Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007 | This morning, a good friend, who once had the misfortune to work for City Attorney Mike Aguirre, e-mailed a post from voiceofsandiego.org in order to inform me that the San Diego County Central Committee did not endorse Mike Aguirre. Not only did I awaken to a
beautiful day, but I also received some great news, too! It doesn’t get much better than this.
I first met Aguirre back in 1980. During the mid 1970s, I had a very pleasant although casual relationship with Mike’s two older brothers(Gary and Tony Aguirre). Like Mike, they were also practicing attorneys and I had met both through DEM activities. In sum, I thought both men were pretty neat guys. They were soft-spoken, polite and interesting company at various and sundry events.
Some years later, when I met Mike I was prepared to like him also. And indeed he did make a very favorable impression on me. At that time, I was working for a social service agency, and the contract to provide services was about to expire. I was about to become unemployed, and that was when Mike offered me a job working on his first campaign. (He intended to run for Congress in a district that was yet to be determined).
I happily accepted his offer of a paid position on his campaign staff. Within weeks, I knew that I had made a serious mistake. In my presence, he screamed and yelled at his law clerks and worse. It was obvious that they couldn’t stand the guy, and for good reason. What a bully! In short order, I quit.
There was simply no way I ever wanted to see him elected to anything. I tried to part as amicably as possible, and I thought that I had succeeded. Wrong. When I filed for my unemployment benefits, Mike filed an objection. (Please note, no benefits allowed would have come from his pocket but from my prior employer.)
That didn’t matter. I was forced to defend my rights in an appeals hearing. To my shock, Mike had bothered to research my divorce papers (1973) and presented them to the administrative law judge as “proof” of my being a disloyal person. And he argued that I could not be loyal to my marriage vows anymore than I could show a loyal commitment to him.
I left the hearing stunned. The witness who accompanied me to the hearing had also worked for and subsequently left Aguirre’s campaign, and is now a practicing federal prosecutor. When it comes to Mike Aguirre, his opponents do not have to make up his outrageous behavior. Mike’s own mouth and subsequent actions spell out crackpot bully character.
I retired several years ago. I’ve never missed voting since I turned 21 years old. I always considered myself to be a “Yellow Dog” DEM … untilthis last election for city attorney. And that’s when I did something that I never considered that I would ever do.
I voted for a right-wing Bible-thumping reactionary for city attorney. It was either that or cast my vote for Mike Aguirre. And there is no way that I could bring myself to vote for Aguirre. I hate it when that happens.