Michael Jules Aguirre (born 1949) was the City Attorney for the City of San Diego, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 from 2004 to 2008. As city attorney, Aguirre issued 35 investigative reports detailing waste, fraud, and abuse in San Diego City government, particularly in the San Diego City Pension.

Biography

Aguirre was born to Julio and Margaret Aguirre. His father was of Spanish descent and his mother was of Mexican descent. He earned a Bachelor's degree in political science at Arizona State University

Arizona State University

Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...

 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

John F. Kennedy School of Government

The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University is a public policy and public administration school, and one of Harvard's graduate and professional schools...

 at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 in 1989.

Early career

Aguirre worked as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice

United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...

, 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 government work, Aguirre set up his own firm specializing in securities fraud

Securities fraud

Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws....

.

In the 1990s, Aguirre continued his securities practice 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

Redistricting

Redistricting is the process of drawing United States electoral district boundaries, often in response to population changes determined by the results of the decennial census. In 36 states, the state legislature has primary responsibility for creating a redistricting plan, in many cases subject to...

. In 1993, Aguirre successfully defended the United Farm Workers Union in Yuma, Arizona in a case with lettuce grower Bruce Church. Aguirre took over the defense of the case after UFW President Cesar Chavez died following two days of testimony. Aguirre finished the jury trial, which the UFW lost, but he successfully overturned the case on appeal.

In 1996 Aguirre went to court to throw out a 1995 contract between the City of San Diego and the San Diego Chargers

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 football team. In the contract, the city agreed to issue $60 million of bonds to renovate the football team's stadium, and, in a controversial clause, promised to constantly maintain the stadium as a state-of-the-art venue. The city had also agreed to guarantee the sale of 60,000 game tickets at prices to be set by the Chargers. 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 because it continued to compel the city to buy any unsold tickets at Chargers games, at public expense.

City Attorney

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. Scandal had erupted in the summer of 2003 over a pension

San Diego Pension Scandal

The San Diego City Employee's Retirement Pension Fund was the source of a multiyear scandal and has been an ongoing financial concern for the city of San Diego, California. This scandal has been compared to a similar scandal in Bell, California...

 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. Aguirre ran as a "clean up the mess" outsider, with support from Democrats in the officially nonpartisan race, and won with 50.4% of the vote.

Aguirre was often at odds with the local newspaper, the San Diego Union-Tribune. Aguirre accused the paper of distorting his position when it reported that during the California wildfires of October 2007, he had called for an evacuation of the entire City of San Diego. Aguirre said that he had actually written a memo to the San Diego Mayor in the midst of the fires, saying that a voluntary evacuation should be considered in light of federal regulations, the immediate threat of the fire, and concerns over weather conditions and air quality.

As City Attorney, Aguirre filed a legal action to force a developer to reduce the height of an office building near a small airport, which Federal Aviation Administration officials said was a threat to public safety, although a city permit had been issued. In 2009 a California Superior Court judge determined the developer had no legal right to erect the building to the unsafe height, and the top several stories had to be removed from the building.

In 2005, the San Diego City Police Union sued Aguirre in connection with his efforts to set aside alleged illegal pension benefits. The union accused Aguirre of extortion for proposing that the union give up the alleged illegal benefits as part of a settlement agreement with the City. A federal court trial judge and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found the case to have no merit and the case was dismissed in Aguirre's favor.

In 2008, Aguirre ran for a second term, but was challenged by several other candidates. The President of the San Diego City Council Scott Peters

Scott Peters (politician)

Scott Peters is a politician who represented for two terms. Elected to office in 2000 and then reelected in 2004, Peters was selected as the first San Diego City Council President in its history in 2005....

 ran with the backing of city unions, while Superior Court Judge Jan Goldsmith

Jan Goldsmith

Jan Goldsmith is a Republican politician from San Diego, CA who currently serves as the San Diego City Attorney.-Education:He received his undergraduate degree from American University in Washington, DC and his law degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.-Political career:Formerly the...

 was backed by the Republican political establishment. In the five-candidate primary race Aguirre came in a close second to Goldsmith, forcing a runoff in the general election in November, 2008, which Aguirre lost to Goldsmith, 59.5% to 40.5%.

Since Aguirre left office, the pension deficit has grown to $2.5 billion, further deteriorating the city of San Diego's ability to pay for city services.

Aguirre sued Countrywide Financial

Countrywide Financial

Bank of America Home Loans is the mortgage unit of Bank of America. Bank of America Home Loans is composed of:*Mortgage Banking, which originates purchases, securitizes, and services mortgages. In 2008, Bank of America purchased the failing Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion...

 in July 2008 over lending practices., and convinced the federal multi-district litigation judicial panel to move all Countrywide cases to San Diego. However, the City Attorney who replaced Aguirre dismissed the case.

A 2008 Wall Street Journal article praised Aguirre’s efforts to rid the San Diego of hundreds of millions of dollars of alleged illegal pension benefits. The WSJ wrote: “The garden at this skunk party is City Attorney Mike Aguirre, who has made himself very unpopular with the political establishment by suing to rescind the 1996 and 2002 pension promises. Though a liberal Democrat normally sympathetic to unions, he says the benefits were granted as part of "the largest municipal securities fraud in American history," and so taxpayers shouldn't have to honor them.” The editorial goes on to talk about similar pension problems in New York and New Jersey, and closes: “Taxpayers in those states need a rabble-rouser like Mr. Aguirre willing to stand up to union interests. The San Diego attorney faces a tough re-election battle in November, but he's setting off an alarm that voters across America need to hear.”

After leaving office

Aguirre returned to private practice along with two colleagues from the City Attorney's office. Mia Severson, who headed the City Attorney's civil litigation division and Chris Morris, who headed the City's Criminal Division, practice under the firm name Aguirre Morris & Severson. Aguirre also started the National Center for Regulatory Reform, which has issued extensive reports on the Market Crash of 2008. Aguirre's law firm has launched a major fraud case against American International Group

American International Group

American International Group, Inc. or AIG is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is located in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in...

and he has shown up in the national media lately as an expert on Wall Street financial reforms.

External links

• Aguirre Morris & Severson LLP
• San Diego City Attorney official site
• NY Times article, with Aguirre's photo
• San Diego Magazine article (October, 2004)
• San Diego Union-Tribune on the Pension Crisis
• A San Diego Retirement Wall Street Journal article detailing Aguirre's actions in San Diego's pension crisis