voiceofsandiego.org: Letters... Aguirre Alerts Us to Corruption

Tuesday, May 29, 2007 | Rick Beach wrote a great article. However without City Attorney Mike Aguirre alerting us to the corruption, I doubt there would be a letter by Beach or anyone else.

If Aguirre was the usual city attorney protecting the city and the council and not looking after the interests of the people, then the Sunroad fiasco would have been nothing more than a letter to the editor. What I don't get is why every time Aguirre acts in the people's interest, he gets a public stoning. By contrast our police chief can defy the courts and fudge the numbers with impunity.

Police Chief Bill Lansdowne should resign or be fired for his rogue political behavior as head cop and City Attorney Mike Aguirre should be re-elected by a landslide for his political bravery in standing up for the public interest in the face of extreme and unwarranted opposition. Outcomes in both instances will be measures of how much San Diego has truly "reformed" under the new clean government of 'strong mayor" Jerry Sanders.

Posted by Plus Ca Change | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 4:27 am

Whether the current City Attorney is worthy of stoning or sainthood only time will really tell. It is far too easy to accuse people of corruption, far more difficult to demonstrate it. If we as a society want an elected leader merely to "alert us" to corruption, we can elect Chicken Little to office and acquiesce to government by press conference. It is far more preferrable to elect leaders who can substantiate claims of corruption without pandering to the whims of the moment, and who take constructive actions to make our government better. Whether Mr. Aguirre is the former or latter remains to be seen.

Posted by Publius | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 5:07 am

Two wrongs don't make a right. Aguirre is not looking out for the taxpayers by any stretch of the imagination. He has cost us tens of millions in lawsuits, many of which are still pending. As a result, the citizens of San Diego will be liable for Aguirre's mistakes for years to come. Aguirre should be recalled and Lansdowne should be fired.

Posted by Bill R. | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 5:59 am

The reason Aguirre gets a public stoning every time he sticks up for the public intrest is that he is getting to close to the corrupt officals that run the city government. Most of these corrupt officals are in bed with big developers, as is the local fish wrap The San Diego Onion. No way does the good old boy network want Aguirre to get relected, thats why the public stoning.These officals don't want the general public to know just how much of a grip they have on what gets developed here in San Diego. The Good Old Boys make lots of cash from these closed door deals. Petco, Liberty Station,Waterfront Embarcadero, and don't forget the Chargers and their past deals with the City Council and the Q.

Posted by r brick | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 6:48 am

Mike won 150 million in the de la Fuente lawsuit-....150 MILLIONNNNNNN!!!!!!! Bada Bing....Publius-the people have spoken-Mike is the saviour of this City, and he will win re election in a LANDSLIDE! That is a fact. Gloomy, JF, Gene, Brian "Ninja Cat" Marvel-they can all cry until the cows come home-Mike looks out for the tax payer-he is not going to roll over and play dead while the tax payers get stabbed in the back by the Gov Unions-unlike that spineless jellyfish Scott Peters-who wanted to drag the tax payers into another 25 million dollar debt with a FF raise.......

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 8:04 am

Um, BBH, the raise for firefighters was $2 million, not $25 million.

Posted by JF | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 9:05 am

Mike didn't win squat. He took credit for the successful outside firm hired by his predecessor. You, BBH, are spewing nonsense as usual. A credit to Aguirre the group he's attracted as supporters, yep

Posted by Frank | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 9:25 am

Its not just corruption he identifies, no sir, this guy is full service!!!!! Now he has uncovered squirrel genocide!!!! Horray for the people's atorney! No one else would have the courage to protect our little furry friends....what's next, chipmonks!!!! The real question is whether the Chief of Police will eventually serve Aguirre's search warrant on the Pest Control guy's house (probably Carl from Caddie Shack). I predict it will suffer the same fate as the Sunroad warrant as homicide is a felony and only the DA has such jurisdiction. All Hail Aguirre!!!!! BBH and Mr. Trowbridge have been right all along. I always suspected they were much smarter that the rest of us.

Posted by Oliver Holmes | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 9:26 am

On another note, I'm not sure how many of you legal scholars caught the fact the Prosecutor and the County Sherriff in the Michael Vick case REFUSED to serve a warrant issued by the magistrate. Here you go: "[Surry County, Virginia] Prosecutor Gerald Poindexter rejected a warrant to search the property formerly owned by Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick for remains of dogs, according to a television report. ABC affiliate WVEC-TV in Virginia is reporting that Poindexter and the county sheriff "did not like the language" of the warrant approved by a state magistrate and the search was scrapped." That crazy Lansdowne!

Posted by Oliver Holmes | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 10:00 am

Please Mr. Henry, Mr. Aguirre is NOT responsible for the De la Fuente case, either good or bad. As has been discussed before, the outside counsel was hired and the briefs filed before Mr. Aguirre took office. He should take no credit for that victory, nor should he be blamed if the retrial goes wrong. You need to move on from that issue.

Posted by Publius | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 10:18 am

Billy Bob, it seems I have to follow you around these blogs to provide translation to your embellishments. Wow, the City Attorney won a case... give us all the facts Billbo; if he was in any other business he would have been fired long ago for failure to perform. Until your example of de la Fuentes, I believe he was 0 and 13. And please try to bring your numbers back to earth, the City denied a 2% pay raise for firefighters which would have cost 2 million dollars not 25 million. You're the kind of guy that we call STAN in the fire service; everything with you is bigger and better then the next guy.

Posted by BenEfit | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 10:47 am

Aguirre didn't win anything in the de la Fuente suit. Check your facts. Outside counsel had to do it. Outside counsel has to do everything if it will be effective. What does that tell you? That your City Attorney is ineffective, can't run an office, does not warrant an increase in staff, etc. He doesn't look out for the taxpayer, other than looking for another soul and pocket to bleed. Citizens of San Diego: WAKE UP! Don't accept this behavior.

Posted by Reality Check | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 11:33 am

Mike is the CA and he has been the CA for some time now-he gets the credit for moving the case forward through the appeals process and he gets credit for it. Who do you think should get credit-Scott Peters, the rest of the Clowncil or the Mayor?????? Hey-Mike won-the truth hurts sometimes....

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 1:20 pm

We have written a citizen's report on the Sunroad Centrum 12 building.

Posted by Katheryn Rhodes and Conrad Har | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 3:38 pm

link

Posted by Katheryn Rhodes and Conrad Har | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 10:18 pm

Kathryn, I hope that your citizen's report will be posted on the Voice.

Posted by Kathi Ward | reply to this comment
May 29, 2007 10:32 pm

For all of you who praise Aguirre as rooting out corruption, fine. But what about Aguirre's own corrupt, unethical and unlawful acts? Why are you so quick to point the finger at everyone BUT him? Clearly you've never spent a private moment behind closed doors with the man when he asked you to do something that puts your bar card in jeopardy. Dozens, if not more have, and left the CA's office as a result - some fired for simply refusing to be unethical. The real problem, though, is that Aguirre doesn't understand when his actions are wrong. He is so caught up in his own world, it is nearly impossible for him to see things from any other perspective. The result is so many baseless paranoid rants that destroy 99 innocent lives just to get one bad guy. That ain't justice.

Posted by Rock On | reply to this comment
May 31, 2007 10:34 pm

Rock On - you are absolutely correct. He runs his office like an unhinged lunatic. How many attorneys has he fired in an anger-fueled tirade, then hire back the next day? How many attorneys has he forced to decide between their bar card and their job? If these people haven't been face-to-face with the would-be emperor, they don't know who this child really is. He is no leader, and the only person he is crusading for is himself.

Posted by Nicole | reply to this comment
June 2, 2007 1:16 am

To all of you who have committed quite a lot of time and bytes into biting Aguirre's backside, I do have one little question of interest: Do you think: a) That the Sunroad Centrum issue is the product improper, unethical or, even potentially illegal activity by either Sunroad, City employees or both? b) That the Sunroad Issue is simply the result of the City's continued incompetence in dealing with development c) That there is no issue and that everything in this matter has reflected good governmental and business practices conducted in a legitimate, proper and above board proccess? Actually, the question is open to anyone, Mikey Maulers or otherwise. I am honestly interested in your opinions.

Posted by Lunacy | reply to this comment
June 4, 2007 2:24 am

Lunacy asked a valid question.I'll give a valid answer.First off, I agree with Mike that there is a lot of either incompetency or corruption at high levels of the government.This city has a long history of rolling over on it's back when dealing with developers.That's part of the reason that the FD is so understaffed.From 1976 to 2006, the city added about a half a million citizens and only ten fire stations.Developers should have been paying for that.There are currently less firefighters downtown than there were in 1976.However, Mikey has a little problem with following his own ethical rules and knowing which sword to fall on.In the big picture for the city, what will help the citizens the most, and where should scant resources be allocated?He has a problem differentiating issues that have been proven in his own mind vs proven in court.Thus he is a liability.

Posted by JF | reply to this comment
June 4, 2007 5:07 am

Lunacy, to answer your question, the Sunroad debacle is just that. It needs to be addressed. But the manner in which Aguirre abused his prosecutorial authority to try and grant immunity to potential witnesses to benefit the City's civil interests is a prime example of how NOT to do this. I think we all ultimately want the same thing: honest, open, and competent government. It is not the goals we disagree about, it is the methodology. Aguirre's methods of trying to get the change he desires is unfortunately proving to be at least as destructive as the evil he is trying to combat. That's what so many people need to understand.

Posted by Rock On | reply to this comment
June 4, 2007 11:47 pm

Just so everyone knows, there are full time bloggers that have been hired to thrash Aguirre on-line. Don't be suprised if the anti-Aguirre commenteers here are hired schills. This is how serious the special interest groups are about getting Aguirre out. I dont know a single legit citizen that doesnt LOVE Mike Aguirre. I witnessed people at the Gay Pride parade running out and hugging him, shaking his hand etc. By contrast the Council people got NO love.

Posted by Christine | reply to this comment
November 26, 2007 4:13 pm

Aguirre Alerts Us to Corruption

By David Little, San Diego