Local Elections : Dueling Politicians : Filner, Aguirre Trade Punches in Round 1 for City Council Seat

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the featured event on tonight’s card: The heavyweight championship of the San Diego City Council 8th District.

In this corner, with a record of 1-1, with one knockout . . . Bob Filner! Filner! also known as “The Disciple of Deception.”

In the other corner, his opponent, looking for his first professional victory after being KO’d in the first round of his inaugural bout, Mike Aguirre, the, uh, well, just Aguirre for now. Aguirre! (He has no nickname yet. But more on that later.)

There’s the bell for Round One! The fighters are circling each other. Aguirre’s stalking his man. And he throws the first punch!

“Filner really deserves to be called the ‘Disciple of Deception,’ ” Aguirre said. “I used to call him ‘The Slasher.’ But I think ‘Disciple of Deception’ fits better. You can look at just about everything he’s done in the campaign. There’s what he says and does. And then there’s the truth. If Bob doesn’t tell at least one lie a day, he doesn’t feel good.”

Oh, that one staggered Filner! But wait! Filner’s counterpunching his way out of trouble!

“That guy’s calling me that?” Filner asked incredulously. “He’s calling me that? Is this the same guy who calls me the ‘development candidate’ at the same time he’s got land-use attorneys and people like Gordon Luce, Larry Lawrence and Dan Larsen--the Three L’s--supporting him? What’s that make him?”

This Filner kid can obviously take a punch. And he knows how to throw ‘em, too. He proved that in his 1979 San Diego city school board victory. But then he got outpointed by San Diego City Councilwoman Gloria McColl in 1983, so he needs this win. Now, back to the action! Aguirre’s moving in on Filner again, throwing a flurry of punches:

- “Filner tried to whisper around that I wasn’t really Hispanic, even though my father was born in Spain and my mom’s father is from Mexico.”

- “He sent out a mailer saying I’d spent $150,000 of my own money in the primary. Which I didn’t.” (The proper total, Aguirre says, is about $125,000.) “But he doesn’t mention that he put in $80,000 himself.”

- “In one piece he sent out, the only qualifications he listed under my name were ‘Little League coach’ and that I worked on the Conference on Organized Crime. I’ve been involved in a lot more than just that. In another piece, he used a 5-year-old quote from (Rep.) Jim Bates (D-San Diego) criticizing me. That’s out of context, because Bates is supporting me.”

- “He sent out a letter with the San Diego Crime Commission letterhead making it look like the commission endorsed him, when it didn’t--and couldn’t.” (The letter was signed by one of 38 members of the commission, which, as a tax-exempt group, is prohibited from making endorsements. Filner says the letter was written on personal stationery, but the group’s name was prominently displayed across the top of the letter.)

- Filner’s ballot statement mentions that he was “previously endorsed” by the Police Officers Assn. and San Diego firefighters. “But he doesn’t say that was four years ago. It’s obvious that he’s trying to deceive voters there.”

Incredibly, Filner’s still standing after that barrage! And here he comes after Aguirre:

“What Aguirre says depends on who he’s talking to at the moment. He bad-mouths developers, but then he goes after the BIA (Building Industry Assn.) and Realtors’ endorsement. And then he turns around and tells the Sierra Club he wants a ban on growth and that he’ll down-zone the whole city.

“If he wants to talk about deception, how about his claim to be an author? He says that he wrote a book about (Robert) Kennedy. He didn’t write a book. All he did was get copies of some speeches and edit the thing.

“He describes himself as a consumer lawyer and says this is the kind of activity we need to bring to the City Council. What kind of activity? Suing someone and then getting half the settlement? The only one in San Diego that I know who really benefited from the (J. David) Dominelli case was Mike Aguirre.” (Aguirre was one of the lawyers who won a $40-million settlement in a lawsuit filed by investors in the now-defunct La Jolla investment firm of J. David & Co.)

“He ripped up the Centre City East (development) plan in a TV debate, but told a downtown audience that it needs to be looked at carefully. He started off the campaign saying he was against a gay rights ordinance but now says he’s for one . . . . In a lot of what he does, there’s the nature of the Big Lie. If he says it loud enough and long enough, people might start believing it.”

What action! Those punches hurt Aguirre. He’s back on the ropes. Filner would like to finish him here. But--wait! Aguirre’s on the attack again and unloads a haymaker of his own:

“At least the money I’ve spent in my race I’ve earned. Filner claims he’s spending his savings, but it’s really his rich daddy back in New York who’s financing his campaign. That’s the biggest deception of all.”

But the swing misses! Kind of reminds you of the wild punches Aguirre threw in that embarrassing loss to Bates in a 1982 congressional primary.

Filner says that the personal money that he spent in his campaign came from loans based on investments. “It’s a personal debt that I’ll have to pay off,” he said.

Well, it looks like the referee is warning Aguirre about low blows. That one landed a little below the belt.

Both fighters are going after each other again! But there’s the end of Round One!

There was a lot of good action in that round. Both fighters are a little bloodied but it’s still too early to tell who’s going to be standing when this one is over on Nov. 3.

Meanwhile, how about a nickname for Aguirre?

“How about the ‘Prince of Truth’?” Aguirre suggested.

Filner’s not likely to buy that.

“Give me a few days--I’ll come up with something for him,” Filner promised. “There’s plenty to work with.”