CA: (San Diego) City Hall conflict - Mayor, attorney must cooperate, not fight (Enron by the Sea)

To San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy, City Attorney Michael Aguirre and anybody else at City Hall who feels inclined to enter the fray: Step back. Time out.

The ugly display at dueling news conferences Tuesday, in which both men engaged in searing and highly personalized attacks on the other, was unnecessary, unseemly and certainly unproductive. That this sideshow came from the only two City Hall officials who are elected citywide made for an extremely distressing failure of leadership on the part of both. These are the two most logical public officials for San Diegans to look to to lead the city out of financial crisis, not swamp it further into the morass with press conference muck.

The Fitch Ratings agency, which last week dumped a three-notch downgrade on the city's creditworthiness, cited the much-delayed release of the city's independently audited financial statements, "as well as ongoing political struggles that appear to hinder progress toward resolving the city's sizable financial challenges." Fitch went on to call for "strong leadership, fiscal discipline, and political cooperation."

What we got instead on Tuesday was, first, a news conference at which Aguirre attacked Murphy and the City Council for ducking the issues, lacking "the political courage to do what needs to be done," and a general lack of leadership.

Murphy followed that with his own news conference three hours later in which he called the highly experienced Aguirre a "rookie" who needs to "either join the team or sit on the bench."

Such rhetoric, on both sides, obscures the truth that each has a legitimate role to play in resolving the financial crisis and that each has now put forward some good ideas that ought to be considered constructively, cooperatively and openly.

Murphy last week proposed a comprehensive plan to cut $600 million off the city retirement system's whopping $1.37 billion unfunded liability in two years and prevent it from growing in the future. Aguirre on Tuesday outlined an eight-step plan that included putting the pension system into receivership, with or without the council's agreement, and asking the council to authorize him to negotiate a settlement of possible securities law violations with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

There is some merit, as well as some disadvantage, to both plans. What's best for the city could well be a blend of the two. It need not be a one-or-the-other choice.

Aguirre has been aggressive, if not confrontational, toward the mayor and council since literally the day he took office last December, probably confirming the worst fears of those concerned that his election would bring a loose cannon to City Hall at a time when it desperately needs calm cooperation. He needs to remember that Murphy and the council are the duly elected policy-setting body. Murphy's proposal won the unanimous backing of the council. It would be a major abuse of his role as city attorney if Aguirre decides to ignore the council and seek on his own to put the pension system into receivership, or to seek settlement with the SEC on his own.

For their part, Murphy and councilmembers need to remember that Aguirre, too, is an independently elected official with his own fiduciary and legal responsibilities and that some of his ideas are worth talking about.

San Diego, once considered one of the best-managed big cities in the nation, now finds itself labeled "Enron by the Sea." It faces multiple federal investigations, potential criminal indictments, overdue audits for the last two fiscal years and an inability to sell bonds to pay for sewer projects and other critical needs. That's trouble, big-time, though too many at City Hall don't seem to get it.

Before this acerbic feuding goes any further, all sides – mayor, council, city attorney, city manager and staff and city employees and their labor unions – also need to remember that they need each other. And the citizens of San Diego need them all as collaborative partners, not as enemies fighting at cross purposes.

Aguirre urges mayor to hold council meeting on fiscal crisis

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20050224-1453-cityattorney.html

SAN DIEGO – Reacting to media criticism Thursday, City Attorney Michael Aguirre urged Mayor Dick Murphy to hold a special meeting of the City Council to publicly discuss ways to resolve the city's fiscal crisis.

"We may not always agree on the best course of conduct, but at all times we should have open, candid and professional debate about the choices we face as elected officials," Aguirre stated in a letter to the mayor asking that the meeting be held next week.

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Aguirre said he wrote the letter in response to "constructive criticism" in an editorial that appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune, titled "City Hall conflict."

The editorial denounced Aguirre and Murphy for failing to cooperate and instead making "highly personalized attacks on the other" during dueling news conferences Tuesday.

"I think that it (editorial) helped to advance at least my own thinking about how we are proceeding in the City Attorney's Office to try and arrive at a resolution of the problems that we face," Aguirre said.

Aguirre said he asked Murphy to hold the meeting on Thursday or Friday of next week so that all recommendations and ideas for moving the city forward could be discussed and debated in public.

In the letter, Aguirre stated he is looking forward to creating a "more positive and constructive working relationship."

Murphy was not immediately available to respond.

On Tuesday, Aguirre proposed an eight-step plan to fix the city's debt- ridden pension system.

The recommendations, which include authorizing the city attorney to rescind pension benefits and put the system in receivership, were quickly rejected by Murphy, who described Aguirre's actions as "grandstanding."

Aguirre also asked the council to authorize him to negotiate a compromise with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Last week, Murphy outlined his own plan to reduce the $1.37 billion shortfall in the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System. He said his plan had the unanimous backing of the City Council.

The SEC is investigating whether the city violated federal securities laws by not fully disclosing to potential investors the scope of the pension debt.

A settlement with the SEC would allow the city to restore its suspended bond rating and re-enter the financial markets.

For the past 17 months, the city has been unable to issue public bonds that provide revenue for infrastructure projects and the underfunded pension system.

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