Assistant City Attorney Karen Heumann, who was named in The San Diego Union-Tribune editorial last week that accused City Attorney Mike Aguirre of breaking the law, has demanded a retraction from the paper for “false and libelous accusations.”

The letter, from Heumann’s attorney, Karen Getman, says the U-T‘s legal analysis was wrong, something one of the state’s top election attorneys told us.

From the letter:

It is extraordinarily reckless to accuse Ms. Heumann, who as you know is a top-level city attorney, of violating city law without bothering to check whether your legal analysis is correct.

The letter then cites a quote from editorial page editor Bob Kittle in a follow-up news story reiterating the accusation that the city attorney violated the law.

The only conclusion one can draw from that quote is that Mr. Kittle and the Union-Tribune, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, are deliberately disseminating a false statement of the law in order to impugn the integrity of the City Attorney and his employees, including Ms. Heumann.

ANDREW DONOHUE

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