No suit, no tie and no home: Eric Bidwell is as far from the typical mayoral candidate as one can get.
To Bidwell, the idea of voting for the incumbent backed by establishment and power brokers that got San Diego into its current mess and a wealthy businessman throwing millions of dollars away for a job that pays a little more than $100,000 just seems wrong.
While the majority of media attention on the race for mayor of San Diego has focused on the hostile contest between Jerry Sanders and Steven Francis, who badmouth each other at every opportunity, Bidwell has brought something to the mayor’s race that the two frontrunners seem to be seriously lacking: personality.
During the various mayoral debates, which also include former councilman Floyd Morrow and environmentalist Jim Hart, Bidwell, with his 3-foot-plus dreadlocks and political messages printed across his T-shirts, has been outspoken about his views while simultaneously earning points for his wisecracks at the frontrunners’ expense.
While Bidwell’s mostly one-man campaign has barely remained above radar, he made local headlines recently when he exposed a scheme by Sanders’ campaign manager Michael McSweeney to use him as a mouthpiece to badmouth Francis during a May 22 debate.
The stunt cost McSweeney his job with Sanders’ campaign and gave Bidwell a bigger platform to point out what he calls dishonesty by both frontrunners.
A self-described anarchist, Bidwell has branded himself the “revolutionary mayor,” and although he’s used humor to spread his message, he is very serious about showing people that they can have an actual say in city politics and should run for office if they want to change things.
He wants to shake things up, help poor people and generally move away from city politics as usual.
“If some homeless, jobless guy can pull it off with no college education as a high school dropout at 25, it definitely goes a long way to show people [local government] is really accessible,” he said.
Though Bidwell did leave the city’s school system before finishing high school, he passed the state’s high school proficiency test and continues to educate himself via the Internet. He said online political forums helped refine his debate skills.
Raised by a single mother who is supportive of his campaign, Bidwell has lived most of his life in the midcity areas of North Park and Golden Hill, but he also frequents Ocean Beach, he said.
Since about the age of 13, the San Diego native has been hanging out in coffee shops around the city learning about people, life and the Internet using a notebook computer, which was a gift from a local philanthropist who won the lottery. The benefactor also bought several children in the city computers, he said.
With opinions on every major political issue from city finances, education and law enforcement to the election process itself, he often challenges core assumptions of commonly held beliefs.
His views on city issues seem to result more from his personal experiences than any particular set of political principles.
For example, he’s against the oversize vehicle ordinance (OVO), currently working its way through the city council regulatory process. That’s probably because he might be living in his own RV in a few weeks after he moves out of his girlfriend’s home.
He said many residents want to effectively rid their communities of recreational vehicles whose owners often live in them because they don’t look appealing parked in neighborhoods.
He added that he understands that trailers also might pose a danger to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians by obstructing the view of oncoming traffic.
Bidwell’s answer to the problem: enforce the law that prohibits parking a vehicle more than 72 hours in one spot and paint more red curbs.
The unlikely candidate also doesn’t necessarily agree with the harshness of the “selective enforcement” he sees with the oversize vehicle ordinance, especially since he was issued four citations in less than 72 hours while his RV was parked on El Cajon Boulevard a few months ago, he said.
“It was totally harassment,” he said. “It seems like it just might have been pissing [police] off.”
Bidwell also helped collect signatures to try to stop the beach alcohol ban last fall. He said an already stretched police force would have a hard time keeping people from drinking on the beach. Some people are just going to drink on the beach anyway, further burdening the police, he said.
“If we can’t enforce the laws for a few people, it seems it’s going to be a lot harder to enforce it for a lot more people,” he said.
Bidwell’s opinions on law enforcement, overreaching legislation and other issues seem to have struck at least a funny bone ” if not a resonating chord ” with many San Diegans. He had the crowd of beach residents laughing at the May 8 beach-area mayoral debate at La Jolla High School.
He said he liked the beach-area debate, adding that it “was a fun one.”
The unlikely road to the mayor’s office has brought Bidwell some media attention, and he’s been featured on major news outlets such as NPR and in various publications throughout the city.
With a laptop and a copy machine, he’s branded his symbols on shirts and flyers, using stencil art.
The black and white image of a wrench falling between two gears is yet another logo he’s printed onto wrinkled photocopied flyers that read “Vote Revolution.”
The image is nearly symbolic since Bidwell is, in a sense, attempting to throw a monkey wrench into the city’s big political machine.
Assuming that he doesn’t get elected mayor, Bidwell said he really doesn’t know what he’ll do next or whether he’ll stay involved in politics. He did add, however, that he would be ineligible to be elected president of the United States until 2020. It’s unlikely, but it’s a possibility he’s definitely researched.