Put Oceanside Mayor Jim Wood and former Mayor Terry Johnson in a room together and the animosity quickly surfaces, still festering from the last time the two battled each other in an election.
In a meeting last week with the North County Times' editorial board also attended by fellow mayoral candidate Jerry Kern, and in subsequent interviews, Wood and Johnson lit into each other.
Wood beat Johnson for mayor in 2004 and now Johnson is hoping to best Wood in a three-way race for mayor in November. Kern is in the middle of a slug-fest between the two old foes.
Wood and Johnson are digging deep into their past for ammunition to attack each other, while Kern ---- who wasn't around for the 2004 race ---- ducks and portrays himself as someone above the fray.
"I'm just embarrassed," said Kern.
Wood admits to baiting Johnson to bring out what he said is Johnson's "hot temper."
"He keeps saying if he was on the council, the council would not bicker and fight," Wood said. "He went ballistic."
Beyond that, Wood said, what happened in the past could give voters insight into what could happen in the future.
"There's a whole lot of new people who don't know what happened eight, 10 years ago," Wood said.
Johnson said he's simply giving Wood the same treatment Wood gives him.
"Jim can throw stones at other people but doesn't want stones thrown back at him," Johnson said."I don't mind going tit for tat with him."
Accusations
Wood is a former police detective running for his third term as mayor. He says that Johnson ---- as a city councilman from 1992 to 2000 and as mayor from 2000 to 2004 ---- was involved in some questionable activities.
Among other things, he says that Johnson came up $1,200 short on money he turned in to the NAACP for a 1993 fundraising event, may have misused $12,000 in campaign donations, hired "his girlfriend" as his aide, embarrassed himself in remarks to a San Diego civic group, and switched political parties when he thought it was to his benefit.
Johnson, an electrician by trade who was the city's first black mayor, says Wood was a lousy cop who was fired soon after joining the force for roughing up someone on a traffic stop, was part of a sexual harassment lawsuit that cost the city $650,000 to settle and blew a $34 million budget surplus after becoming mayor.
Explanations
Johnson said the incident with the NAACP was a misunderstanding. He said he agreed to sell tickets to an NAACP banquet and that some of those tickets were bought by big companies that didn't plan to actually send representatives to the dinner but wanted to donate to the NAACP.
Johnson said he gave the tickets the companies paid for to people who wanted to go to the dinner but couldn't afford it.
"I gave the tickets away to try to get bodies in the seats to make it look like it was a successful event," Johnson said.
The tickets he gave away were worth $1,200 and Johnson said the NAACP demanded that he come up with the $1,200 to cover them.
Wood said the NAACP threatened to file criminal charges against Johnson until Tom Missett, a former newspaper publisher, wrote a check to cover the $1,200.
"I sure wrote that check and he sure took it to the NAACP and they didn't go to the cops," Missett said. He said he paid the money because he didn't want Johnson as the city's first black councilman starting his political career under a cloud.
Johnson said he doesn't remember Missett writing a check, but C.C. Sanders, a former Oceanside police detective sergeant and a friend of Johnson's, said Missett wrote the check.
Sanders, a former NAACP board member, also said the ticket incident was due to "bad bookkeeping" by the NAACP and not any wrongdoing on Johnson's part.
Johnson said he never misused campaign money and if he had, state election officials would have acted.
He said he did hire his fiancee as an aide for 2 ½ months when his regular aide took time off for maternity leave. However, he said Wood, too, has hired relatives.
"She wasn't given any special treatment, she came in at the bottom (of the pay scale)," Johnson said.
Soon after he was elected mayor in 2000, Johnson told the Catfish Club of San Diego that there was "deep-rooted racism and sexism" in the Oceanside Police Department and that the city needed someone from an ethnic minority to run the department.
Johnson, in a recent interview, said his comments came after three women, who would later file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city, came to him and told of how they were mistreated in the police department.
"This was the first time I had proof there was sexism as well as racism," Johnson said.
When he was elected to the council in 1992, Johnson was a Democrat. He said he briefly became an independent in 2000, then switched to Republican in 2004 because "I've always been very conservative," many of his mentors were Republicans and because Republicans controlled the White House.
Johnson said he became a Democrat again in 2008 to vote for President Obama.
Answering Johnson's complaints against him, Wood said that as a rookie officer, he was fired for an incident in which he was off duty and pulled someone over on suspicion of drunken driving. He said his firing was politically motivated and he was rehired by the city manager "because I didn't do anything wrong."
In 2002, two police detectives and an investigative assistant filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city and two other police officers. The City Council in October 2003 voted 4-0 to settle the lawsuit for $650,000. Wood, who was on the council at the time, recused himself from voting.
Wood wasn't one of the officers sued by the three women, but he was named in the lawsuit by one of the women, who said Wood retaliated against her for raising the sexual harassment issue internally within the department.
Wood said he did nothing wrong, but that his name was included in the lawsuit as a bargaining chip because he was an elected official by the time it was filed.
"It helped them settle it quicker," Wood said.
Wood and City Manager Peter Weiss disputed Johnson's assertion that the city squandered a budget surplus that existed when Johnson left office.
"We still have $25 million," Weiss said.
The rest was spent on a variety of projects, such as the El Corazon Senior Citizens Center and a new fire station, Weiss said.
Outside the fray
Kern has stayed out of the fight between Johnson and Wood, although he criticizes both of them for getting into it and is betting that the Wood/Johnson battle will pay off for him.
"I don't think anybody cares did or didn't Terry Johnson miscount money 10, 12 years ago," Kern said. "I don't think anybody cares what was in Jim Wood's personnel file 15 or 20 years ago."
Please Wait…
Wood and Sanchez keep pointing fingers at their opponents, saying "see, all their donations come from out-of-towners".....guess who are the biggest contributors to Wood and Sanchez' campaigns??? The public safety unions - and 84% of those employees do not even reside in Oceanside....
There are thousands and thousand of folks in Oceanside who support Wood and Sanchez and Corso and Beck- they won't steal your homes and will treat everyone in Oceanside with respect. Times and tax revenues are getting better- hit the road Jack, take the Chip (Dykes) off the block with you and stomp kern and his property rights beliefs that only his homes count~!
Wood and Sanchez get all their support from the city employee unions and the low income renters (who don't give a CRAAP about Oceanside).
I'm tired of preserving a poverty base in Oceanside just do Wood and Sanchez have a voting block.
It's time to rid this city of the legacy of Melba Bishop and all her damaging cronies once an for all.
Jerry Kern is Bad for Oceanside.
Also, he sent millions of $$ to San Diego with his votes while on the SANDAG board...money that could have been used in Oceanside and North County roads.
Ask yourself, what has he really done for our city since being elected? He has no leadership skills, can't even run a city council meeting.
-Johnson is like a time bomb waiting to go off....is this who we want for Mayor? He had his chance.
What a joke.
Demopublican Sneaky Bag of Tricks.
If Wood wants to put himself apart from it all, he'd do best to ignore it and concentrate on what he will do, and continue to do for the voters. By participating he's allowing himself to be distracted and giving some credibility to the whole mess.
They -ALL- need to go. If a family with kids was as dysfunctional, CPS would be snatching children out of there in seconds.
Bickering on the dias? Johnson was king of it, and Wood went to his school.
"Soon after he was elected mayor in 2000, Johnson told the Catfish Club of San Diego that there was "deep-rooted racism and sexism" in the Oceanside Police Department and that the city needed someone from an ethnic minority to run the department."
"Johnson, in a recent interview, said his comments came after three women, who would later file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the city, came to him and told of how they were mistreated in the police department."
So these allegations were "proof" at that time, ( wow why involve any process, just call it as you see it) and because of this someone from an "ethnic minority" was needed to run the department? That statement could be considered quite racist itself in my opinion, if in fact that is what was said. I mean come on, after all an ethnic minority in charge of an organization would never create any issues, I mean all issues apparently suddenly stop when this leadership takes charge, just because? Huh? Some employees complain about working conditions and an "ethnic minority" must come in to save the day? Wow, what if the statement read: An ethnic minority was running the department, and because of several allegations we felt the city needed to being in a caucasian. Wow can anyone predict the reaction? See how that works?
As far as the other issues, that's what the courts are for. Tried or settled, the matters were apparently handled at that time. I would think one should have been looking for the best overall professional person to solve these issues no matter what he or she looks like or their ethnicity.
I'll stick with Wood- he's always nice and makes good decisions-
I'm SICK OF THEM ALL. They ALL need to go. Period.
No one is EVER a "winner" on that council. 18 people run, the "winner" got there because 15% of the votes beat out 14.9% for the second guy, and 11% for the third guy ... and it goes down from there.
But keep in mind that while they have this walk on water attitude, they really should be a bit more careful. 85% of the people DID NOT VOTE FOR THEM.
Hardly a majority at all. Stupid council people.
Seriously, sick of all of you.