There's fierce competition for your vote in the San Diego city attorney's race. Four people are challenging incumbent Mike Aguirre, and they all agree on one thing: They really don't like Mike Aguirre. His controversial interpretation of his role in city government attracted as many enemies as fans. For some insight on the office, KPBS reporter Andrew Phelps traveled back in time. Mike Aguirre was narrowly elected in 2004 . But the office of city attorney was not always elected.
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John W. Witt. |
San Diego, 1931. Population 150,000. Our guide is the man who would become the longest serving city attorney : John W. Witt.
Witt: In the 1920s, you know, corruption was a big deal because of Chicago and New York and the gangs.
A local journalist for the Herald newspaper said the city was ruled "by a self-centered clique of bacterial growths."
"As a consequence," he said, "we are overburdened with debt." Sound familiar?
A group of freeholders drafted a new city charter. It stripped power from department heads and created the city-manager form of government.
Witt: ...which was very much in the vogue in those days, because of all the problems that you had of controlling elected public officials, who felt that they were above being held to any particular legal principle that they didn't believe in.
After much debate, the freeholders insisted the city attorney be elected, to be truly independent. Voters approved, and the elected city attorney represented manager and council without fear of being fired.
John Witt held the office from 1969 to 1996. He says local government was not so politicized back then.
Witt: As I often say, there's no Republican or Democrat way to pick up the garbage.
But Witt says that began to change in the 1990s. San Diegans voted to impose term limits on the city attorney. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional to ban political parties from participating in nonpartisan races. Witt says that turned civil servants into politicians.
Fast-forward to 2004. The city is drowning in a multi-billion-dollar pension deficit. Candidate Mike Aguirre promises aggressive reform, inspired by the freeholders of 1931.
Aguirre: The absurdity of the city attorney acting as the lawyer for City Hall wrongdoers is over.
That's Aguirre in a speech this year . He says his client is the people of San Diego.
John Witt says Aguirre represents the wrong client.
Witt: How does he receive instruction from his, 34e, client, when it's a nebulous population? What happens when there's conflicts between what he senses the people want and what the elected policymakers want?
Over the last three-and-a-half years, Aguirre has filed a series of failed law suits over the city's pension problems. The pension problems and the law suits have cost Aguirre's clients huge sums of money. At the same time, Witt says, Aguirre has refused to defend elected officials with their own legal problems on the job.
Witt: Who represents them? Right now they’ve got to go out and hire lawyers, which has been enormously expensive.
And divisive. Aguirre's critics say his adversarial approach hinders progress.
Aguirre: The question that people need to answer in this campaign is, do you want your city attorney to find out what the facts are, to report them to you, and to be honest and make sure we don't violate the law ? Or do you want a city attorney that goes back to where we were before, where we help the city council violate the law ... and get ourselves in more trouble?
Every one of Aguirre’s challengers promises to abandon the pension litigation , if elected. Aguirre admits the election is a referendum on this very case.
A survey last month, conducted by Competitive Edge Research and funded by the Republican Party, puts Aguirre's approval rating at 41 percent. Aguirre does not appear to have enough support to win tomorrow's primary outright. He would likely face a November run-off against a challenger: Amy Lepine, Brian Maienschein, Jan Goldsmith or Scott Peters.
All the challengers agree the city doesn't need a lap dog for a city attorney, but they say it doesn't need a bulldog, either. In principle, they all agree San Diego needs a watchdog.
Andrew Phelps, KPBS News.
