Peters explains reversal: Councilman to announce city attorney bid today

February 18, 2008 10:36 AM

By Alex Roth

SAN DIEGO - San Diego City Council President Scott Peters said he had no intention of running for city attorney - until recently.

Things changed, he said, after local leaders in the labor, environmental and business communities asked him to reconsider. He conferred with friend Alan Bersin, the former superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, who also was mulling a run.

"The conclusion was that I'd be a better candidate than Alan," Peters said.

 

In an interview yesterday at Kellogg Park at La Jolla Shores, Peters - who is to formally announce his candidacy today - said he'll run because the city needs change and because "I'll have widespread support across the political spectrum."

 

First and foremost, he said, the city needs to be rid of the incumbent, Michael Aguirre, whom Peters accused of politicizing the office, driving away talented staff members and wasting millions of dollars because of poor legal decisions.

 

Reached on his cell phone yesterday, Aguirre declined to comment.

 

Also challenging Aguirre are Superior Court Judge Jan Goldsmith, Councilman Brian Maienschein and lawyers Lee Burdick, Dan Coffey and Amy Lepine. The deadline to file for candidacy is March 6.

 

Peters, 49, said he believes his eight years on the council won't be a political liability, despite years of negative press over the council's 2002 decision to continue underfunding the pension system and a finding in the Kroll report that he and other council members were negligent in approving faulty bond disclosures.

 

Political observers say Peters is a serious candidate, given that Aguirre's popularity appears to have waned, especially in the wake of last fall's Mount Soledad landslide, when critics accused Aguirre of making public statements that could expose the city to liability.

 

Aguirre's standing took another hit during the October wildfires, when he advocated an evacuation of the entire city, a recommendation that was immediately rejected by city and state officials.

 

Like Aguirre, Peters is a Democrat. Peters is counting on support from labor and other left-leaning groups that don't want to back a Republican but who might be turned off by Aguirre.

 

"I think (Peters) fills a void in the race that isn't there right now," said Jennifer Tierney, a political consultant for William Gentry, a local prosecutor who dropped out of the race in January and has since been appointed a judge.

 

Peters might also benefit from the candidacy of fellow councilman Maienschein, a Republican. Maienschein's decision to run was a blow to Goldsmith, a Republican whom many considered Aguirre's most formidable challenger.

 

Maienschein could cut into Goldsmith's support among Republicans and voters in Maienschein's district, which encompasses Rancho Bernardo, Scripps Ranch and other communities in the city's northeast corner.

 

Unless one candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the June 3 election, the top two candidates will face off in a Nov. 4 runoff.

 

"The conventional wisdom is that Maienschein has to do well for Scott to make the runoff," local political consultant Larry Remer said.

 

Peters' main liability, observers say, is that he served on the council when the city's underfunded pension system ballooned into a political scandal.Voters might associate Peters and other council members with financial mismanagement, a theme Aguirre has seized upon since taking office in December 2004.

 

Peters said he made a mistake in 2002 by voting to continue underfunding the system. He did so, he said, "in order to preserve city services."

 

He thinks the council has done a good job cleaning up the city's beaches, making the city's finances more transparent and nursing the pension system back to health.

 

Fellow candidate Coffey, one of Aguirre's most vocal critics, said Peters' job on the council has been "really good" the past few years.

 

"He's been able to keep the city from disintegrating when Aguirre was doing everything possible to tear the place apart," Coffey said.

 

Peters is expected to have a sizable war chest, in part because he and his family are relatively wealthy and can spend their own money on the campaign. His wife, Lynn, runs a private equity fund.

 

"We'll invest the amount it takes to get the word out," Peters said.

 

A graduate of Duke University and New York University Law School, Peters worked for several big law firms and the San Diego County Counsel's office before starting his own practice in 1996. He was elected to the City Council in 2000 and cannot run again because of term limits.

 

In the end, he said, his decision to run for city attorney came down to this: "I'm not satisfied with the field yet." 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20080218-9999-1m18peters.html