The first debate between incumbent San Diego mayor Dick Murphy and his challenger in the mayoral race, County Supervisor Ron Roberts, took place at a community-wide forum held at The Center on Wednesday, Sept. 8. The event, which drew approximately 150 people, marked the first time The Center has hosted a forum featuring mayoral candidates.

“The Center is honored to have had the opportunity to hold the first forum for this race with both candidates in attendance,” said AJ Davis, director of public policy at The Center. “This was an important forum for our community and an opportunity to once again show that our votes do matter and that we will hold our elected officials accountable.”

Dave Carlin of “WB News at 10” moderated the hour-long forum, where audience members were able to ask questions of the two Republican contenders via index cards filled out at the start of the evening.

Frequently asked questions were given priority due to the large volume of questions submitted; topics included hiring more police and fire personnel, affordable housing, gang violence, the City of San Diego’s $1.1 billion pension fund deficit, county versus city budget management, the lengthy Mt. Soledad cross debate, the Boy Scouts’ preferential lease in Balboa Park and what each candidate would do as mayor to represent San Diego’s GLBT community.

“When I ran for mayor, I admittedly did not know the LGBT community very well,” Murphy said in his opening comments. “During the last four years, we have had some issues that we have disagreed on, but I reached out to the LGBT community and I am proud to tell you that I value your contributions to the city.”

Murphy pointed to campaign literature distributed to the audience, called “LGBT community support highlights”. The 10 highlights included appointing 23 GLBT community members to City of San Diego boards and commissions, appointing District 3 Councilmember Toni Atkins deputy mayor, voting in favor of including transgender protection to the City of San Diego’s Human Dignity Ordinance, co-sponsoring an annual Pride resolution and attending the Spirit of Stonewall rally during his tenure as mayor, giving community block grants to The Center’s renovation and attending two Center galas.

“The point I want to make is that I may not be the ideal candidate for the LGBT community, but I will tell you the truth, and I can promise that we will work well together in the next four years,” he said.

Roberts’ literature consisted of a Los Angeles Times article titled “Fall From Frugality Puts San Diego on Fiscal Brink” and a New York Times article titled “Sunny San Diego Finds Itself Being Viewed as a Kind of Enron-by-the-Sea”.

“When I look at the things that are happening in San Diego, I’m very excited and I see a bright future,” Roberts said. “And the only thing that mars that future is the City of San Diego and its enormous – no, the L.A. Times calls it ‘colossal’ – financial problems.”

Though the Q&A format did not allow for the audience to communicate directly to the candidates, a handful of attendees booed and hissed as both candidates expressed their opinion that the Boy Scouts should retain their preferential lease in Balboa Park despite the fact that they discriminate against atheists and GLBTs.

“We’re going to find a solution to that problem, but throwing the Boy Scouts out of Balboa Park is not a solution,” Roberts said.

Murphy’s official “no position” on the FMA also drew a loudly negative reaction.

“Just to explain: As many of you know, I do not support gay marriage,” Murphy said. “I thought it would be inconsistent for me to oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment. On the other hand, I have not endorsed the amendment, because I think the amendment is unnecessary and overkill.”

Roberts has publicly stated his opposition to the FMA and supports civil unions in place of same-sex marriage.

“The audience certainly displayed their passion regarding issues that they hold close to heart, but the evening went smoothly and we were able to get to many of the questions submitted by the audience,” Davis said.

Friendly jabs and barbed accusations of misconduct peppered the candidates’ banter, as both addressed myriad issues of city versus county management. “According to official FBI statistics, the crime rate is up for this year,” Roberts countered after Murphy asserted that San Diego’s crime rate in the last six month was down in a discussion about gang violence. “And the FBI has spent a lot of time here this year, Dick.”

In regards to what each candidate would do as mayor in the next four years for the GLBT community, Roberts said that issues of larger concern, such as crime, safety and city facilities, “aren’t gay issues or straight issues, those are issues that are of interest to all of us.” He added: “As your mayor, you ought to expect that the mayor’s going to be around to participate. If you have a parade, just like the Irish have a St. Patrick’s Day [parade], you’ve got to expect your mayor to part of it.”

Murphy has never ridden in the San Diego LGBT Pride parade; Roberts has ridden in the parade since his days on the San Diego City Council.

“I think the most important thing I can do is to continue to welcome the LGBT community into the mayor’s office to provide advice on a regular basis, to give me suggestions for people that ought to be representing the entire community on boards and commissions throughout the city,” Murphy said. “… I will continue my efforts at including LGBT community members on boards and commissions throughout the city and to help make this great city continue to be great.”

“I am concerned about fiscal issues,” Roberts said. “…Things that we all want, that we want for our families, that we want for our communities, all depend on having the city doing well financially. … San Diego has never faced such a serious challenge, and has never, ever faced it with such weak leadership. It’s time for a change.”

Both candidates said they support safe sex education in schools. Murphy explained that though he originally supported the city’s medicinal marijuana task force, he ultimately voted against the measure because he felt the amount of marijuana allotted to qualified individuals was excessive and would be subject to abuse. Roberts said he will continue to support efforts to research the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

“I was very excited about the large turnout and look forward to providing future opportunities for the LGBT and allied communities to directly address their elected officials and candidates,” Davis said.