SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The field of potential candidates in the Nov. 19 special election to finish out the term of disgraced former Mayor Bob Filner grew to more than three dozen Friday with a couple more entering the race and a former city attorney publicly announcing his candidacy.
According to the City Clerk's Office, 37 potential candidates had filed a statement of intent by late afternoon, with Frederic C. Shultz and Jane Glasson doing so Friday.
The majority of the potential candidates have pulled nomination papers, including former City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who did so earlier this week, but publicly announced he was in the running Friday.
"Returning the city of San Diego to the people of San Diego is the reason I want to be your next mayor,'' Aguirre told reporters.
City Councilmen Kevin Faulconer and David Alvarez also are in the running, as is former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher.
Former Assemblywoman Lori Saldana has filed also her intention statement and pulled nomination papers, although she has yet to announce whether she has officially joined the race.
They join Jon Francis Cima; lawyer Hud Collins, a frequent speaker at City Council meetings; Bruce Coons, head of the preservationist group Save Our Heritage Organisation; real estate broker Gwen Coronado; Paul Michael Dekker, whose website says is director of information technology at the San Diego-based nonprofit Global Energy Network Institute; La Jolla Realtor Harry J. Dirks; Marcus Dunlap; physician Steven Greenwald; James Grogan; Fred Charles Hill; musician Aaron Hudson; Mathew "Eyeball'' Isom; Michael Kemmer, whose LinkedIn page says he's an IT intern at Sempra Energy; Toby Joe Lewandoski; Chad McKinney; Dallas McLaughlin; accountant Teresa Miucci; restaurant owner Sina "Simon'' Moghadam; psychiatrist Ashok Parameswaran; Richard Pearson; website owner Tobiah Pettus; gun rights advocate Lincoln Pickard; Farrah Pirahanchi, whose LinkedIn page says she's the president of engineering firm Pioneer; Kurt Schwab, who founded an organization for veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq; Mark Schwartz, a Libertarian activist who created a Facebook page for his campaign last month; Ali Seaton; Kevin Swanson; and Keith Wong, whose LinkedIn page says he's the former director of engineering at Qualcomm.
Jared Mimms, who says on his LinkedIn page that he has founded or co-founded four companies, and Douglas S. Van Raam have declared their intent to run, but have yet to pull nomination papers, according to the City Clerk's Office.
The nomination papers need to be returned with 200 valid signatures of registered voters between Friday and Sept. 20. As of Friday evening, no candidate has done so.
