With the Nov. 7 general election less than two weeks away, the Chula Vista mayoral race is turning out to be as contentious as any.

Republican challenger Cheryl Cox has based her campaign largely on ethical concerns regarding the conduct of openly gay mayor Steve Padilla during his first term. Cox sounded off a litany of concerns: the hiring of a $10,000-a-month bodyguard, 10 pay advances Padilla took and an incident in which a member of the mayor’s staff was involved in a physical altercation with a Cox supporter while taking photographs at Cox’s campaign reception.

Steadfastly championing his efforts to revitalize the city’s bay front and plans to establish a university in Chula Vista, Padilla criticized Cox’s performance as a trustee of the Chula Vista Elementary School District. He also warned of potential conflicts of interest that could arise if Cox is elected, given her marriage to a San Diego County Supervisor and her recent past as a lobbyist for companies doing business in Chula Vista.

While Cox came out on top in the June primary, garnering 40.7 percent of the votes to Padilla’s 31.3 percent, San Diego Democratic Club President Stephen Whitburn said he believes Padilla can still prevail.

“Steve Padilla has shepherded Chula Vista’s growth in a very positive way,” Whitburn said. “The conservative press has made a lot of things that have come up in his term that, yes, have been unfortunate, but which should not detract too much attention from the overall excellent job that he has done.”

Whitburn praised Padilla’s forthrightness for disclosing his sexual orientation during the 2005 Pride rally.

“He has become increasingly active in the LGBT community and has handled his coming out with such dignity in the face of some criticism,” Whitburn said.

Cox characterized her views as fiscally conservative and socially moderate.

“Am I a card-carrying Republican? I am, [but] I’m not lock, stock and barrel,” she said.

Whitburn said he believes Cox’s party affiliation would influence her decisions as mayor.

“Cheryl Cox would vote like a Republican and support business interests and those who would tend to not respect the rights of underrepresented communities,” Whitburn said. “The LGBT community and working people in Chula Vista are going to be much better off re-electing not only a Democrat but a gay Democrat as mayor of their city.”

Questioned on issues specific to the GLBT community, both candidates’ views tended to reflect Chula Vista’s socially conservative political landscape.

Asked if she supports same-sex marriage, Cox was quick to respond, “We can’t do same-sex marriage in our city,” noting that the school board on which she serves approved benefits for domestic partners. “That I can support and that I think is fair.”

Padilla declined to state his support for either same-sex marriage or civil unions, responding, “I think that the religious and moral significance of marriage and how we define it is something that has to be defined in our homes and in our churches and synagogues. I believe that the government needs to treat all its people equally.”

Cox said she remains at odds on the use of medical marijuana. Likewise, Padilla said he has no position on the issue, stating that he believes it is “up to the medical experts to make a decision on, not me.”

On the issue of abortion, Cox said she supports “existing law.” Padilla was unequivocal in stating his “pro-choice” stance: “I think abortion should be safe and legal and rare,” he said.

Cox, a mother of two daughters, expressed her concern that parental notification laws could lead to unsafe medical practices for girls seeking an abortion, stating, “In my limited knowledge, I guess I’m not in favor of [Proposition 85].”

Padilla, the father of an 11-year-old girl, was less concrete on the measure. “I can understand the sentiment behind it,” he said. “I think that probably some level of encouraging communication in the family is appropriate. Whether that means you should mandate parental consent or notification is another question.”

In regard to the Boys Scouts’ highly subsidized use of public land in Balboa Park, Cox touted the organization’s societal benefits, stating, “I couldn’t see opposing having the Boy Scouts being able to use a public facility.” Padilla noted that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Scouts are a private organization that is free to discriminate against gays, atheist and others. As such, he said the Scouts should not remain in Balboa Park under its current lease terms.

Questioned about clean-syringe exchange programs, Cox weighed the pros (slowing the spread of disease) with the cons (the perception that she could be seen as favoring illegal drug use). “I need to do my due diligence,” Cox said. “My position is in a quandary.” Padilla said he supports syringe exchange programs.

Cox criticized Padilla’s use of a legal, though rarely used, Chula Vista law that allowed him to take advances on his salary. “That’s an interest-free loan that in essence the taxpayers are shouldering,” she said. Padilla has said he requested the 10 advances to pay back a loan from his father.

Cox criticized Padilla’s acceptance of a car allowance for four months, even though the city had provided a new SUV for his former bodyguard to chauffeur him to official events. Padilla later reimbursed the city $3,500.

“Looking back on that incident, there are definitely some things I should have done differently,” Padilla told the Gay & Lesbian Times earlier this summer. “But I own up to it, and I think that’s the responsibility of any leader.”

At an Aug. 3 reception for Cox supporters at the Bali Hai on Shelter Island, Padilla aide Jason Moore and campaign volunteer Don Giaquinto were discovered taking photographs of guests from a second floor window. Moore said he was attempting to get a photo of Cox with disgraced former Port Commissioner David Malcolm, who resigned from the post amidst conflict-of interest-charges. Giaquinto was fired from his job as an aide to San Diego City Councilmember Jim Madaffer shortly after the incident. (Giaquinto was on leave from his job in Madaffer’s office to work on Padilla’s campaign.) Giaquinto is now a paid member of Padilla’s campaign staff.

Padilla said such monitoring of an opponent’s campaign activities is part and parcel of the political process.

“That’s not politics as usual for me,” Cox said. “When Steve was questioned about it, he said, in essence: ‘It’s not illegal. It’s not immoral. Everybody does it.’ I come from the background that even if everybody does it, does it make it right?”

Padilla said he was aware that Moore was at the Cox reception.

“At my last fund-raiser that I just had two nights ago downtown at 57 Degrees wine bar, Mrs. Cox had two folks from her campaign there observing my fund-raiser,” Padilla countered. [Editor’s note: Cox did not return a call before press time in response to Padilla’s allegation].

“My employees on their own time and at their own will are free to participate in the political process,” Padilla said. “That’s their constitutional right…. My staff knows that they’re not required to do that, but they’re welcome to and many of them do.”

The incident at Bali Hai became physical when Moore grabbed reception host Scott Alevy by the arm, after Alevy dared Moore to take his photo. The Chula Vista City Council later suspended Moore from his position for two weeks without pay. According to Cox, Moore received a $1,200 check from Padilla’s campaign during that time.

Padilla said the compensation was for work Moore performed when his last campaign manager, Erin Bradley, left to take a job in Pennsylvania.

“He had agreed before the camera incident, if you will, to come in and to help, you know, do some stuff for the campaign and, you know, set up the office and stuff,” Padilla said.

Cox also questioned the departure of former city manager Dave Rowlands this summer, who received $360,000 in severance pay and was allegedly subject to a gag order.

“You could [ask], is it firing or is it retiring?” Cox said. “If somebody retires, they don’t get a lump sum payment of $360,000. If they’re fired, they don’t get a payment of $360,000. I think the thing that many of the constituents found curious was the component in that release that said the city manager was precluded from talking to anyone in the city for a year. It particularly labeled law enforcement.”

Padilla denied that a gag order was placed on Rowlands.

“The severance is what Mr. Rowlands is entitled to by his contract with the city when he was hired eight years ago,” Padilla said. “There is no gag order, as people have tried to articulate it. Mr. Rowlands is free to talk about politics, me, the council, express his opinion about issues. He can say whatever he wants as a citizen … as long as he tells the truth.”

Padilla likened the agreement to a “non-compete clause” signed by corporate employees when they leave their job.

“He is not free to utilize information that is confidential or of a sensitive nature for his own pecuniary benefit or adverse to the city’s interests,” Padilla said.

Padilla expressed concerns that Cox’s marriage to former Chula Vista mayor and current District 1 County Supervisor Greg Cox could lead to conflicts of interest when city and county interests are at odds.

Though Cox has said that she frequently seeks her husband’s advice, she said Chula Vista’s interests would be her first priority.

“People would be hard-pressed to think of any issue that would come up where he would take one position and I would take another when we’re both looking after Chula Vista,” Cox said.

Padilla also criticized Cox’s former job as a lobbyist for companies doing business in the city, including a card room, a cable television service provider and a trucking company.

“Usually you see former public officials going on to be advocates and lobbyists,” Padilla said. “You don’t see it the other way around where people go from being a paid lobbyist for trucking companies and liquor stores and gambling establishments, then turning around and seeking the highest office in the city where a lot of those clients’ issues will come before you…. It’s a huge concern for me.”

Cox attacked Padilla for the city’s use of $16 million of its $31 million in reserves during his first three years in office. Part of the money was used to build parks and a new fire station.

“To deplete those reserves by $20 million in four years means that really the city spent $20 million more than it took in,” Cox said.

In response, Padilla said the city’s finances are in the black, despite increased spending for infrastructure and public safety personnel and $4-5 million that went to the state.

“We acquired property in western Chula Vista to provide the first park on the west side of Chula Vista, which has an older, aging infrastructure,” Padilla said. “It hadn’t seen a new park in 25 years.”

Padilla said the city has a policy of maintaining revenues of a minimum of 8 percent of the city’s budget.

“We are at or above that policy now,” he said. “We have a diversified revenue base. We assume growth in most of those revenue bases. The only slowdown this year has occurred based on the flattening of the real estate market…. The bottom line is we’re in the black.”

Cox also criticized Padilla for accepting a stipend of $1,500 a month for sitting on the Chula Vista Redevelopment Corporation, though the entity never met during that time.

Padilla said that the payments were appropriate.

“The money was earned, and the money is not paid based on meetings,” Padilla said. “The stipends were adopted unanimously by the city council in a public hearing…. Under our bylaws you have to have a majority of the elected council members present [to meet] and one of our council members, Patty Davis, got permanently disabled and had to ultimately step [down]…. We weren’t able to meet because she was ill.

“I’m the mayor 365 days a year, 24 hours a day,” Padilla said. “That work goes on and I resent the implication by anybody that that was inappropriate or we didn’t earn the money.”