Just in from Jan Goldsmith....

GOLDSMITH CHALLENGES AGUIRRE ON PUBLIC RECORDS ACT VIOLATION

(San Diego , CA. - August 18, 2008) Superior Court Judge Jan Goldsmith today called for a complete disclosure of City Attorney Michael Aguirre's role in disobeying the law -- what Mr. Aguirre was told about the law by the deputy involved and what instructions he gave to the deputy.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge David Oberholtzer found that the city attorney had violated the California Public Records Act in failing to permit public review of documents requested by Judith Copeland. Judge Oberholtzer found the city attorney's response to the request to be "baffling" and described Aguirre's arguments as "careless misstatements of law" and "alarming." The judge concluded: "...the city attorney's...letter to the petitioner responding to her request for public records is bereft of any indications of due diligence or understanding of the applicable law."

Goldsmith, who is running against Aguirre in the November general election, took issue with Aguirre's response to the judge's decision that "there's nobody that's more liberal about complying with the Public Records Act than me." Goldsmith stated: "Judge Oberholtzer's decision on Friday revealed that Mr. Aguirre either does not understand the Public Records Act or intentionally refused to obey the law."

"The Records Act is very basic law for anyone in public law," said Goldsmith. "The fact that there was such a blatant violation and that this went on for nearly a year raises serious questions about either competence or intent.

"The people have a right to know what was discussed and what occurred in the city attorney's office that lead to this violation of California law over the course of nearly a year.

"This has already cost the City thousands of dollars and will cost thousands more when the City is forced to pay Ms. Copeland's attorney's fees," Goldsmith said. "The public is entitled to know how and why this happened."