From yesterday's Sunday San Diego at the FlashReport...
by Barry Jantz

The San Diego blogs and echo chamber have been alive in recent days over city attorney candidate Brian Maienschein's mailer declaring that he "will oppose any effort to make San Diego a Sanctuary City" for those illegally in this country.

The only catch is that according to the Feds, the City of San Diego is already on the vaunted sanctuary list, meaning that the locals "will generally promote policies that ensure (illegal) aliens will not be turned over to federal authorities."

According to several irate bloggers and commenters on Red County San Diego, Maienschein has done nothing to change that status in his two terms as a councilmember. Until now, when he proclaims his position in a mail piece, while running for another office. A couple of commenters have come to his defense, however, saying that he decried the Congressional report on sanctuary cities as being incorrect when it was released in 2006.

Decried it. How about authoring a resolution or other formal item for city council consideration to make it clear as to the city's status, or even to attempt reversing it? No one seems to remember that happening.

So, Red County blogger "Mr. Murphy" has started a series of posts entitled, "No Answer from Maienschein on Sanctuary Cities: Day 1," and so on, and so on.

How many "and so ons" will there be? Saturday was Day 3. Lots of folks are commenting ... except for Brian. The open blog forum is an opportunity for Maienschein to utilize as an e-hicle to clarify his position. The invitation is open.

Perhaps the most significant irony in this brouhaha is that every candidate running against incumbent Mike Aguirre - including Maienschein - is rightfully accusing the city attorney of regularly taking policy positions on issues that are not within his purview. Policy-making is, after all, the job of the city council.

A pretty compelling argument can be made that San Diego's status as a sanctuary city is a question for the council and mayor to debate and decide, not the city attorney. So, at this point - without a statement or clarification from Maienschein - by all appearances he has done little or nothing on the issue as a policy-maker. Yet, he claims he is prepared to do so as the city attorney, thus usurping the authority of the council, the very type of action for which he "decries" Aguirre.

Unless Brian answers the invitation, that's the appearance, at any rate.

Of course, the other alternative is that Maienschein is not in the race to answer or clarify anything of the sort - or even to win for that matter - but rather to appear as conservative as reasonably possible so as to draw potential votes away from GOP-endorsed candidate Jan Goldsmith.

Some of the best minds in town, backed up by multiple polling results, say the leading contenders in perhaps the city's biggest dust-up in 20 years are incumbent Aguirre, Judge Goldsmith, and Councilman Scott Peters, with two of the three to move to the final round. Maienschein is fourth, trailed only by Amy Lepine, with no chance this century. Aguirre will make the run-off, so the question becomes whether fellow Democrat Peters competes with him in November, or if Republican Goldsmith does the honors.

Aguirre has been openly hostile to labor, so the union powerhouses see Peters as a chance to replace a "bad Democrat" with a true friend. However, if Goldsmith takes on Aguirre in November, the labor honchos figure they're toast either way. So, with both big labor and fellow Republican Maienschein coming at Goldsmith from two angles, the chances for Peters to make the run-off increase.

A remaining question is whether Maienschein is actually part of this plan, thus diminishing Goldsmith's effort while bolstering Peters' shot - as some claim - or if he's in the race simply because he really believes he has a chance.

We may have the answer. The most recent buzz is that Maienschein now has mail in the boxes slamming Goldsmith (read here and here). The pieces also include a Republican logo so he appears as the GOP choice. If Brian didn't have the cash in the bank to pay for the mail, I'd half expect it to read, "Paid for by the San Diego Labor Council," as ironic as that would be with the elephant in the same room, so to speak. Either way, it's a similar effect.

If Peters somehow holds on by getting past Goldsmith and ultimately defeats Aguirre in November, the real question will be whether Brian Maienschein's final redemption is a plum job in the new city attorney's office, just when he would have been forced from City Hall via term limits.

Now, that would be sanctuary.