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Goldsmith Ousts Aguirre

By Alison St John / Reporter,  KPBS Public Broadcasting
Published November 5, 2008 at 4:52 AM PST
This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Jan Goldsmith succeeded in ousting Mike Aguirre from the city attorney’s office, with help from the Republican Party. Goldsmith won 60 percent of the vote to Aguirre’s 40 percent. KPBS reporter Alis

Goldsmith Ousts Aguirre

(Photo, right: Jan Goldsmith at the Westgate Hotel on election night. Nathan Gibbs/KPBS )

Jan Goldsmith succeeded in ousting Mike Aguirre from the city attorney’s office, with help from the Republican Party. Goldsmith won 60 percent of the vote to Aguirre’s 40 percent. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more. 

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Shortly before midnight, Tony Krvaric, chair of San Diego’s Republican Party, introduced the mayor and Jan Goldsmith to the crowd assembled in the ballroom of the Westgate Hotel.

Krvaric: Mike Aguirre has been an impediment to the progress of for our city for quite some time. He's made it impossible for our city to function. Our mayor needs a functioning city attorney and we’re glad to have been able to play a little part in being able to provide that.

Mike Aguirre talks to reporters on election night. Alison St John/KPBS )

Mayor Jerry Sanders thanked Krvaric and the party for their help in getting Goldsmith elected. He compared the new city attorney with Mike Aguirre, who saw himself as representing the people of San Diego rather than city hall.

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Sanders : We have a tremendous opportunity tonight to get somebody with a judicial temperament somebody who doesn’t want to be the mayor, somebody who actually wants to be the law firm for the city of San Diego, and give us good sound legal written advice.

Goldsmith pledged his loyal support to the mayor.

Goldsmith : We’re going to build a law firm for the city of San Diego and we’re going to support the reform of the city of San Diego, so that we can move forward under the leadership of our mayor and city council. Thank you very much. ::CHEERING::

Aguirre made a brief appearance earlier to thank San Diegans for what he said was the honor of serving as their city attorney for the last four years.

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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