Tuesday's race for San Diego city attorney pits an incumbent with a pugnacious reputation who touts himself as the people's lawyer against a judge who has pledged to put more focus on the office's role as adviser while upholding the letter of the law.

Since taking office in 2004, City Attorney Michael Aguirre has inserted himself into nearly every issue facing San Diego.

Aguirre has launched countless investigations and filed numerous lawsuits, estranging a host of San Diego officials including council members, the mayor, police chief and union heads in the process.

Jan Goldsmith, on leave as a San Diego Superior Court judge, has made returning the focus of the City Attorney's Office to legal matters, not politics, a central theme of his campaign.

Goldsmith has accused Aguirre of pandering for headlines instead of following the letter of the law.

He has also called Aguirre's lawsuits frivolous, arguing that the city attorney has spent tens of millions of dollars to hire outside attorneys to represent San Diego in the cases.

"The office is a political machine," Goldsmith has said. "He's relying on outside counsel to practice law. We don't know his relationship with these outside lawyers and what is being spent."

Aguirre finished second in June's primary election, garnering 29 percent of the vote to Goldsmith's 32 percent. There were three other candidates vying for the office in the primary.

The city attorney's tenure has been storied.

Aguirre has battled over the past four years to reverse pension deals he maintains were granted illegally and contributed to San Diego's more than $1 billion retirement fund shortfall. Last year, a judge threw out Aguirre's lawsuit. An appeal is pending.

Aguirre's investigation into the construction of the Sunroad office tower adjacent to Montgomery Field deemed too tall by the Federal Aviation Administration led to the building's height being reduced.

The contentious debate over the building prompted Aguirre to label some city officials, including Mayor Jerry Sanders, corrupt.

The city attorney has sued major home lenders like Countrywide and Washington Mutual in an attempt to halt the spread of foreclosures stemming from predatory lending practices in San Diego.

His office has recovered more than $20 million in fees charged by consultants hired to help San Diego out of its fiscal problems. He also got a $150 million verdict against the city in a lawsuit by South Bay developer Roque De La Fuente overturned.

Aguirre wants voters to give him the chance to continue in his role as an "independent" city attorney, rather than allow someone who will be more acquiescent assume the office.

"Do you want to return to the days when the city attorney did not act solely in the public interest, or do you want to keep reform on track?" he asks in campaign materials.

Aguirre's actions have drawn the ire of numerous city officials, who now back Goldsmith's campaign.

Sanders and police Chief William Lansdowne recently attacked Aguirre's "reckless" actions during last October's landslide on Mount Soledad and the wildfires that struck the region soon after.

The mayor and police chief chided the city attorney for suggesting the evacuation of the entire city during the wildfires.

Sanders also said Aguirre exposed the city to lawsuits when he suggested municipal water lines were to blame for a landslide that damaged or destroyed nine homes and left a gaping hole on Mount Soledad.

In a recent campaign advertisement, Aguirre acknowledged that he could have done some things differently, but said as city attorney his "job is to protect the city and the taxpayers, not sell them out."

He has dismissed his opponents' attacks as "party politics."

While not campaigning as vigorously as he did before his first term, Aguirre has said he has recently gained "enormous momentum" from the success Democrats are having nationally. He said that should favor him on Tuesday.

While the race is nonpartisan, Aguirre is a Democrat and Goldsmith is a Republican.