(Photo: Jan Goldsmith talks to reporters on election night at Golden Hall. Nathan Gibbs/KPBS )
City Attorney Mike Aguirre and challenger Jan Goldsmith are headed for a runoff election November. Goldsmith defied polls and conventional wisdom by beating the incumbent in yesterday's primary. KPBS reporter Andrew Phelps has more on that race.
Jan Goldsmith says if you want a "second mayor," vote Aguirre in November. Goldsmith says the incumbent has politicized the office and filed a series of failed law suits on the city's pension problems.
Goldsmith: I'd like Aguirre to pay back the taxpayers for all the waste he's imposed on them from these law suits that have gone nowhere and require the city to have to pay not only their own legal fees but the other side's legal fees. Look, he's lost everything. He walks in the court with political arguments. Judges like to hear legal arguments.
If elected, Goldsmith says he would move to settle the pension litigation with the city's labor unions.
The former judge and Poway mayor got help from a Republican Party endorsement, and one from the head of the Deputy District Attorneys Association. Goldsmith captured 32 percent of the vote.
Mike Aguirre came away with 29 percent. Aguirre hardly campaigned at all. The candidate himself wasn't even in San Diego yesterday, but in New Jersey, watching his daughter graduate from Princeton.
The only supporter I could find at Election Central was Aguirre's right-hand man, deputy city attorney Don McGrath.
McGrath: We didn't spend much money. We didn't have much money.
McGrath says Aguirre will focus his resources on defeating Goldsmith in the fall. McGrath rejects the notion the incumbent hasn't made any progress.
McGrath: We're doing really well but we get no credit. And if that word ever finally gets out, I think you'll find that you can't live without Mike Aguirre. You're going to need him.
McGrath says Aguirre has succeeded in recovering millions of dollars in fees from consultants and pension-related attorneys. And he says the city attorney's pension-rollback case is still pending in the appeals court.
Another candidate, City Council President Scott Peters , thought he would battle Aguirre in November. A lot of City Hall observers and at least one scientific poll thought so, too. Peters might not have been able to overcome the criticism of his vote in 2002 to underfund the pension system. Peters came in third place, with 20 percent.
Peters: You know the only reason I got into this race is because I thought there needs to be a change in the city attorney's office. I thought I would be the best person for it. But it's noteworthy that an incumbent like Mike Aguirre, who's had three-and-a-half years to impress the public, has so little support.
Other city officials have been reluctant to endorse a candidate, except for Mayor Jerry Sanders, who says he supports anyone but Aguirre.
City councilwoman Donna Frye says she has a lot to learn about Jan Goldsmith before weighing in. She only met him yesterday.
Frye: So I don't know. But you know, I've worked close with Mike, I've also worked with Scott, I've never worked with Mr. Goldsmith, so, I don't know. But I’ve got to tell you, if the city didn't need people like Mr. Aguirre, then they would not get elected.
Another candidate who shook up the race did not get much traction. City councilman Brian Mainshine caused Republicans to worry he would dilute the Goldsmith vote. Mainshine came in fourth.
Private attorney Amy Lepine came in fifth.
Andrew Phelps, KPBS News.
