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Yesterday, City Attorney Mike Aguirre got an urgent email from Bob Kittle, Union-Tribune editorial writer. Kittle demanded to know if Aguirre had broken city law by taking the whopping sum of $1,640 in campaign donations from 6 of his employees. Then Kittle closed with this totally unprofessional question: "When are you going to resign?" This morning, the U-T published an editorial blistering Aguirre for taking that sum of $1,640. What Kittle did not know, or covered up, is that the Ethics Commission says it is perfectly acceptable for a candidate to accept a donation from a City employee, even one in his office, unless the donation was solicited. This is stated clearly on the Ethics Commission's website. "It's a constitutional question. You can't restrict somebody's ability to donate," says Gil Cabrera, chairman of the commission. Prohibiting such donations would be "taking away free speech rights." Cabrera emphasizes, "The only way Aguirre would be in trouble is if he solicited the donations." Aguirre's office emphasizes that he did not. Possibly some disgruntled ex-employee will say that he did, but I don't know of that. "I'll bet every single elected official has donations from employees," adds Cabrera. This morning, the Republican Party called a press conference for this afternoon. It is filing a complaint "To remove City Attorney Michael Aguirre from Office," according to its flier, on grounds of ethics and campaign violations. I have not yet seen the complaint, but will post something on it. I also have somebody checking contributions to other politicians from City employees. I will report on these later.
Yesterday, City Attorney Mike Aguirre got an urgent email from Bob Kittle, Union-Tribune editorial writer. Kittle demanded to know if Aguirre had broken city law by taking the whopping sum of $1,640 in campaign donations from 6 of his employees. Then Kittle closed with this totally unprofessional question: "When are you going to resign?" This morning, the U-T published an editorial blistering Aguirre for taking that sum of $1,640. What Kittle did not know, or covered up, is that the Ethics Commission says it is perfectly acceptable for a candidate to accept a donation from a City employee, even one in his office, unless the donation was solicited. This is stated clearly on the Ethics Commission's website. "It's a constitutional question. You can't restrict somebody's ability to donate," says Gil Cabrera, chairman of the commission. Prohibiting such donations would be "taking away free speech rights." Cabrera emphasizes, "The only way Aguirre would be in trouble is if he solicited the donations." Aguirre's office emphasizes that he did not. Possibly some disgruntled ex-employee will say that he did, but I don't know of that. "I'll bet every single elected official has donations from employees," adds Cabrera. This morning, the Republican Party called a press conference for this afternoon. It is filing a complaint "To remove City Attorney Michael Aguirre from Office," according to its flier, on grounds of ethics and campaign violations. I have not yet seen the complaint, but will post something on it. I also have somebody checking contributions to other politicians from City employees. I will report on these later.