As City Hall swirls further and further down the proverbial toilet, San Diegans will take to the polls this Tuesday and vote in a special election to replace Mayor Dick Murphy, who officially stepped down July 15. Following this week’s conviction of “deputy mayor for a day” Michael Zucchet and Councilmember Ralph Inzunza on federal charges of conspiracy, extortion and wire fraud, the public has rightly lost all faith in its elected officials – albeit one.

After three months of campaigning, debates and interviews with the candidates, the Gay & Lesbian Times feels there is but one person with both the integrity and ability to lead this city: Councilmember Donna Frye. Whether you love Donna or hate her, there is absolutely no debate over her integrity, and that is why we feel she is the right choice for mayor.

As is her reputation, her plan to save the city from financial ruin is solid.

Taking the city into receivership supports her determination to get access to the truth – something we’ve come to expect from Donna, and respect her for.

She has outlined ways to increase revenue without raising taxes, such as collecting the $220 million owed to San Diego from redevelopment agencies. And instead of seeing city employees as simply the bottom line – like say, Steve Francis – Donna has found alternative ways to cut expenditures, such as streamlining outside city consultants and attorneys, who are employed to represent the same people who created the financial crisis to begin with.

Donna is an activist, an environmentalist and a true believer in open government in a city wrought with back door politics, controversy and scandal. As a city council member, she has proven time and again that she will neither buckle under political pressure nor compromise her integrity for a vote, often speaking against the majority on issues like closed-session council meetings and the San Diego pension fund. She gets it, always has, and has never wavered in support of our community’s issues.

In editorials leading up to this endorsement, we’ve encouraged our readers to look beyond those issues specific to the GLBT community, and elect a candidate based on their leadership and ability to reunite the city. Ironically it’s her leadership on these issues that in many ways sets her apart from the other candidates.

The leading Republican candidates have paid us plenty of lip-service over the last few months. However, both fail to support us on our issues. Whereas Frye can state her position on supporting marriage equality with one word (“Yes”), we get a badly rehearsed response from Jerry Sanders blazon with buzz words like civil unions and something about the government’s role in marriage. The truth: Instead of Sanders putting himself on the line, he’s decided our rights just aren’t worth it. At lease Francis can give us an unequivocal, “No, I don’t support same-sex marriage.”

And the same is true on the Boy Scouts issue. Allowing the Boy Scouts to retain their preferential lease in Balboa Park is subsidized discrimination. A vote for either Sanders or Francis only excuses and reinforces a policy that blatantly discriminates against our community. Donna, on the other hand, has loudly denounced the Scouts’ discriminatory policies and has voted accordingly.

Donna has stuck her neck out on our issues not because she has to, but because she believes it is the right thing to do. If that doesn’t say something about what kind of mayor she’ll be – what will?

We praise state Senator Chris Kehoe for supporting Donna, but can’t help but wonder where Councilmember Toni Atkins’ endorsement ran off to. Looking out for her own interests, Atkins decision to withhold her endorsement is an example of our city’s fair-weather politics. Out of character and below her, we hope this is just a temporarily lapse in judgment. Donna Frye has been a true ally, and regardless of Atkins’ future political posturing and aspirations, Donna deserves her endorsement.

The Mt. Soledad Cross initiative will also appear on the ballot this Tuesday. While the Gay & Lesbian Times has the deepest respect for those the cross memorializes, we also feel we have an obligation to protect the separation of church and state, and to respect non-Christian military service members. It is simply unconstitutional for a religious symbol to appear on public property, and regardless of how the city votes on this issue; it is a matter that will be determined by the courts.