Aguirre 'Examining' Goldsmith's Record

Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 1:13 PM PDT

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I just got off the phone with City Attorney Mike Aguirre. He had a pitch for me.

Aguirre says his challenger for city attorney, Jan Goldsmith, is the "most political" of the various candidates who ran for city attorney.

Goldsmith, as I wrote in this article, has previously been a Poway city councilman, Poway mayor and a state legislator. He also ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer.

Goldsmith has run his campaign so far on being a non-political lawyer who would wipe policymaking out of the City Attorney's Office. But Aguirre said the judge's past shows he's actually a skilled and divisive politician with a record of arch-conservatism.

Aguirre said he plans to dig deep into Goldsmith's past to show that the judge is a conservative Republican and that he's been deeply divisive and political in his past career.

"He's not a labor person, he's certainly not progressive, and he resurfaced as a politician supported by an intensely political group," Aguirre said.

I called Goldsmith for a response. I haven't heard back yet.

At last Tuesday's primary election, I interviewed Goldsmith late at night when it was clear that he had finished first place in the primary. He said that he fully expects Aguirre to dig up legislative votes from 10 years ago as the two proceed to a runoff election. Bring it on, he said.

Correction: The original version of this post incorrectly stated that Goldsmith had run for attorney general. We regret the error.

-- WILL CARLESS