It’s springtime and love is in the air. Who would have ever thought this was possible in San Diego city government after the pitched battle between City Attorney Michael Aguirre and Chief of Police William . You might recall, the Chief wouldn’t serve the City Attorney’s warrant on Sunroad whose building near Montgomery Field has been called a “menace” to navigation by the FAA. The Chief said the warrant was a stretch and Aguirre said it was legitimate. Then it got really ugly. But a springtime miracle occurred late last week when they kissed and made up. That’s according to the City Attorney. But just in case this relationship goes on the rocks again—here is the timeline for events since the warrant was signed.

This is based on published reports on the Internet, in newspapers, 10News research,
e-mail correspondence to the City Attorney’s office, the mayor’s office and the chief of police’s public information office. I began assembling this timeline the week of April 2 and by weeks end, neither the chief’s office or the mayor’s office would comment on the accuracy of this timeline or anything else to do with the story.

Wednesday, March 21
Superior Court Judge George “Woody” Clark signs the search warrant. It is now a court order. The Chief is told about it by the City Attorney’s office.
Mayor Jerry Sanders calls Aguirre that evening and says he knows about the search warrant.*

*The City Attorney says the Chief broke the law by going to the mayor with the information. He says you can’t go outside law enforcement circles and do this. It is a misdemeanor under California Penal Code section 168 for a police officer to willfully disclose the fact of the warrant prior to execution for the purpose of preventing the search.

Thursday, March 22
11 a.m. —Union-Tribune reporter David Hasemyer calls Aguirre’s office, seeking comment about warrant for Sunroad Enterprises. Aguirre is out of the office in court. Hasemyer tells Aguirre’s office he’s already placed a call to Tom Story, the former city employee in the middle of this, and Attorney Steven Strauss both from Sunroad.. This is BEFORE Hasemyer talked to Aguirre. When Aguirre connects with Hassemyer, he tells the reporter he cannot go with the story because the search warrant has not been served. But the cat is now out of the bag.

1:30 p.m. -- Aguirre and Asst. Chief William Maheu meet and agree to serve the warrant at 9 a.m. Friday. FBI will join them as well as SDPD.

7 p.m. That night Maheu calls Chris Morris, the assistant city attorney in the criminal division in the City Attorney’s office and says the Chief is having second thoughts about the warrant and wants to postpone to Monday the service of the warrant.

*City Attorney’s office says at no time did the police rep or Chief say they wanted to go to court to discuss the search warrant or ask more questions. But the Chief says he or his people did look for ways to discuss the warrant with Aguirre, including the option of returning to court.

Lansdowne sticks to his guns, he is using the DA’s knowledge of warrants to stand by his decision not to serve the warrant Friday.*

*Aguirre argues the judge, not law enforcement officials determine whether a search warrant should be issued. As the Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Leon, "it is the magistrate's responsibility to determine whether the officer's allegations establish probable cause and, if so, to issue a warrant."

*The police department says the police have the last best chance to review warrants for their validity…and the Chief did just that. It’s an ongoing policy, they say. Days later, the Police Officers Association says this is fully within the Chief’s rights and duties

Aguirre figures by Monday, Sunroad will have had an opportunity to destroy all evidence of any suspected improper relationship between Story and current employees. He thinks by stalling the Chief is going to hurt the effort to gather the evidence he needs to prove if there was anything inappropriate taking place between Story and current city employees. Aguirre cuts a deal with Sunroad to voluntarily supply documents at 8 p.m.
.

Friday, March 23
The U-T article appears by Hasemyer revealing the search warrant

City Attorney goes in with FBI., with voluntary compliance by Sunroad and Aguirre says they find 10,000 documents that reference in some way Story and the City of San Diego. They can’t remove the documents, but Aguirre says Sunroad promises to provide the documents the next week

Monday-March 26
Aguirre says the chief’s irresponsible comments and leaking to the mayor and press sabotaged the search warrant -- because on Monday, Sunroad backed away from the voluntary compliance deal and has only provided percent of the records agreed to.

Tuesday-March 27
UT asks in editorial for Judge George “Woody” Clarke to release warrant information. saying it’s s “groundless” search.

Thursday-March 29
Court unseals warrant at the request of UT and Sunroad (you can see the entire warrant with this blog). There’s a press conference by Aguirre questioning the Chief’s action, saying he obstructed justice.
Chief is out of town and not available for comment

Friday-Marcy 30
Chief blasts Aguirre in UT editorial for “misusing his power for personal political gain.”
There’s a U-T editorial blasting Aguirre he concocted the information to obtain the search warrant

J.W., our blogger, interviews the Mayor. The Mayor says he doesn’t know anything about the leak to the UT. He did get a call from the Chief about the warrant but he didn’t have specific information about the warrants contents. He says he did try to get Aguirre and Lansdowne together to mediate this thing but Aguirre refused.
The time frame and mayor’s statement fits with what Aguirre said.

J.W. interviews legal counsel for PD instead of Lansdowne. (The Chief and his assistant are out of town and unavailable to talk). He says the Chief had every right to refuse to serve the warrant. He says, call a contact he names who works in the Attorney General’s office in Sacramento, who will back up the Chief’s claims about the warrant. We attempt to talk to AG contact he suggested in Sacramento but he doesn’t return our call.

Monday, April 2
Aguirre does an op-ed piece in UT: “Protecting the Public Interest.”

Events since this:
City Councilwoman Donna Frye has press conference urging Sunroad to behave.
Police Officers Association has a press conference saying they back the Chief and Aguirre is out of line. But they also mention the pension fund issue and Aguirre’s role in it. Defense attorney Michael Crowley appears on 10News, reviews the warrant and says it’s solid—no holes in it as others claim.

Then on April 6 we have dueling press conferences with attorney Naughton representing Sunroad, announcing a lawsuit to disqualify Aguirre’s office from pursuing the case against Sunroad. And the City Attorney announces that Tom Story is being accused of violating the law by making continued contacts with city staff before he was allowed to under the city’s lobbying guidelines for former employees.

And at the same press conference Aguirre announces that the Chief Lansdowne vs. Aguirre dispute has been put to bed.*


*Don’t bet on this

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