Did Mayor Jerry Sanders do enough to deserve re-election?
Yes. According to the majority of people voting in the June election, Mayor Sanders did enough to deserve re-election.
City Attorney Mike Aguirre is a polarizing figure whom many of your allies can't stand. For an outspoken politician, you've been quiet on Aguirre. Has he been a plus for the city?
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NEXT WEEK: Assemblywoman Mary Salas, D-Chula Vista
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Yes. The public elected Mike Aguirre to protect their interests, and he has lived up to that expectation. The former city attorney generally served the business-as-usual crowd and failed to protect the public on critical legal issues such as development, government subsidies, redevelopment, financial disclosures, sewer cost of service studies and open meeting laws. The City Attorney's Office has undergone a positive fundamental philosophical change and has been reorganized to be responsive not just to the city officials, but also to the public and their issues.
You're known as an open-government advocate, but the San Diego City Council still goes into closed session regularly on matters that other city councils deal with in public. Are you living up to your reputation?
Yes. Unfortunately, you have not provided me with any examples of issues that other city councils deal with in public that allegedly San Diego does not. However, as to my work on open government: I rallied public consensus around a tough open government City Charter ballot measure that passed with 82 percent of the vote in the November 2004 election. My boycott of closed-session meetings resulted in changes to the permanent rules of council and included giving the public more information about items coming before the council in closed session, requiring that a transcriptionist take minutes in all closed-session meetings, reporting out in public the results of actions taken in closed session, and providing the public with an opportunity to directly address the City Council on any closed-session item. Prior to these changes, the city was sued for violations of the Brown Act and lost in court. To the best of my knowledge there has been no litigation challenging the city's compliance with open-meeting laws since making these changes.
City Hall insiders say the reason you want the next City Council president to be elected after the new council is seated instead of the usual time in October is because you think you can only get the job after new council members are sworn in. Is that true?
No, and not surprisingly the City Hall insiders often get it wrong. There are many reasons why it makes sense to wait until after the new council members are sworn in. First, the municipal code states that: “No later than the first meeting of the council in January of each calendar year the council shall select a president from one of its members by majority vote ...” Second, it is reasonable that the newly elected council members are not disenfranchised and have the opportunity to make their own selection. Finally, it's the right thing to do as a courtesy to both the new council members and the constituents whom they represent.
