Unnecessary Spending

Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007 | Scott Peters disingenuously blames Mike Aguirre for outside counsel expenses. At a recent joint presentation at a local bar meeting, Peters and Sanders asserted the right to hire outside counsel whenever the Mayor and Aguirre differed on “policy.” Peters’ Council runs up a significant legal tab this way. For example, Peters hired outside counsel to defend against our CEQA lawsuit on the Regents Road Bridge after rejecting Aguirre’s opinion that the city had violated the law. Aguirre was proved correct once again in the courts, and now the city must pay $450,000 for our legal expenses and who knows how much (a lot) for their losing outside counsel’s charges. The city may appeal, squandering tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands more for the same attorney. It appears that the Council hires outside counsel to spite Aguirre even when the city attorney’s opinion is correct, as has often been the case. Only watchdog Donna Frye seems to care about the City Council’s mounting expenses for outside counsel. Maybe the Voice of SD should look at Peters’ Council’s spending on outside counsel. We should not have to pay to protect Scott Peters’ ego, particularly for losing lawsuits.