Auditor again requests independent lawyer
The San Diego city auditor is rejecting a legal opinion from City Attorney Mara Elliott and reissuing a request to the City Council that he be permitted to hire an independent lawyer.
The request is spelled out in a memo Wednesday to all nine council members and is based on a previously confidential independent legal opinion.
“If the city council approves our request, we can plan to use independent legal counsel to obtain additional legal advice on issues that have arisen in the past year alone in which we, and by extension the city council and the public, would have benefited from independent legal counsel,” wrote Interim City Auditor Kyle Elser.
Elser cited a case in which the City Attorney’s Office declined to say whether certain city practices were legal or illegal. In another example, he said, city lawyers withheld a series of documents the auditor requested.
The auditor said an independent lawyer would not require much, if any, extra funding to his annual budget.
A spokeswoman for Elliott said her office could not supply the records Elser requested in the earlier case because they were protected under the attorney-client privilege.
She also said Elser’s request for his own lawyer has to be approved by voters — the same process the city ethics commission relied on to retain its own attorneys.
But Elser sought an independent legal opinion, which he released Wednesday as an exhibit to his request to the City Council. Private attorney Michael Colantuono wrote that council members can approve the request.
“The council — not the city attorney — decides when outside counsel is necessary,” Colantuono said.
Council President Georgette Gómez, who sets the agenda for the City Council, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Early last month, in response to previous questions, Gómez said she would bring the item forward for a council vote.
“I am working closely with the city auditor to bring this important matter up for council consideration and looking forward to a productive discussion,” she said at the time.