San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy was sworn in for a second four-year term Wednesday afternoon after a legal challenge to his victory was turned aside.
Murphy took his oath two days later than scheduled, after a state appeals court allowed the county's registrar of voters to formally certify his narrow, 2,000-vote victory over write-in candidate Donna Frye.
The suit had been filed by a supporter of third-place candidate Ron Roberts. The supporter argued that Frye should never have been allowed in the first place to participate in the November election, which was a runoff pairing the top two vote getters in a March primary.
Frye's candidacy took off in the wake of a pension mess that developed under Murphy's watch, in which the city belatedly disclosed to bondholders that it had seriously underfunded its employee pension plan.
Frye's supporters argue that she would be the winner if all the votes were properly counted. Roberts' supporters thought he would have won if Frye hadn't diluted the anti-incumbent vote.
Frye has not filed any lawsuits yet in connection with the race, and she said this week she had not made a final decision about whether to do so.
