Newly-elected City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is stepping up his political potshots even after being elected by a landslide, and even after being criticized for the practice by media who would normally be friendly. Goldsmith is doing so on the City website. Next to his picture he states, "During the past four years of turmoil, 125 experienced lawyers left the office...[which is] already over budget by $1.8 million; the office has been run more as a political operation than a law firm. The City has been harmed by withdrawal of legal advice as City staff has often had to guess or call friends for guidance. Those days are over." The posting of such gratuitous (and untrue) statements calls Goldsmith's intelligence -- not to mention his class -- into question. His predecessor, Mike Aguirre, certainly made mistakes, but he WAS trying to reform a thoroughly corrupt city. Throughout his campaign, Goldsmith let it be known that he will be friendly to the business establishment and municipal unions that poured money into his election. An intelligent person knows that Aguirre's problem was not that he was political; it was just the reverse. He took on both business and labor -- something almost no politicians do -- so they ganged up on him, along with fact-twisters and blatant liars at the Union-Tribune. By his own stupidity and hamhandedness, Goldsmith has destroyed his own honeymoon period already.
Newly-elected City Attorney Jan Goldsmith is stepping up his political potshots even after being elected by a landslide, and even after being criticized for the practice by media who would normally be friendly. Goldsmith is doing so on the City website. Next to his picture he states, "During the past four years of turmoil, 125 experienced lawyers left the office...[which is] already over budget by $1.8 million; the office has been run more as a political operation than a law firm. The City has been harmed by withdrawal of legal advice as City staff has often had to guess or call friends for guidance. Those days are over." The posting of such gratuitous (and untrue) statements calls Goldsmith's intelligence -- not to mention his class -- into question. His predecessor, Mike Aguirre, certainly made mistakes, but he WAS trying to reform a thoroughly corrupt city. Throughout his campaign, Goldsmith let it be known that he will be friendly to the business establishment and municipal unions that poured money into his election. An intelligent person knows that Aguirre's problem was not that he was political; it was just the reverse. He took on both business and labor -- something almost no politicians do -- so they ganged up on him, along with fact-twisters and blatant liars at the Union-Tribune. By his own stupidity and hamhandedness, Goldsmith has destroyed his own honeymoon period already.