Nation Gets a Look at Mudslinging, Gender Bending of Mayoral Race

Things political.

If there was a particularly weird/unseemly moment in the mayoral campaign, it was the flap over Nicole Ramirez-Murray, the politically active female impersonator.

As you remember: Susan Golding accused Peter Navarro of taking money from pornographers. Navarro retaliated (on television) by saying that Golding had a “male prostitute” among her brain trust.

That was a reference to Ramirez-Murray, who has a checkered past but has gained a measure of political clout in recent years for his fund-raising and organizing skills in the gay and lesbian community.

Ramirez-Murray held a teary press conference, saying that Navarro hadn’t always been so picky about such things as criminal histories.

As a trump, Ramirez-Murray displayed a big blowup of a picture of Navarro being quite chummy and posing with Ramirez-Murray at a gay political event. In the picture, Ramirez-Murray is wearing a low-cut, strapless evening gown and a huge tiara.

The news conference was played big on TV and greatly aided Golding’s attempt to portray Navarro as reckless and two-faced.

Now the whole episode is going nationwide, as a symbol of San Diego’s guttersnipe mayoral campaign.

Washington-based Campaign magazine, a bible in the political trade, is preparing a 3,000-word analysis of the Golding-Navarro race by editor David Beiler and West Coast bureau chief Ann Shanahan-Walsh.

Planned for the magazine’s cover is Ramirez-Murray’s now-infamous picture of him and a grinning Navarro.

Along with the caption: “Why Is This Man Smiling?”

* There was much anger in City Heights last spring when Councilman John Hartley withdrew his support for a proposal to build the Interstate 15 corridor underground rather than let it slice the community.

One woman was quoted in a newspaper fuming that she wouldn’t vote for Hartley even if his only opponent next year was “a dead Chihuahua.”

Now a committee of City Heights residents is searching for a strong candidate to beat Hartley.

And yes, the committee is known around the neighborhood as “The Dead Chihuahuas.”

He Doesn’t Take Tips

Words, words, words.

* Some guys just don’t get any respect.

A group of San Diegans were having dinner over Thanksgiving at the Ahwahnee Lodge in Yosemite when a man dropped by to say hello.

One of the San Diegans was momentarily flustered.

“I thought you were the waiter,” she said.

“No, something much less important,” responded the man, giving everybody a good laugh.

For the record: the man was Pete Wilson, governor of California.

* Yes, several men responded to Wednesday’s item about Jill C. Scott, Mrs. America 1991, and her desire to find a good man and get married.

Among them was Bill Rogers of Vista.

He says he’d be willing to accommodate Scott, but he’s already happily married. He’s also 83 years old, but he doesn’t see that as a disqualification.

In fact, the retired Lockheed engineer (who does volunteer work at the Vista courthouse) hands out business cards:

“Adviser to corporate executives, presidents current and retired, members of Congress, (and) all women’s organizations. Turn over, please.”

On the flip side: “If you believe that, I have swamp land in Florida for sale.”

* Same sport, different teams.

With the closure of the San Diego County Edition, Times baseball writer Bob Nightengale will shift from the Padres to the Angels, and football writer T.J. Simers from the Chargers to the Rams.

* Yes, the truck for Clyde’s Septic Tank Service in Encinitas has the license plate, “PU 4 ME.”

Latin and Anatomy

What with the Windsor Castle fire and family scandals, Queen Elizabeth has allowed that this has been an “annus horribilus.”

That’s Latin for horrible year.

Except that, as several readers noted, it came out Sunday on the front page of the Opinion section of this very newspaper as “ anus horribilus.”

A misprint. Or maybe the queen’s way of saying that being royalty has become a pain in the rear?