Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Dirty dancing for supper

Missed his calling?  City attorney Jan Goldsmith (left) dances behind someone in a dog suit.
Missed his calling? City attorney Jan Goldsmith (left) dances behind someone in a dog suit.

It’s almost time for the San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s annual “Golden Fleece” banquet, famous of late on YouTube for its promotional video featuring GOP San Diego city attorney Jan Goldsmith, dressed up as a chorus boy and dancing behind someone dressed as a junkyard dog. The lobbyist group’s blow-out is particularly popular among city-council staffers and their politician bosses, who are treated to drinks, food, and a video floor show by various special interests that buy tables and hand out tickets for free to those they seek to influence. The group itself is a registered lobbyist ­— backing privatization measures, among other big-business-friendly issues — and its board is heavily populated by some of the city’s biggest influence-peddlers, always in the market to rub shoulders with the city council powerful and their minions. Last year, for instance, Job Nelson, chief of staff for Republican city councilwoman Lorie Zapf, attended courtesy of the association itself, as did Alexandra Bell, another Zapf staffer, according to their annual statements of economic interests filed earlier this month. Katie Hansen, chief of staff for GOP councilman Kevin Faulconer, got into the bash thanks to a $160 freebie from controversial private-school operator Bridgepoint Education. In addition to the taxpayers association’s dinner, Hansen also enjoyed the hospitality of the Biocom Pac, run by lobbyists for the local pharmaceutical industry, getting a ticket worth $50 to a Biocom reception in August. Evans Hotels, the homegrown San Diego hotel empire — whose president Bill Evans was one of those behind the lawsuit against Democratic mayor Bob Filner in an attempt to get him to sign a funding deal negotiated by previous GOP mayor Jerry Sanders — gave Hansen a $100 ticket to an “ADL dinner” in October. She also went to the “Manta Launch Event” at SeaWorld, courtesy of the aquatic and amusement park, an admission worth $146.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Ed Kornhauser, Peter Sprague, Stepping Feet, The Thieves About, Benches

The music of Carole King and more in La Jolla, Carlsbad, Little Italy
Next Article

City late to extricate foxtails from Fiesta Island

Noxious seeds found in chest walls and hearts, and even the brain cavity of dead dogs
Missed his calling?  City attorney Jan Goldsmith (left) dances behind someone in a dog suit.
Missed his calling? City attorney Jan Goldsmith (left) dances behind someone in a dog suit.

It’s almost time for the San Diego County Taxpayers Association’s annual “Golden Fleece” banquet, famous of late on YouTube for its promotional video featuring GOP San Diego city attorney Jan Goldsmith, dressed up as a chorus boy and dancing behind someone dressed as a junkyard dog. The lobbyist group’s blow-out is particularly popular among city-council staffers and their politician bosses, who are treated to drinks, food, and a video floor show by various special interests that buy tables and hand out tickets for free to those they seek to influence. The group itself is a registered lobbyist ­— backing privatization measures, among other big-business-friendly issues — and its board is heavily populated by some of the city’s biggest influence-peddlers, always in the market to rub shoulders with the city council powerful and their minions. Last year, for instance, Job Nelson, chief of staff for Republican city councilwoman Lorie Zapf, attended courtesy of the association itself, as did Alexandra Bell, another Zapf staffer, according to their annual statements of economic interests filed earlier this month. Katie Hansen, chief of staff for GOP councilman Kevin Faulconer, got into the bash thanks to a $160 freebie from controversial private-school operator Bridgepoint Education. In addition to the taxpayers association’s dinner, Hansen also enjoyed the hospitality of the Biocom Pac, run by lobbyists for the local pharmaceutical industry, getting a ticket worth $50 to a Biocom reception in August. Evans Hotels, the homegrown San Diego hotel empire — whose president Bill Evans was one of those behind the lawsuit against Democratic mayor Bob Filner in an attempt to get him to sign a funding deal negotiated by previous GOP mayor Jerry Sanders — gave Hansen a $100 ticket to an “ADL dinner” in October. She also went to the “Manta Launch Event” at SeaWorld, courtesy of the aquatic and amusement park, an admission worth $146.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

For its pilsner, Stone opts for public hops

"We really enjoyed the American Hop profile in our Pilsners"
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Save Ferris brings a clapping crowd to the Belly Up

Maybe the band was a bigger deal than I had remembered
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.