Bryan Pease, animal rights activist, to run against incumbent Sherri Lightner for District 1 City Council Seat

By Dave Schwab

daves@lajollalight.com

Attorney and animal rights activist Bryan Pease, best known for his ongoing fight to get the rope barrier at La Jolla’s Children’s Pool separating humans from seals up year-round, is holding a press conference Thursday, Jan. 12 at 2 p.m. at the steps of City Hall downtown to announce he will oppose incumbent Sherri Lightner in the First District Council race.

“I will hold a press conference and then go in and file my papers,” Pease said in a press release. “Website and campaign materials will come later.”

Pease said his campaign “will be entirely grassroots and funded on a shoestring budget.”

If elected, he said would “represent the people of San Diego and District 1, and not corporate and special interests as Lightner has done and as her Republican challenger would take to the extreme.”

Asked by the Light whether he is a one-issue candidate or whether his candidancy is a publicity stunt, Pease answered, “The seals have gotten a lot of coverage and that gives me a lot of name recognition and that helps make me a viable candidate. But that’s not the only issue I care about. Sherri Lightner got a C+ on her environmental report card. Her Republican opponent is even more of a nightmare, and is a supporter of the DeMaio plan to bypass any negotiating process with costly ballot initiatives to advance his personal agenda.”

Pease, a Democrat, added he “wants to give voters an option, because right now their choice is between an incumbent who has not been a real supporter of environmental issues, and a Republican candidate who is just one of a slate of candidates that (City Councilman and mayoral candidate) Carl DeMaio is endorsing.”