Aguirre Calls Mass E-Mail Sent By Union Head a Smear Campaign

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 16, 2007 at 12:01 PM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego City Attorney Mike Aquirre says the head of the city's largest employee union used the city's e-mail system to smear him. It's the latest twist in Aquirre's effort to roll back an increase i

San Diego City Attorney Mike Aquirre says the head of the city's largest employee union used the city's e-mail system to smear him. It's the latest twist in Aquirre's effort to roll back an increase in pension benefits for city workers. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has the story.

Aguirre says the president of the Municipal Employees Association , Judie Italiano, inappropriately used city e-mail to rally members against him. He called it a smear campaign tied to his legal efforts to eliminate pension benefit increases granted in 1996 and 2002.

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Italiano says she apologized for the e-mail.

Italiano : The city's labor relations manager contacted me and said that this was not a proper use of city e-mail since I did discuss a city official in the e-mail and to not do it again and I told him would not.

Aguirre says he'll investigate whether the union misused government property and offered false and misleading information. Italiano says she welcomes his investigation.

Aguirre's attempts to rollback the pension benefit increases have been turned down in several court rulings, but he says he'll continue the legal battle.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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