Unnecessary roughness

Jostling in the race for San Diego city attorney is becoming more pronounced as the major candidates lining up against incumbent Mike Aguirre seek to gain advantage. Likely to play a role in the campaign are documents from the 1986 divorce case of one prospective contender, superior court judge and ex-Poway mayor Jan Goldsmith, whose wife Christine accused him of turning “a minor disagreement into a major altercation.” According to a signed statement by Christine dated April 15, 1986, Goldsmith “began yelling and screaming at me in obviously uncontrolled anger. He then gave me a hard shove in the chest and cocked his fist in an extremely threatening manner. All of this appeared in front of the children causing them to be extremely upset and telling their father not to hit their mother. He then began throwing items off the kitchen counter in his continuing rage. I could not leave at that time without further aggravating the situation and exposing myself to potentially further harm.” The next day, she said, she slept at her sister’s house with the children. “I am afraid to go back to the house the Respondent is still there as I feel his anger may once again get the best of him and he may, in fact, cause physical danger to myself and irreparable harm to both myself and our minor children.” The couple later reconciled and Christine dropped the divorce action against her husband, but the story may resonate during the upcoming campaign; part of the city attorney’s responsibilities include running the Domestic Violence and Special Victims Unit. Both Goldsmiths are judges; she was appointed in 1987, he in 1998. In a statement issued by his campaign consultant this week, Goldsmith and his wife noted that they have been married 33 years and said, “At about the 12-year mark — in 1986 — we had our only serious marital problem and were faced with whether to work it out or terminate the marriage. We decided to work it out. We went through several months of counseling and made lasting adjustments in the way we communicate.” He added, “No relationship is without its defining moment. We are by no means ashamed of the way we responded to our defining moment 21 years ago. In fact, we are proud of the way we responded and how our relationship has grown and continues to grow in our 34th year of marriage.”