People seeking local public offices will soon be declaring their candidacies. For us it’s yet another round of meeting candidates, hearing their ideas and, for some, writing a lot of checks.

Locally, the races are critical. In District 3, more people know about the skyscraper to be built across from Urban Mo’s than they do about the federal budget.

State Sen. Christine Kehoe and Councilmember Toni Atkins will have collectively served the district for 16 years when (and if) Atkins completes her term in 2008.

Atkins’ work has been extraordinary. No, we don’t all agree with her on every vote or every project she has supported, but she’s tireless, committed and compassionate – perhaps even to her detriment. It’s truly a shame that her outstanding efforts are now overshadowed by allegations that she and others – knowingly or naively – made decisions that were illegal.

One would have to be somewhat crazy to seek any elective or appointive office with the city of San Diego. The chaos and turmoil is pervasive. Legal problems are lurking in just about every decision. That’s why I would like to see someone with a strong legal and business background representing District 3.

Let’s be clear. I don’t mean someone like a Dick Murphy, who touted his Stanford law degree and his Harvard M.B.A. and then proved in office to be unfit to operate a lemonade stand. I mean someone who is fully capable and qualified to be a member of the board of directors of a multi-billon dollar municipal corporation. In the local gay community, those persons would be people like Robert Gleason, David Watson or Andrew Poat, individuals with extensive backgrounds in law, business development and finance.

In District 7, Jim Madaffer is being termed out. John Rinaldi, who won the Democratic nomination to challenge Congressmember Duncan Hunter, may seek to fill Madaffer’s seat.

Rinaldi ran outstanding campaigns in both the primary and run-off. No question that Hunter was going to be unbeatable. However, Rinaldi demonstrated such a command of the issues that he distinguished himself from the usual suspects the Democratic Party usually puts up so that there would be some token opposition.

District 7 has been a Republican district for decades, but Rinaldi is exactly the kind of conservative Democrat who could break that hold. A race like this is determined at the grassroots level, and John has proven that he’s a solid campaigner.

If Jerry Sanders doesn’t run for a second term, some would like to see County Supervisor Ron Roberts finally get his rightful claim to the mayor’s office. Kehoe would be a great mayor, but she’s an excellent state senator right now.

In the race for city attorney, Mike Aguirre may run against former U.S. Attorney and school board superintendent Allan Bersin. I don’t know if Bersin has a plan for the City Attorney’s Office, but he would be a formidable foe to Aguirre.

In the race to succeed Hunter, political watchers want our own lesbian D.A., Bonnie Dumanis, to seek the Republican nomination for his seat. With County Supervisor Diane Jacob declining to run, Dumanis, who has never lost an election, should seek the seat.

Dumanis has done a brilliant job as D.A. She has restored integrity and public confidence to the office. The staff has high morale. And compared with the performance of her predecessor, Paul Pfingst, Dumanis has been flawless. Bonnie would be the first openly lesbian Republican elected to the House. Tammy Baldwin was the first lesbian Democrat elected to the House. And past gay Republican congressmembers, Steve Gunderson and Jim Kolbe, had already been elected before they came out.