Pity the next mayor of San Diego, which once proclaimed itself "America's finest city". With a pension deficit of at least $1.4 billion, the seventh-largest city in the country is now on the edge of bankruptcy; its financial affairs are the subject of investigation both by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission; the city can raise no new money because independent auditors are refusing to certify the books; and two city council-men, convicted last week of corrupt dealing with a strip-club owner, face jail. No wonder Dick Murphy, controversially re-elected mayor in November, announced in April that he would leave office on July. 15th, more than three years early.
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