Donna Frye

Donna Frye
Donna Frye speaking to supporters during the 2005 mayoral campaign
San Diego City Council (District 6)
Incumbent
Assumed office 2001
Personal details
Born	January 20, 1952 (1952-01-20) (age 59) Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Political party	Democrat[1]
Spouse(s)	Skip Frye (Sept. 7, 1941-present)
Residence	Clairemont, San Diego, California
Alma mater	National University[2]
Profession	Businessperson

Donna Frye (born January 20, 1952) was a member of the San Diego City Council, representing District 6. Her term ended December 6 2010.

Frye was born in 1952 in Pennsylvania, the second of three children. Her family moved to San Diego when her father took a civilian job with the Navy.

After an abusive first marriage and problems with alcohol abuse, Frye met her current husband Skip Frye at a Mexican restaurant in 1980. After they married, he persuaded her to give up alcohol, and together they opened a custom-made surfboard shop in Pacific Beach in 1988.

Frye first became concerned with coastal water pollution problems when her husband repeatedly became sick after surfing. She soon became an environmental and community leader. In 2001 she was elected to the San Diego City Council.

Frye ran for mayor of San Diego in November 2004 as a write-in candidate, and a plurality of voters wrote in her name. A controversy arose when she lost the election because a number of voters did not fill in the bubble next to her written name or misspelled her name (usually spelling her last name "Fry"). If those votes had counted, Frye would have won the mayorship.^{[citation needed]} Whether Frye would have been allowed to serve as mayor in any case is uncertain, as her write-in candidacy was at odds with the San Diego City Charter. (It occurred during a run-off election between Dick Murphy and Ron Roberts.)^[3]

Dick Murphy was re-elected as mayor after a series of legal challenges to the election results, but resigned on July 15, 2005, as the city's fiscal crisis and legal woes with regulatory and law enforcement agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Bureau of Investigation worsened and became a matter of increasing public awareness. Frye ran for mayor in the special election that took place on July 26, 2005, with a platform advocating open and honest government and restoring order to the city's financial situation, points found in nearly all of the candidates' platforms. Frye was endorsed by Mike Aguirre, the city attorney who has confronted the city council over releasing documents.

Frye placed ahead of ten opponents, including former police chief and runner-up Jerry Sanders (27%), by receiving 43% of the vote. However, a majority was needed to win outright, and so a run-off election was held between Frye and Sanders on November 8, 2005. Frye was defeated in this election, receiving 46.1% of the vote to Sanders' 53.9%. She did, however, win reelection to her council seat in June of the following year.

References

1. ^ Gustafson, Craig (2006-02-12). "Little rest for Frye as re-election run begins". San Diego Union Tribune. http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060212/news_1m12frye.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09. 
2. ^ "San Diego's mayoral candidates ... up close.(VOTE)". San Diego Business Journal. 2007-07-18. http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-4625736/San-Diego-s-mayoral-candidates.html. Retrieved 2007-11-09. ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "Challenge to San Diego Election Brought Too Late, C.A. Rules". Metropolitan News-Enterprise. 2004-12-08. http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/mcki120804.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-14. 

External links

• Official City Council District 6 webpage
• Official Donna Frye for Mayor webpage (inactive)
• Biographical Sketch in San Diego Union-Tribune (7/7/2005)
• FBI raids City Hall
• San Diego is mired in a series of probes
• Promising more, saving less: the roots of San Diego's pension crisis (inactive)
• "Live at Golden Hall," a photojournal on Election Day 2004

Persondata
Name	Frye, Donna
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1952-01-20
Place of birth	Pennsylvania
Date of death
Place of death