Democrat Aguirre endorses Republican Faulconer

Former city attorney Michael Aguirre was scheduled to hold a press conference at the park at Harbor Island at 11 a.m. this morning (Feb. 5) to endorse Kevin Faulconer for mayor.

In an interview earlier this morning, Aguirre explained that when he was city attorney, he and Faulconer worked well together.

But a Chargers stadium cannot be built without a multimillion dollar subsidy — something Aguirre has vehemently opposed. And Faulconer rakes in money from big business and generally favors corporate-welfare projects downtown, despite his claim that he is interested in neighborhoods.

Apparently, Aguirre is annoyed at Faulconer's opponent, David Alvarez, for taking money from labor unions and taking a stand on the pension problem that Aguirre doesn't like.

"The people battling me on San Onofre are backing Alvarez," Aguirre said. He also said he believes people who have been close to organized labor will be Alvarez insiders. He names Michael Zucchet and Lorena Gonzalez as people that he doesn't think will help the city.

"Everything is being run by the public [employee] unions," Aguirre said, and that will worsen under Alvarez. "Environmentalists are not serious social-change agents" in San Diego; Aguirre said they are prime Alvarez backers.

Aguirre said he doubts Faulconer will win but if he does, he will have to work with Democrats.

Faulconer "called me and asked for my support, which is more than Alvarez did."

Finally, Aguirre said, "This will seal my fate with the Democrats."