Democratic Party Endorses Aguirre

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published July 9, 2008 at 5:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

The San Diego Democratic Party voted last night to endorse incumbent Mike Aguirre for city attorney. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The San Diego Democratic Party voted last night to endorse incumbent Mike Aguirre for city attorney. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

It might seem obvious the Democratic Party would endorse Aguirre over the Republican Party’s chosen candidate, Jan Goldsmith. But labor groups in the city have been adamantly opposed to a second term from Aguirre. They resent his efforts to roll back pension benefits, and lobbied successfully to block the Democratic Party from endorsing him in the run up to the Primary.

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However, Jess Durfee, head of the San Diego Democratic Party, says last night’s vote - of the 40 or so members of the Central Committee - was pretty much a slam dunk in favor of endorsing Aguirre in November.

Durfee: We do think it is important to have that voice at city hall that will be analyzing and reviewing actions taken by the mayor and offering on occasion, when it’s a legal issue, some alternative to what the mayor is proposing. So it’s important from a legal aspect that we have that independence.

The Democratic Party spent less than a quarter of the money the San Diego Republican Party had to spend to support its candidates in June. But analysts expect more democratic voters to turn out in November for the Presidential election.

Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.