So last night I moderated a well-attended and well-organized debate between the candidates for City Council District 7.
After asking a question about how the perspective council members viewed the role of the city attorney, I decided it would be interesting to see who each of them supported in the tense race to be the city’s top lawyer.
Here’s how they responded:
April Boling, the certified public accountant and Republican standard-bearer in the race, said she was now comfortable announcing that she endorsed Jan Goldsmith, the superior court judge in the race.
Bill Daniel, the teacher, said he was unwilling to say — though, he had spoken in very complimentary terms about incumbent City Attorney Mike Aguirre.
David Tos, the police officer, said he too would support Goldsmith. But he was reluctant to talk too much about it because, as a cop, Aguirre was in his “chain of command.”
Finally, Marti Emerald, the former television reporter/consumer advocate turned politician, said she was unwilling to say as yet who she supported — she hasn’t decided.
But she did indicate she didn’t support Aguirre and, in the past, she has, reportedly, expressed some degree of affinity with Goldsmith as well. Emerald’s husband — attorney S. Myron Klarfeld — has worked with Goldsmith before.
In a Q&A with San Diego Magazine’s Tom Blair a couple of years ago, “San Diego’s most visible consumer advocate” touched on the connection:
[Tom Blair]: You married an attorney a couple of years ago.
[Marti Emerald]: Michael Klarfeld. He’s an amazing man. We’re celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary. And he has been my rock.
TB: It has to be helpful in your work to have an attorney at home. Does he ever give you advice?
ME: When does he not? But yes, absolutely, the discussions around our house are very interesting. We met when I was doing a story about a consumer issue. He helped write the law that took expiration dates off gift certificates in California. He sued dozens of major national retailers. Some friends were the lead plaintiffs. And he won the suit. Then he went to his assemblyman at the time, Jan Goldsmith, and said there ought to be a law. And so the two of them sat down and wrote it, and it passed unanimously.
If she does support Goldsmith, that might be a bit interesting. After all, Emerald’s friends in the labor community have thrown their lot in with City Councilman Scott Peters and she has already broken with them, passionately, with the question of Proposition C — the restructuring of the city auditor function (she opposes it, and the Labor Council adamantly supports it).