Now Maienschein for City Attorney!

The VOSD is reporting tonight that district-5 councilman Brian Maienschein is going to run for city attorney.[Link] This comes the same week that William Gentry dropped out of the race.

Thoughts on the City Attorney Race

Gentry out
Chalk it up to yet another misfire by the office of Dumanis in her quest for increasing political clout on her ill-advised march to the Attorney Generals office in Sacramento. Gentry seems like a nice guy, but when your own party’s establishments coaxes a judge to leave his cushy gig to take on Mike, you’ve got to smell, if not see, the writing on the wall to bail while you can.

Aguirre
Since when does a sitting City Attorney give a counter State of the City address? Look, I think Mike has done some good and that his heart is in the right place, but when he spends his time playing like he wants to be mayor but lacks the balls to actually run you’ve have to question his motives. Especially given his increasing bipolar behavior in relation to the City Council and Mayor.

Coffey
I’m developing a soft spot for this guy. He’s everywhere you want to be and he’ll bury you with anti-Mike facts that do check out. The problem is that he goes into “passion mode” and turns into an angry white fanatic who turns people off. He needs to focus and tone it down lest he be tuned out.

Burdick
Who? Her reasons for running seem to barely pass muster but her motives don’t seem all that pure. In fact, she appears to be more of a front for Jim’s Air and as a siphon for Democratic votes, given how reliable they have been in the past. If you want to keep Brown Field in the background, there are better ways to do this than to send out a sacrificial lamb.

Goldsmith
It’s odd, yet wouldn’t be unheard of, for some consultants somewhere launching Burdick at the Dems to bleed Mike but the most ardent Mike supporters, IMHO, are Republicans. He appeals to their kind of crazy. As such, I wish Jan the best of luck. His old Assembly District never offered him the kind of street fight that Mike can bring. And Gentry’s clearing the field doesn’t make this effort any easier. Remember that is always better to take down a bear is said bear is attacked by a pack of wolves rather than a few

Bersin
Why do moneyed Dems in San Diego think that they must ape their Republican counterparts to be players? I ask the ether of the internet this question because I don’t know of anyone else who is salivating at a Bersin run. The teachers are still (rightfully) pissed and, even though he won’t need a solid Dem bloc to win, he’ll have a hard time convincing the Dems giving the rising power of labor in the city. His resume is one that a consultant would love in that it screams “non-partisan” even though it can be argued that he is a partisan of convenience.

These are my thoughts. (Hand outstretched) What are yours?

And Bill Gentry?

I’m not one to cry for Republicans, but this is too obvious to pass up. It appears that someone with the balls to step up when no one else would is about to be sacrificed for expediency's sake by a latecomer.

Bill Gentry. Republican. War hero. Great civil servant from Dumanis’s office.running against Mike Aguirre.

Enter Jan Goldsmith. Republican. Former Judge and State Assemblyman. A known commodity running against Mike Aguirre.

Now, I’m on the outside of this inter-party dust up, but it would appear that a good man is about to be abandoned by his stalwarts for a more seasoned politician in the name of party unity.

This is politics and nothing is ever fair but I think we should take a moment to reflect on just how desperate times have become on the “red” side

Some facts:
1) Bill got in the race first and, from what I’ve been told, isn’t the most compelling guy in the room but he seemed sincere in his desire to take on Mike even if he had to talked into it.

2) Then comes Goldsmith, whom it seems had to be talked into it as well.

3) Because these guys had to be “talked” into it doesn’t bode well for an Aguirre take down in that there are enough dissatisfied Dems to make it happen, but these guys appear to lack the fire in the belly that Aguirre has to win cross over votes.

As such, the weaker of the two must go and that will be Gentry because:

1) The Reps need a unified front to take out Aguirre because, and let be honest here, he appeals to both sides of the aisle in pointing out the endemic corruption that is San Diego City government

2) Bonnie has ambitions to be the next attorney general for California so she’s not going to save the guy from her office lest she cross her future supporters in the Rep establishment.

3) Gentry has little real support and is, therefore, expendable.

So the Republicans continue their grand tradition of eating their young, or at least their farm team, to appear unified in the face of a major challenge that, as of this writing, they don’t seem committed to.

This says something about the local rep establishment, what Bonnie is willing to do for her career, and the hapless state of the local GOP.

Lee Burdick joins race for City Attorney

The field for City Attorney has gotten a bit more crowded today. VOSD is reporting this afternoon that Jimsair in-house attorney Lee Burdick has declared her intention to run for City Attorney in 2008.[Link]

Burdick who is a registered Democrat and has ties to the Regional Chamber of Commerce joins Democratic attorney Dan Coffey, Republican deputy D.A. William Gentry, and Republican former Assemblymember turned Judge Jan Goldsmith as challengers to Mike Aguirre.