said she would run if an election was held to replace Murphy.
Aguirre’s call for Murphy’s resignation followed the mayor’s refusal to demand that his appointees to the city’s pension board waive attorney-client privilege as requested by the U.S. attorney’s office.
Murphy holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois, an MBA from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.
In 1985 he was appointed to the San Diego bench where he spent 15 years until he ran for mayor in 2000.