Photo by David Batterson

Jerry Sanders

Former mayor Jerry Sanders now heads the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce — a job that, some say, he might as well have had while he was mayor.

On August 19 of last year, an essay under Sanders's byline, touting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (called TPP), appeared as an op-ed in the Union-Tribune. The piece, titled "Trans-Pacific trade pact benefits San Diego," lauded the pending pact and local politicians who back it.

The Intercept is an online publication launched two years ago and features well-known journalists such as Glenn Greenwald and Jeremy Scahill. On April 10, a writer for The Intercept took a look at Sanders's ringing prose in the U-T.

Alan Ziegaus

from Southwest Strategies website

"Much of the language in Sanders's op-ed also appears in a 'San Diego Draft op-ed' distributed by Southwest Strategies, a consulting firm paid by the Japanese government to promote the [trade pact]," says The Intercept. Here are some stark similarities:

Chris Wahl

from Southwest Strategies website

"Sanders: 'Notably, the TPP includes Japan, which is significant.'

"Southwest Strategies: 'Notably, the TPP includes Japan, which is critical.'

"Sanders: 'Trade is essential for sustaining America's role as the most innovative economy in the world.'

"Southwest Strategies: 'Trade is essential for sustaining America's role as the most innovative economy in the world.'

"Sanders: 'With more than 95 percent of the world's consumers outside of our borders, and with more than one in five U.S. jobs dependent on trade, it is essential that the U.S. continue to open new markets for American goods and services, while creating and sustaining jobs for American workers.'

"Southwest Strategies: 'With more than 95 percent of the world's consumers outside of our borders, and with more than one in five U.S. jobs dependent on trade, it is critical that the U.S. continue to open new markets for American goods, intellectual property rights and services and create and sustain high-skilled, high-wage jobs for American workers.'"

Matthew Hall, who oversees opinion pieces for the U-T, told The Intercept, "We do request that op-eds be exclusive to the San Diego Union-Tribune. We understand that PR people may help others with op-eds and that some op-eds may contain talking points articulated elsewhere."

On its website, Southwest Strategies, the lobbying-PR firm formed in 2000 by Alan Ziegaus and Chris Wahl,  boasts, "We are a full-service public affairs and communications firm that specializes in securing government entitlements." In other words, "If you want corporate welfare, come to us."