Roger Hedgecock

Roger Allan Hedgecock (born May 2, 1946) is an American politician and conservative talk radio host, who served as 30th mayor of San Diego between May 1983 and December 1985.

His show is syndicated by Radio America.

Hedgecock was born in Compton, California.

When Hedgecock was 10 years old, his family moved to the Loma Portal area of San Diego.

His father was unable to work because of illness.

The family faced tough times, and the younger Hedgecock worked various jobs in his youth.

Since his youth, he has been an avid surfer.

He graduated from the Roman Catholic-affiliated St. Augustine High School.

Hedgecock first became active in politics at an early age, having volunteered to work in US Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign.

He received a bachelor's degree from University of California, Santa Barbara in 1968 and a Juris Doctor degree from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1971.

He practiced law and became city attorney for Del Mar, California, in 1974.

Hedgecock was not qualified for military service during the Vietnam War for medical reasons.

His severe acne caused him to be rated first 1-Y and then 4-F.

In 1976, he was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and served until 1983.

In 1983 he was elected mayor of San Diego.

Although San Diego municipal elections are "non-partisan" (party affiliation is not listed on the ballot), Hedgecock ran as a "progressive" Republican.

He campaigned to stop the "Los Angelization" of San Diego, a term in San Diego that is synonymous with the uncontrolled urban and suburban development, overcrowding and pollution of Los Angeles.

The key players, including Hedgecock and his associates, admitted in sworn statements that they knowingly and willingly broke the law when they conspired to funnel money from a wealthy financier into Hedgecock's 1983 mayoral campaign fund.

Though Hedgecock claimed none of it was true, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and was found guilty of 12 counts of perjury, related to the alleged failure to report all campaign contributions.

Since California, like most other states, does not allow convicted felons to hold elected office, Hedgecock resigned on December 5 of that year.

His first trial ended in a mistrial with a hung jury after the jury deadlocked 11–1 in favor of conviction.

However, two of the 12 jurors in the first trial submitted sworn statements that the jury bailiff, Al Burroughs, provided them alcohol and tried to pressure them into finding Hedgecock guilty.

State prosecutors conducted an investigation into the possibility of criminal jury tampering.

As part of the investigation, Burroughs admitted trying to influence the verdict.

Under California Superior Court rules, any attempt on a bailiff's part to influence a verdict is serious misconduct that can be grounds for reversal.

However, prosecutors refused to release to Hedgecock's attorneys transcripts of their investigation interviews.

In 1985, Hedgecock was charged with felonies related to receiving over $350,000 in illegal campaign funds and was forced from office because of the scandal.

He started four days after resigning from the mayoralty, with his first show on January 20, 1986.

His show aired from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

Several years later, Hedgecock's time slot moved to 12 noon to 3 p.m., to make room for The Rush Limbaugh Show in the schedule.

His show eventually moved to the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.

Originally, the plan was for the fourth hour of the show to continue only on KOGO and continue discussion of topics relevant to the local San Diego/Southern California audience, but KOGO later decided to drop the fourth hour altogether, thus bringing to an end the Community Forum, which had been his focus since the show's inception in 1986.

A San Diego appellate court ruled in 1988 that the judge presiding over the second trial "who had announced from the bench that he believed Hedgecock was guilty was wrong to block release of the transcripts to the defendant. Hedgecock was denied access to the documents for two more years until he appealed to the California Supreme Court, which ordered the transcripts released. In that appeal, the Supreme Court threw out 12 perjury convictions and set aside the remaining conspiracy charge pending a hearing on Hedgecock's motion for a jury trial on grounds of jury tampering.

The defense obtained the transcripts in October 1990.

The following month, Hedgecock reached a plea deal with prosecutors of one count of conspiracy in return for no prison time and no retrial.

As part of the deal, a judge reduced the felony to a misdemeanor and dismissed the case on December 31, 1990.

With the controversy ending his political career, Hedgecock accepted a job as a talk show host on San Diego's AM 1130 KSDO, where he remained until moving to KOGO AM 600 in 1997.

Beginning in November 2007, Hedgecock hosted a nationally syndicated radio talk show on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon, Pacific Time, the flagship station being KOGO.

On January 5, 2009, his show began being syndicated nationwide by Radio America.

In November 2011, it was announced that Hedgecock would be leaving his local flagship station, KOGO, and would move his nationally syndicated show to a new flagship home, radio station AM 760 KFMB, San Diego's CBS radio and television network affiliate.