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Minutemen Back Jan Goldsmith

The San Diego Minutemen are advising their members to vote for Jan Goldsmith as San Diego city attorney. The endorsement could prove to be an embarrassment for Goldsmith, who is trying to paint himsel

The San Diego Minutemen are advising their members to vote for Jan Goldsmith as San Diego city attorney . The endorsement could prove to be an embarrassment for Goldsmith, who is trying to paint himself as a candidate with no political overtones. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more. The Minutemen, a controversial anti - illegal immigrant group, has put Jan Goldsmith’s name on their web site list of candidates to support.

Jeff Schwilk is head of the San Diego Minutemen.

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Shwilk: He’s very popular amongst members of our group, and he is absolutely pro rule of law, he’s against illegal immigration, which anyone involved in law enforcement or the judicial system should be. Right now we have a city attorney and a mayor and a police chief who chose to look the other way when illegal aliens commit crimes.   

Goldsmith says he has never been invited to speak to the Minutemen and was unaware of their endorsement until KPBS drew it to his attention.

Goldsmith: I don’t know them, we haven’t had any communication with them at all.

He does say that, as city attorney, he would make sure undocumented immigrants who serve time for a  misdemeanor in San Diego city, will be handed over to the border patrol once they’re released. Immigrants rights groups say they are not surprised Goldsmith has won the support of the Minutemen.  During his time as a California Assemblyman, Goldsmith initiated  the investigation of students crossing the border from Tecate to attend Mountain Empire High School.

Jeff Ponting of California Rural Legal Assistance says many in the Latino community remember the Mountain Empire High School debacle in 1993 as the precursor to Proposition 187. That was the ballot measure that sought to deny social services, health and education to undocumented immigrants.

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Ponting: It was, in many respects, the first shots fired in the border debate here in California.

Goldsmith denies that his stand on the Mountain Empire High School was anything to do with immigration.

Goldsmith: It had nothing to do with illegal immigration…  these are residents of another country or could have been residents of Arizona.  It was a residence issue, it was not an immigration issue.

One of Goldsmith’s strongest arguments in his bid to unseat incumbent Mike Aguirre is that he will simply enforce the law without letting his own political opinions color his judgment.

Goldsmith : I’m going to  enforce the law, respect the law,  I’m going to be non political. You gotta enforce the law.

Many of the students crossed the border to attend Mount Empire High school were US citizens.  Their families had moved south of the border because that’s where the jobs were.

But Ponting remembers Goldsmith’s staff characterizing the school children as illegals. and engaging in harassing behavior..   

Ponting:  Not only members of Mr Goldsmith’s staff following school buses and filming school buses as they picked up children and left them off at the end of the day… then following those children  home,  but you had local media  seizing on this issue and using it as a call to arms, if you will, regarding border issues . So to say that what happened was merely the enforcement of law, I think is disingenuous.

The Latino voting community is significant in San Diego… Steve Francis, when he challenged Jerry Sanders for the Mayor’s seat earlier this year,  modified his hard line stance on illegal immigration enforcement  after talking with Latino community  groups.

Goldsmith says he’s also very interested in appealing to Latino voters in the city of San Diego.

Goldsmith: I am very focused on that and just honored to have councilman Ben Hueso’s endorsement, and I’m spending a good chunk of my time in District 8. I’m trying to focus as much as I can South of eight to learn, interact and see how we can do a better job at the city attorney office.

Ben Hueso’s office says the councilman is unaware of efforts by Goldsmith to court community groups in his 8th district.

Goldsmith will have a tight rope to walk if he is to satisfy both the conservative constituency that made him the front runner in the June primary, and the growing immigrant community in San Diego that wants to know how the next city attorney will chose to enforce the law.

Alison St John, KPBS news.