Stories | News Under the Radar
Booze and bull
Published Nov. 18, 2009
In the category of lobbying standouts, there’s both Sempra Energy’s Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, who purportedly mixed it up with ex–GOP assemblyman Mike Duvall this summer (they both later denied the hanky-panky), and Jim Cassie of Capitol ...
Parties and politics
Published Nov. 18, 2009
American Medical Response, which has lucrative paramedic and ambulance contracts with the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, Imperial Beach, National City, and a host of other local government agencies, gave $2000 to the county Democratic ...
Watching the hound dog
Published Nov. 18, 2009
After a delay, San Diego State University, in response to a request under the state’s Public Records Act, has turned over the contract between itself and the nonprofit Watchdog Institute, the experiment in investigative reporting overseen ...
Lobby lucre Published Nov. 11, 2009
The battle over a new city hall is already costing taxpayers a small fortune, judging from a recently filed lobbying disclosure report by California Strategies, ... More Comments (2)
Hueso’s gold Published Nov. 11, 2009
Democratic San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso has collected another $31,845 in his bid for the state assembly, bringing his grand total so far to ... More Comments (3)
Investigating the investigator Published Nov. 11, 2009
Anyone who wants to know how the well-connected world of San Diego’s power brokers works need look no further than Mary Lindenstein Walshok, associate vice ... More Comment (1)
A shirt off Bonnie’s back Published Oct. 28, 2009
When Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off his Terminate Violence campaign at an L.A. news conference in March, he was especially proud of the jazzy free ... More Post a comment
Mixed bedfellows Published Oct. 28, 2009
Foes of state attorney general Jerry Brown, leading the Democratic pack in the campaign for his old job as governor, have been unearthing radio shows ... More Comments (4)
Small favors Published Oct. 28, 2009
GOP congressman Brian Bilbray used his Twitter feed to tout his mention last week in a USA Today story about a successful bill he’d authored ... More Comment (1)
Coming clean Published Oct. 21, 2009
Del Mar investment advisor Herbert W. Morgan, nominated to the San Diego city retirement board by Mayor Jerry Sanders and confirmed by the city council ... More Post a comment
Exploring Published Oct. 21, 2009
Chula Vistan David Butler, appointed the County’s interim assessor–recorder–county clerk by the board of supervisors last March, is exploring whether to run for election. On ... More Post a comment
Cash prizes Published Oct. 14, 2009
Last week, controversial J. Craig Venter, millionaire, self-styled master of the human genome, and UCSD alumnus who maintains a handsome home in La Jolla, received ... More Comment (1)
Death of PR Published Oct. 14, 2009
UCSD’s budget crisis has claimed the glitzy job of Stacie Spector, the school’s associate vice chancellor of university communications and public affairs. Deputy communications director ... More Comments (11)
Paycheck politics Published Oct. 14, 2009
Where do politicians turn when they need a spot of cash? In the case of the Democratic Party of San Diego County, to Advance America, ... More Comments (13)
Mega-bucks Published Oct. 7, 2009
The City of San Diego has formed a “multi-department Mass Care and Shelter Planning Committee” to put together a plan to use Qualcomm Stadium during ... More Post a comment
Top cash givers Published Oct. 7, 2009
Politics is a year-around game, and the San Diego congressional delegation is busier than ever collecting money for next year’s reelection races. But sometimes it ... More Post a comment
Price of influence Published Oct. 7, 2009
Though it says it is hard up for money to fund the daily workings of government, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is looking ... More Post a comment
Unfriendly skies Published Sept. 30, 2009
An out-of-control aerial drone made by San Diego’s own General Atomics had to be shot out of the sky by the United States Air Force ... More Comments (42)
Summer vacation Published Sept. 30, 2009
When millionaire GOP congressman Darrell Issa made his latest semiregular appearance on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher in August, the show forked over $600 ... More Post a comment
Conflicting interests Published Sept. 30, 2009
As first reported here in January 2008, Kimberly Hale works for the lobbying shop of Public Policy Strategies, owned by Tom Shepard, a key political ... More Post a comment
Bombs away Published Sept. 23, 2009
A subsidiary of a company run by an Aleut shareholder-owned Alaska Native village corporation based on remote Saint Paul Island in the Bering Sea, 800 ... More Post a comment
Hidden agenda Published Sept. 23, 2009
When longtime Union-Tribune senior editor Lorie Hearn departed the paper this summer to set up the nonprofit Watchdog Institute for investigative reporting, the project was ... More Post a comment
R.I.P. Published Sept. 9, 2009
Helix High alumnus Jack Felson — a onetime San Diego politico with close ties to then–county supervisor Roger Hedgecock — has died at 71 at ... More Post a comment
Hush money Published Sept. 9, 2009
The San Diego County Office of Education has come out the apparent winner in a lawsuit against Infinite Campus, an educational software outfit hired to ... More Comments (6)
Fee for services Published Sept. 9, 2009
A political committee controlled by San Diego city councilman Carl DeMaio has paid $8482 to a GOP consulting firm currently in the middle of a ... More Comment (1)
Stand-in money Published Sept. 2, 2009
UCSD political science professor Peter Gourevitch, who has taken over as acting dean of the university’s School of International Relations and Pacific Studies while full-time ... More Post a comment
Tax dollars at leisure Published Sept. 2, 2009
How are you going to keep the cops down on the farm once they’ve seen Coronado? That seems to be the question facing the federally ... More Post a comment
Spooky Published Sept. 2, 2009
You might call it MySpace for La Migra. Alan Bersin, ex–San Diego schools chief and President Barack Obama’s “Border Czar” in the Department of Homeland ... More Post a comment
Musical cash Published Aug. 26, 2009
When it came to raising and spending campaign money, it was a busy first half of 2009 for termed-out Democratic assemblywoman Lori Saldaña. She spent ... More Comments (2)
Phoning it in Published Aug. 26, 2009
Upon his exit from the state Assembly last year, termed-out ex–GOP leader George Plescia of Del Mar bagged a lucrative four-year job as a member ... More Post a comment
Brown-out Published Aug. 26, 2009
Ex–Democratic state senator Steve Peace, now working for ex–Padres owner John Moores, gave $6500 last week to the campaign fund of Attorney General Jerry Brown, ... More Comments (2)
Playing Post Office Published Aug. 5, 2009
The Centre City Development Corp. is paying $10,160 to Heritage Architecture to create a “list of potential new uses, creative adaptive reuse design scenarios and ... More Comment (1)
Serial Office-Holder Published Aug. 5, 2009
Termed-out Democratic state Sen. Christine Kehoe has apparently set her sights on returning to the Assembly. After a failed bid for Congress in 1998, Kehoe, ... More Comments (3)
Mobley's Money Published Aug. 5, 2009
Some insiders predicted he would be UCSD’s first million-dollar professor, but the state’s financial meltdown apparently dashed those plans. Still, don’t fret for Dr. William ... More Comment (1)
Juiced Published July 29, 2009
As many insiders expected, San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders appointed a reliable campaign contributor to the regional airport authority seat that was vacated earlier this ... More Post a comment
Trash Talk Published July 29, 2009
A longtime business associate of South Bay developer Roque de la Fuente is circulating a petition that would put before county voters a measure to ... More Post a comment
Bad Luck Published July 29, 2009
An Irishman who last December made the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Most Wanted List” of 23 environmental crime fugitives for illegal dumping in San Diego ... More Post a comment
Green pastures Published July 22, 2009
It turns out that former executive vice president of the San Diego Unified Port District Dan Wilkens, who announced his retirement last fall, hasn’t strayed ... More Post a comment
Down Mexico way Published July 22, 2009
Democratic state senator Denise Ducheny, who chairs the powerful Senate Budget Committee, currently enmeshed in California’s fiscal meltdown, raised $11,821 for her so-called state officeholder ... More Post a comment
Reality check Published July 22, 2009
The Cato Institute, the libertarian-leaning Washington-based think tank, is conducting its annual Cato University next week at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. It’s billed as an ... More Comments (2)
Open Book Published July 15, 2009
The executive director of the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission has ordered San Diego retirement board member Herbert W. Morgan to disclose the identities of ... More Post a comment
The Ron Good-bye? Published July 15, 2009
San Diego school-board president Shelia Jackson has filed a statement of intention to run for the Fourth District seat on the county board of supervisors, ... More Post a comment
Manchester’s money Published July 8, 2009
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman has been getting lots of campaign cash from some of San Diego’s most famous Republicans. One of the most prominent ... More Comments (4)
Border influence Published July 8, 2009
San Diego Democrats don’t have much sway on the Southwest Border Task Force set up by Barack Obama's Justice Department. Only 3 members of the ... More Post a comment
Big-ship politics Published July 8, 2009
With unemployment soaring, news that a San Diego–based aircraft carrier may be pulling out for good would come as unwelcome news to local politicians. On ... More Post a comment
Mystery money Published July 1, 2009
How much money do the volunteer members of the city’s pension fund make in their professions, and where does it come from? California law requires ... More Comment (1)
End of the line Published July 1, 2009
Long Beach–based Cuba Travel Services is taking advantage of the Obama administration’s recent loosening of some travel restrictions to Cuba by offering nonstop flights from ... More Post a comment
Issa’s gold Published June 24, 2009
Personal financial disclosure reports for members of Congress covering 2008 have been filed, and they reveal that the richest local congressman is still North County ... More Post a comment
Burdick’s back taxes Published June 24, 2009
Any doubts about the continuing political involvement of the Union-Tribune under Platinum Equity, its new owner from Beverly Hills, were erased two weeks ago with ... More Comments (17)
Doggy budget Published June 17, 2009
Is Balboa Park part of downtown? Does the city need another leash-free dog park? Can it afford it? Those questions occurred to Mel Shapiro when ... More Comments (4)
Passport to spending Published June 17, 2009
Democratic senator Patrick Leahy has announced that San Diego, along with Leahy’s home state of Vermont, as well as the cities of Buffalo, New York; ... More Post a comment
Life as an ex-con Published June 17, 2009
The RAND Corporation, a Santa Monica think tank, is out with a study of how California’s parolees fare once they get back home from state ... More Post a comment
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