At a press conference this afternoon on the concourse outside City Hall, local Democratic attorney Daniel Coffey announced he is dropping out of the city attorney’s race and is throwing his weight behind Council President Scott Peters.
Peters said he’s thankful for Coffey’s support.
“He has been a steadfast watchdog at City Hall and at the City Attorney’s Office and he’s shone a bright light on many ways the current city attorney has hurt San Diego. He’s had the courage and the leadership to do something about that.”
Coffey, who has an obvious dislike of incumbent City Attorney Mike Aguirre, denied in an interview last month that he was only in the race to attack an old foe of his. Today, Coffey lavished praise upon Peters and said he’s the right person to take the city forwards
“He is the natural choice for the job, based on the length and range of his legal experience, his sound judgment and his desire to listen to and incorporate the views of others in a non-partisan fashion,” Coffey said.
He added:
“I believe he will manage the office of the city attorney in a sensible, financially sound, unbiased and politically neutral fashion, beholden to none in order to truly be a city attorney for all of San Diego.”
For his part, Aguirre said Coffey has been “used” by Peters to win political points.
“It’s a very sad thing to see the way that Scott Peters has used Dan Coffey and that Dan Coffey has allowed himself to be used by Scott Peters,” Aguirre said. “I think that Dan Coffey plays a very ugly role that, really, was the alter ego of Scott Peters.”