Get the facts on the California candidates running for election to the City Attorney — City of San Diego
Find out their top 3 priorities, their experience, and who supports them.
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The daughter of a longshoreman father and immigrant mother, Mara was the first in her family to graduate college, attending UC Santa Barbara and McGeorge School of Law. Always dedicated to public service, Mara previously served as legal counsel to public schools, the transit district and the County of San Diego.
Mara and her husband Greg, a college professor, live in the community of Scripps Ranch with their two sons and rescue puppy, Lily Mae.
Since starting Briggs Law Corporation in 2002, Cory has been fighting for San Diego taxpayers -- working hard to protect their interests against the insider power brokers who’ve dominated City Hall for decades.
Briggs has lived in San Diego since the early 1990's when he attended California Western School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor and passed the bar exam in 1995.
Briggs was born and raised in Ontario, California. His father, Dale, was a schoolteacher in the Chaffey Joint Unified School District and a co-owner of City Rentals, in Ontario. Cory’s mom, Judy, was a licensed clinical social worker in Ontario.
His paternal grandfather, Homer, was a former member of the Ontario City Council and served as mayor pro tempore, and before that was a teacher and the superintendent at the Ontario-Montclair School District (OMSD).
Briggs has two brothers: Jeffrey, a sales manager in Sacramento; and Curtis, a criminal-defense attorney in San Francisco.
Briggs attended Chaffey High School in Ontario, California; Chaffey Community College, where he graduated in 1989 with an A.S. degree in accounting. He also attended UC Riverside where he graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts and a major in philosophy.
His legal education began at California Western School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor law degree in 1995, the same year he passed the bar exam.
Cory continued his education at Claremont Graduate School, in Claremont, California, where he earned an M.A. in Philosophy in 1997; and at the University of Maryland and The George Washington University Law School.
Cory has taught a number of classes including the Philosophy of Law and an Introduction to Logic and Business & Professional Ethics at the University of Maryland. He also taught an Ethics in Business & the Professions at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.
Cory began practicing law in 1995 with Mundell, Odlum & Haws in San Bernardino, California, where he primarily litigated commercial and employment-related disputes.
He spent time in Washington, D.C., adding environmental law and regulatory compliance to his practice from 1998-2002.
Cory returned to southern California in June 2002, where he founded Briggs Law Corporation. His legal practice has two offices, one in San Diego and one in Upland.
The three biggest challenges that public officials in San Diego face are (1) earning the public's trust in government, (2) stopping government corruption and incompetence, and (3) not wasting taxpayer money. These are fundamental problems that affect every particular issue public officials face.
As an open-government advocate, I know how to make government transparent and allow the public to see as much as possible about what is happening at City Hall. I also know how to work with people who approach issues from different perspectives and have competing goals; lawyers spend a big part of their day trying to find common ground in order to solve their clients' problems, and I have been successfully resolving my clients' concerns for more than two decades.
As an anti-corruption lawyer, I know how public officials abuse their positions and have a track record of achieving justice for the public. I would continue prosecuting corruption -- on my first day in office I will establish an Anti-Corruption Unit to prosecute law-breaking public officials -- as part of my work to give the public confidence that the City is operating honestly (even if not operating perfectly).
As a taxpayer advocate, I have represented numerous clients in successfully stopping illegal taxes (over $1 billion so far) and recovering public money illegal paid out (in the millions). I would continue to oversee the City's transactions to make sure that they are honest, lawful, and beneficial for taxpayers.
I have been representing taxpayers against government fraud, abuse, and excess for nearly 25 years -- the last 17 in the City of San Diego. I have represented multiple open-government advocates, including journalists, to ensure that the public always knows what government officials are doing in the public's name and how those officials are spending taxpayer money. I have prosecuted multiple anti-corruption lawsuits against government officials and contractors in order to recover money for the taxpayers.
As a lawyer in private practice, I only get paid in my public-interest cases if my client prevails and the judge agrees that the public interest was served -- unlike government lawyers, who get paid regardless of whether they win or lose.
if elected, I will continue to approach my job with the goal of doing what's best for taxpayers and the public.
1) I refuse to accept campaign donations from lobbyists or anyone seeking to make business contracts with the City.
2) I refuse to accept endorsements from public officials or candidates for public office. Likewise, I refuse to endorse any other candidates for public office, the same way that judges refuse to endorse candidates. As the City Attorney, it will be my job to prosecute corruption. When it becomes necessary to prosecute a public official or a candidate, I do not want there to be any public perception that I did or did not prosecute because the defendant supported or opposed my campaign or because I supported one candidate over another. My first loyalty is to the public, not to other public officials and candidates.
3) I liken the City Attorney's job to that of the attorney for a trust. The voters and taxpayers are the beneficiaries of the trust, and the Mayor and City Council are the trustees who make the final decisions about how to operate the trust. The City Attorney must make sure that the beneficiaries (voters and taxpayers) have as much information as possible about the trust so they can advise the trustees (Mayor and City Council) about how the beneficiaries expect the trust to operate. The trust's lawyer (City Attorney) provides information and advice for everyone to see. If the trustees are poised to make a decision that could harm the beneficiaries, the beneficiaries will have the same information and can express their views to the trustees beforehand (public hearings and forums). If the trustees ignore the beneficiaries, however, the beneficiaries will have all the information they need to fire the trustees (at the ballot box). By promoting transparency, the City Attorney ensures that members of the public can exercise meaningful control over their government and protect themselves from bad actors.
4) Non-partisan offices -- like the City Attorney's Office -- should be apolitical. Even government law offices should be run as professional law offices and not as political offices.
5) All lawyers -- and lawyers representing the public in particular -- should be fully transparent with their constituents and keep an eye on protecting taxpayers from corruption, waste, and abuse.
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