By Ronald W. Powell
Darren Pudgil said he knows he's in for rough going when he becomes spokesman for San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders next month.
“It's certainly more of a hot seat,” said Pudgil, 41, who is currently communications director for U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad.
Pudgil will replace Fred Sainz, a valued confidante of Sanders who is reviled by the city's labor unions, who say he blamed them for the city's pension crisis to gain political mileage.
Sainz, 40, is leaving to become communications director for the Denver-based Gill Foundation, a nonprofit that has spent more than $120 million over the last decade supporting programs that help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Americans.
Pudgil said he began interviewing for the San Diego job last month and is eager to start on Aug. 14.
“I'm a straight shooter and my responsibility is to give the public an accounting of the policies, goals and visions of the mayor,” Pudgil said.
Pudgil's wife, Kimberly, works for Tom Shepard, who was Sanders' campaign strategist for his successful June re-election. She is an account executive with Shepard's Public Policy Strategies, representing San Diego State University, San Diego Medical Services Enterprises, Authorized City Towing, and the San Diego Film Commission, where she worked from 2001 to 2006. All have business with the city.
But Pudgil said Shepard played no role in his hiring and he does not expect his wife's employment to cause a conflict of interest.
“I'm on the communications side – not the policy side,” he said.
Sainz has been at the center of several tempests in city government, including a profanity-laced e-mail that cast aspersions on city unions, City Attorney Michael Aguirre and the City Council. The e-mail, which the city released in May, is part of a lawsuit by a former city employee who says he was fired when he blew the whistle on Sainz's profanity.
Sanders said he has been approached several times by people who wanted Sainz fired, but he refused. He wanted Sainz to stay on throughout his second term.
“This was entirely Fred's decision, and I'm happy he got a job he wants,” Sanders said. “I'll miss his friendship. He has been a staunch ally and taken a lot of bullets for me.”
Sainz said he decided in March that he would leave after the June 3 election. He said he is proud of his work to help Sanders reform and reorganize city government. And he is unapologetic for sometimes irritating Aguirre and city labor leaders.
“This is a rough and tumble game,” Sainz said.
He employed an “earned media strategy” to get Sanders before the public through an estimated 320 news conferences. Sainz said that paid off in the recent mayoral election, in which opponent Steve Francis spent $4.6 million in an unsuccessful attempt to beat Sanders.
“My feeling is that if you don't feed the beast, the beast will feed on you,” Sainz said, referring to the media.
Judie Italiano, general manager of the Municipal Employees Association, the city's largest union, said she won't miss Sainz.
“Thank God,” Italiano said. “I think he felt getting mileage for Jerry meant he had to rip up city employees and their unions. He took stabs at people he didn't have to, devalued good employees. And he never took the time to get to know the people he was talking about.”
Aguirre said Sainz served Sanders and the city during a tough time and called him a “talented person.”
Sainz was making $125,000 a year, and Pudgil was hired for $140,000 a year. Sainz said the disparity doesn't bother him at all.
Why?
“I'll be getting paid more – and I don't have to tell you how much.”
Ronald W. Powell: (619) 293-1258;
ron.powell@uniontrib.com
