While Assemblymember Brian Maienschein has dominated political endorsements in the race for San Diego city attorney, Chief Deputy City Attorney Heather Ferbert has been endorsed by seven out of eight legal organizations making endorsements in the race.
Maienschein has been endorsed by the San Diego Deputy District Attorneys Association, while Ferbert has been endorsed by six local bar associations and the union that represents the city’s deputy city attorneys.
The bar associations are the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association, the La Raza Lawyers Association, the Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego, the Filipino-American Lawyers of San Diego, the Korean-American Bar Association of San Diego, and the National Asian Pacific Islander Prosecutors Association.
Each cited her 17 years of experience as a practicing attorney. Maienschein has spent most of his career in elected office, and his law license has been inactive for much of that time.
When Ferbert questioned last year whether Maienschein had enough legal experience to qualify to run for city attorney, Maienschein said he did because he had been licensed as a lawyer in California for 30 years. That was confirmed in August by an outside firm the city hired to conduct an independent analysis.
The city attorney plays a key role in advising the mayor and council on land-use decisions, lawsuits and the legality of proposed city policies. The job also includes overseeing misdemeanor prosecutions.
Termed-out City Attorney Mara Elliott, whom Ferbert and Maienschein are vying to replace, has also endorsed Ferbert.
Outside of legal organizations, Maienschein is dominating the battle for endorsements. He has been endorsed by the county Democratic Party, Mayor Todd Gloria, seven out of eight City Council members, seven local state lawmakers and three members of Congress.
He’s also been endorsed by the city’s police labor union, the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council and the largest labor organization in the region, the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council.
Ferbert was endorsed by the labor union representing the city’s white-collar workers and Maienschein by the union representing its blue-collar workers.
While Maienschein and Ferbert will face off in Tuesday’s primary, the race won’t be decided until November. San Diego election rules mandate runoffs between the top two finishers, even if one gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the primary.
