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Democrats Split in City Attorney's Race

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published September 2, 2008 at 2:37 PM PDT
This story was published more than 15 years ago.

San Diego’s democratic faithful are divided over the city attorney’s race. Republican Jan Goldsmith, who’s challenging Mike Aguirre for the city attorney’s job, has won the endorsement of several

Democrats Split in City Attorney's Race

(Photo: Jan Goldsmith with former  democratic state legislator Dede Alpert. Alison St John/KPBS )

San Diego’s democratic faithful are divided over the city attorney’s race. Republican Jan Goldsmith, who’s challenging Mike Aguirre for the city attorney’s job, has won the endorsement of several prominent state democrats. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

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The city attorney’s race is officially non partisan, but Goldsmith knows it will be important to have support from democrats as well as republicans in November.

There are 50 thousand more registered democrats than republicans in the city of San Diego, and democrats are predicted to turn out in force for the presidential race.

Long-time state legislator, Dede Alpert, is the latest democrat to throw her weight behind Goldsmith. She served with him in the California Assembly in the 1990s.  

Alpert:  I wouldn’t vote for Jan Goldsmith for Assembly because he wouldn’t vote the way I would think on a large number of issues, but in this non partisan office where he is the city’s chief lawyer, I feel like he is the best candidate.

Former state legislators Lucie Killea and Waddie Dedeh also endorsed Goldsmith this week. Deddeh says the constant conflict between the city attorney’s office and other branches of city government does not help cooperation at city hall.

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But Jess Durfee, Chair of San Diego’s Democratic Party, says the Party endorses Aguirre precisely because he will challenge the "powers-that -be" at city hall.

Durfee: While there might be some of the more traditional democrats who aren’t supporting him, I think mike has an appeal to that huge number of independent voters out there who are looking at someone who will be there to scrutinize Jerry Sanders as well as the business community.

On his side of the state legislative ledger, Aguirre’s site lists endorsements from recently deceased democrat, Lionel Van Deerlin, and current California Senator Denise Ducheny.

On the predominantly democratic San Diego city council, 2 of the 5 democratic council members are looking for a change … Ben Hueso and Scott Peters back Jan Goldsmith. The others have not yet revealed their hands.

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John
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.
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