SAN DIEGO -- San Diego City Council President Scott Peters Monday announced his candidacy for city attorney, hoping to unseat incumbent Mike Aguirre, whom Peters has accused of politicizing the office and wasting public funds.

Speaking in University City, Peters pledged to restore competence, integrity and ethics to a beleaguered office that has seen the exodus of more than 100 lawyers during Aguirre's tenure.

"Mike Aguirre has turned one of the most important offices in this city into a playground of politics, posturing and plain dysfunction," Peters told about 200 supporters at the new North University Community Library and Nobel Athletic Park.

Aguirre, who is running for a second term, responded with a renewed attack on Peters, calling him the "city union insider" candidate.

"Scott Peters is not the solution. Scott Peters is the problem," Aguirre said in a statement.

Aguirre said Peters does not make a good candidate, because he was a council member when city officials "knowingly engaged in the largest municipal securities fraud in American history."

"What's worse, he (Peters) has led the effort to cover up the wrongdoing for the past three years," Aguirre's statement said.

"The city attorney is the only candidate who has and will fight for taxpayers against the special interests to save hundreds of millions of dollars of illegal debt that burdens taxpayers and the future generation," Aguirre said.

In his speech, Peters said Aguirre made a huge mistake by publicly speculating that the city's water system may have played a role in last year's landslide on Mount Soledad, knowing full well he would have to defend the city in any landslide-related lawsuits.

"To most lawyers, that's called malpractice," Peters said.

Peters also said Aguirre's lack of professionalism has driven dozens of lawyers from the office.

"So now we have to spend millions of your tax dollars to hire outside lawyers because he's driven out the talent inside the office to handle even routine matters," Peters said.

Peters, who will finish his second four-year council term this year and is not eligible to run again because of term limits, said he is the person best positioned to defeat Aguirre because his campaign will "receive support from across the city and the political spectrum."

Before entering politics, Peters spent 15 years as an attorney representing business, local governments and public interest groups, with a focus on environmental law.

Fellow Councilman Brian Maienschein, also being forced out of office due to term limits, is also running for city attorney.

Other candidates include San Diego Superior Court Judge Jan Goldsmith and lawyers Lee Burdick and Dan Coffey.

Earlier this month, Amy Lepine, a former staff lawyer in Aguirre's office who is suing him for sexual harassment, said she will run.