The best way for the next mayor to improve education in San Diego is to make educated decisions

Next Mayor's Office Should Be Education Model
Sep 22, 2011.
by Michael Aguirre
Letters, Voice of San Diego

The best way for the next mayor to improve education in San Diego is to make educated decisions based on reality and good ideas. The mayor should be an example of how a well-educated person acts. The mayor's staff should include scholars. The mayor should be a source of basic research on solutions for the city's problems. The mayor should show an understanding of financial management by getting the audits out on time. The mayor should do important parts of needed research and writing. Abraham Lincoln was busy with the Civil War but still managed to write his own speeches. If the mayor wants to change education in San Diego, begin by bringing education to the mayor's office.

Michael Aguirre is a former City Attorney.

Jan Goldsmith seems to be channelling Mike Aguirre regarding pension underfunding

City Attorney Explains Potential Pension Bombshell
Voice of San Diego
LIAM DILLON
March 9, 2010

San Diego City Attorney Jan Goldsmith brought the noise on pension reform at City Council on Monday afternoon, publicly stating his belief that city employees could be responsible for part of the city's $2.1 billion unfunded pension liability.

His opinion came after a presentation by the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System. The retirement system's attorney, Elaine Reagan, said the city could not make employees help pay down that debt.

Goldsmith disagreed and gave his own presentation supporting his position that they could. Changes in employee contribution rates, he said, are not guaranteed, meaning they could be modified through labor negotiations.

"The minute you interpret our charter as requiring that the city pick up all costs, you are stating that they are vested rights," Goldsmith said. "I do not agree with that. I do not believe that interpretation is in good faith. I think it is flawed."

As the council discussed the issue, Goldsmith made sure to leave room to change his mind on the retirement system's opinion. He gave no formal opinion in writing beyond his presentation, and said he wanted to study the issue more.

But Goldsmith did not back down from his contention that the city, not the retirement system, interprets the City Charter section.

"This is not the SDCERS-form of government," Goldsmith said...

It turns out that the City Council gave Aguirre full support for the pension lawsuit

Mike Aguirre was telling the truth all along.

Mike Aguirre has been smeared so badly by Bonnie Dumanis and Ann Smith, that even I was influenced by it. I thought there was a grain of truth to the claim that Aguirre filed the pension suit on his own.

I don't seem to be able to get it through my head, even after so many years of proof, including my own first-hand experience with Bonnie Dumanis and Ann Smith, that the people in charge in San Diego are deeply, incredibly dishonest.


Here's what Pat Flannery wrote about this.

The truth is out: Peters lied.
02/28/08
by Pat Flannery
Click here for original article.

Here is the transcript of the closed session of the City Council on August 2, 2005 that everybody has wanted to read. Here is a press release from the City Attorney today summarizing the relevant events.

Also, here are two relevant Court Declarations, one from Jerry Sanders and the other from Donna Frye. Both clearly confirm the City Attorney's long standing assertion that he was given the enthusiastic support of the City Council and of the Mayor to pursue in court a resolution of the legality or illegality of the disputed pension benefits.

Scott Peters now wants to say that Aguirre did all this on his own without authorization from the City. Of course, we all know why he is doing this: as a shill for the city unions, particularly the MEA.

Peters tried to smear the City Attorney for doing his job. Peters has abused the legal process by filing a false complaint with the State Bar wrongly asserting that Mr. Aguirre was not authorized by his client, the City, to file a cross-complaint in a matter in which the City was sued. In other words Peters tried to ensure that the unions would win by default.

Clearly Scott Peters does not have the best interest of the City at heart, merely his unions backers. His abuse of the State bar disciplinary process for political purposes should be enough to disqualify him from practicing law let alone becoming City Attorney for any city.



Voice of San Diego tells more about the transcript:

The Aguirre Transcripts
by ANDREW DONOHUE
February 28 2008


We just got a copy of the closed session transcripts that were sought by State Bar investigators as part of their probe into City Attorney Mike Aguirre, and the documents show that the City Council authorized Aguirre to pursue his pension litigation -- but on the condition it was done in his name only.

In the Aug. 2, 2005 hearing, Council President Scott Peters said he was worried the council would be found to have negotiated in bad faith with the labor unions if it took the public stance that the employee pension benefits at issue in the lawsuit were illegal. However, he said in the meeting, there needed to be a decision regarding whether or not the rounds of benefits granted to employees through controversial deals in 1996 and 2002 were legal.

The hearing began with Executive Assistant City Attorney Don McGrath briefing the council on the lawsuit, which has since been struck down by a judge and is in appeals court.

The suit had originally been filed without the council's approval. That was done, McGrath said, because the council was on recess at the time and the statute of limitations was set to expire.

The City Attorney's Office was seeking the council's formal approval on the suit.

Councilwoman Donna Frye originally proposed a motion to support it, but Peters said he'd prefer that the suit be brought in Aguirre's name to avoid the labor issues. The council eventually approved Peters' idea by a vote of 5-1. Councilman Jim Madaffer voted against the motion, and the District 2 and 8 seats were vacant at the time.

This is the general idea of what had happened before the suit. It may not resolve much.

The issue being made by Aguirre's opponents is this: he later changed the suit to be back in the city's name.

"He's defied the direction of the client by bringing the suit in the name of the city," said Pam Hardy, Peters spokeswoman.

In an interview, McGrath said that the city attorney never needed the council's authorization to bring the suit to begin with. And, later, the judge in the case told him to bring the suit in the city's name, so he did...

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/this_just_in/

Dumanis wants the Axis of Good to control San Diego, but the city needs Mike Aguirre

The Axis of Good:

D.A. Bonnie Dumanis, San Diego Sheriff Bill Kolender
and Mayor Jerry Sanders

The California State Bar allows attorneys to violate ethical rules
right and left, and bears the bulk of the responsibility for our
malfunctioning justice system. The Bar is investigating Aguirre
because Bonnie Dumanis and her friends are on the board of the Bar
Association. The bar should be investigating Bonnie Dumanis. Aguirre
has worked to open up government and end government secrecy and
complacency. The pension fiasco should have been a learning
experience, but the powers-that-be want to forget about it, and keep
the same secretive practices that led to San Diego's billion-dollar
deficit. If a person has to be crazy to challenge the status quo, then
that's exactly the kind of person San Diego needs as City Attorney.