Mike Aguirre

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Mike Aguirre, 2006

Michael Jules Aguirre (born 1949 to Julio and Margaret Aguirre) is the City Attorney for the City of San Diego, California. A frequent political candidate and prominent figure in San Diego politics, Aguirre was elected as city attorney in November, 2004.

Aguirre earned a Bachelor's degree in political science at Arizona State University in 1971. He earned a law degree from the Boalt Hall at the University of California at Berkeley in 1974. He earned a Master's degree from John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1989.

He married Kathy Aguirre, and the couple had two children, Arthur and Emilie. Kathy and Mike later divorced.

Aguirre worked as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice, and directed a grand jury investigation of pension racketeering. He was then appointed as assistant counsel to the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. After leaving his government work, Aguirre set up his own firm specializing in securities fraud.

According to his official "Office of the City Attorney" biography:

"In building a successful private practice, Mr. Aguirre has recovered more than a quarter-billion dollars for victims of pension and stock fraud. He has prevailed in damage actions against such defendants as J. David & Co., First Pension Corp., Prudential Bache, and the American Principals Company. As a Department of Justice Assistant U.S. Attorney in San Diego, he directed a grand jury probe of pension racketeering. Its successful culmination resulted in appointment as assistant counsel to the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, where he led an investigation into a nationwide organized crime employee benefits fraud scheme."^[1]

In the 1990s, Aguirre continued his securities practice, his crusade of self-directed public interest lawsuits, and his electoral campaigns. In 1990 Aguirre allied with the Chicano Federation to file a successful federal voting rights lawsuit to overturn San Diego’s redistricting. Aguirre went to court to throw out a 1995 contract between the City of San Diego and the San Diego Chargers football team. In the contract, the city agreed to issue $60 million of bonds to renovate the Chargers’s stadium, and, in a controversial clause, promised to constantly maintain the stadium as a state-of-the-art venue. Aguirre’s suit and the ensuing scandal surrounding the maintenance clause compelled the city to renegotiate with the Chargers in 1998. The new contract proved controversial as well because it compelled the city to buy any unsold tickets at Chargers games, at public expense.

Aguirre ran for San Diego City Attorney in 2004, in the midst of a massive financial crisis and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The chaos began in the summer of 2003, when scandal erupted over a pension deal that municipal employees received between 1996 and 2002. Workers were given increased benefits during this period, but the city did not contribute enough to municipal pension funds to cover the increased benefits. The resulting deficit of some $1.4 billion left the city’s finances in a shambles, and made it virtually impossible to issue municipal bonds.

During the California wildfires of October 2007, Aguirre cited concerns over weather conditions and air quality and urged officials to consider a voluntary evacuation of the entire city.^[2]

Aguirre was challenged by numerous candidates for city attorney on the June 3, 2008 primary election. He came in a close second to Superior Court Judge Jan Goldsmith, and will face Goldsmith in the general election in November, 2008.