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San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre repeatedly questioned Judge Jan Goldsmith's trial experience at a debate yesterday, while Goldsmith twice chided Aguirre for cronyism.
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MISSION VALLEY – San Diego City Attorney Michael Aguirre repeatedly questioned Judge Jan Goldsmith's trial experience at a debate yesterday, while Goldsmith twice chided Aguirre for cronyism.
Aguirre told 200-plus people at a hotel in Mission Valley that he has prosecuted 120,000 cases in four years but that Goldsmith, his Nov. 4 election opponent, has “no trial experience whatsoever.”
“I've asked the judge repeatedly, 'Just give us the last time you ever tried a case in front of a jury, the name of the case, the judge and the outcome,' ” Aguirre said. “He won't do it.”
Aguirre, 59, renewed the request four times during the debate, but Goldsmith, 57, responded only once.
“I had the largest landslide case in San Diego history, and I've had major trials, but I look at things a little different,” Goldsmith said. “When I see a problem I try to resolve it and get my client out of trouble as much as I can. He sees litigation. He's focused on trial. Let me also say that this idea that I don't have experience, I have heard 10 years of trials as a judge.”
Goldsmith criticized Aguirre for hiring a 2004 campaign consultant to work in the City Attorney's Office and for involving him in this campaign.
Goldsmith held aloft a copy of Aguirre's “media buy,” approved by Jeff Van Deerlin, and said, “This is a fellow who is a non-lawyer who is making over $100,000 at taxpayers' expense working in that office. Four years ago he was paid tens of thousands of dollars as a political consultant to the election campaign. You've got some answering to do.”
“I promise to answer your question if you'll tell them the last time you tried a lawsuit in front of a jury,” Aguirre shot back as the crowd laughed.
Aguirre said Van Deerlin, a friend for 30 years, is a campaign volunteer and “the only truly universally popular person in the City Attorney's Office.”
“Why you attack him is truly a mystery,” Aguirre said. “But how about answering the question now since I answered yours?”
Matthew Hall: (619) 542-4599; matthew.hall@uniontrib.com
