Cory Briggs

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Cory Briggs

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 3, 2020

Personal

Birthplace

Upland, Calif.

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Cory Briggs ran for election for San Diego City Attorney in California. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Briggs completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Cory Briggs was born in Upland, California. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside, in 1992. Briggs pursued his graduate education at California Western School of Law, Claremont Graduate School, the George Washington University Law School, and the University of Maryland. His career experience includes working as a taxpayer advocate and attorney.

Elections

2020

See also: City elections in San Diego, California (2020)

General election

General election for San Diego City Attorney

Incumbent Mara Elliott defeated Cory Briggs in the general election for San Diego City Attorney on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mara Elliott (Nonpartisan)	66.6	380,291
		Cory Briggs (Nonpartisan)	33.4	190,893

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 571,184
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for San Diego City Attorney

Incumbent Mara Elliott and Cory Briggs defeated Pete Mesich in the primary for San Diego City Attorney on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mara Elliott (Nonpartisan)	67.9	208,767
✔		Cory Briggs (Nonpartisan)	23.3	71,672
	Submit photo	Pete Mesich (Nonpartisan)	8.8	27,223

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 307,662
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Cory Briggs completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Briggs' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I have been a taxpayer advocate for over 20 years. I have:

   • Protected San Diegans against dishonest public officials, polluters, and illegal development schemes.
   • Defended the public's right to vote on new taxes and obtain public information.
   • Prevented over $1 billion in illegal government spending and subsidies.

Starting Day 1, I will:

  • Create the city's first Anti-Corruption Unit and Citizens' Oversight Committee targeting public corruption.
  • Give only non-political, straight-up legal advice to public officials and the public.
  • Enforce zoning, development, privacy, and public-utilities rules.
  • Protect residents from high-tech scams (vacation rentals, scooters, government surveillance) and runaway bureaucracies (excessive water bills).

As City Attorney, I will:

  • Always defend the public's vote.
  • Never accept a public pension.
  • Always protect your private information.
  • Never limit your access to public information.

My community service includes: • Public records law instructor for Earl B. Gilliam Bar Foundation. • Legal ethics instructor for attorney training programs.

• Legal victories for San Diegans for Open Government, California Taxpayers Action Network, and Sierra Club.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Make sure City Hall follows the law and prosecute government corruption.
• Make City Hall transparent and end government secrecy.
• Stop mass-surveillance of residents' and protect their privacy.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Ensuring government's full transparency and accountability, eliminating corruption, and protecting the public's civil rights (e.g., privacy).

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

I refuse campaign donations from lobbyists or anyone seeking to make business contracts with the City.

I refuse to accept endorsements from public officials or candidates, and refuse to endorse any other candidates for public offices. When it becomes necessary to prosecute a public official or a candidate, I do not want there to be any 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.

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, I ensure that the public can exercise meaningful control over their government and protect themselves from bad actors.

Non-partisan offices should be apolitical. Government law offices should be run as professional offices, not political offices.

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.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to, and would like to follow in the steps of, my parents and grandparents. At one time or another, all of them were public servants (i.e., first-responders, teachers, mental-health and child-welfare advocates). They did it not for the money - none of them made it rich in public service - but because they believed that this country and their local communities had given them opportunities to successfully raise families and make lives for themselves that could only be paid back through public service. They are not the only people who followed this path, but they are the ones who modeled such behavior for me on a regular basis. I got to see them doing public service up close and personal, improving the situations others faced and helping others through adversity. I want to help make San Diego the best it can be, the same way that my parents and grandparents did in the communities they called home.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, transparency, and competency - all directed toward protecting taxpayers and residents against special interests and the political-donor class.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Honest, transparency, and exceptional competency in municipal law.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My goal is to eliminate the political culture currently infecting the City Attorney's Office and restore it to a professional, non-political office; end the culture of secrecy in the Office and create a culture of full transparency; restore the public's trust in the Office to give sound, objective, reliable legal advice.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Led Zep's "Stairway to Heaven" (it has been stuck there since I first heard it as a kid).

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

Yes. Under the law, the City Attorney's Office has a central role in prosecuting corruption, preventing government secrecy, and protecting the public's civil rights.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

I do in part. The City Attorney needs to have experience with municipal law but should also have experience in private practice, but the job should not be political. Therefore, past political experience is not necessary.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Given the level of corruption, secrecy, and civil-rights violations at San Diego City Hall, the ideal City Attorney should have extensive experience investigating and prosecuting corruption, identifying and exposing government secrecy, and defending the public's civil rights.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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