The Morning Report
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City Attorney Mike Aguirre’s alliance with Mayor Jerry Sanders suffered a turn for the worse today, as Aguirre accused the mayor of retaliating against him for attacking the handling of the Sunroad office building saga.
Representatives from Sanders’ office denied the claim.
Aguirre said Sanders’ staff reneged on a May 7 promise to allow Aguirre to retain 12 lawyers in his office that had not been included in the budget, but were paid for with the excess funds within the City Attorney’s Office. The positions were cute because because Sanders felt the city attorney embarrassed him in the Sunroad matter, Aguirre claimed.
“We live in a climate of retaliation,” Aguirre said at a press conference this afternoon. “I have not felt this way since the latter days of the Murphy administration.”
The Mayor’s Office quickly fired back, saying the city attorney’s were being used to cover up his own mismanagement. Chief Financial Officer Jay Goldstone said the mayor was not allowing any city departments to add new employees.
voiceofsandiego.org reported on how the Sunroad issue tore at the partnership between Sanders and Aguirre last month, as the city attorney accused several of the mayor’s staff member of interfering with the fight against the 12-story office building near Montgomery Field.
After much pressure, Sanders joined the fight against the Sunroad building last week.