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Peace’s pieces

Peace’s pieces

Who is putting up the money for the latest volley of direct mail from ex-Democratic state senator Steve Peace’s California Independent Voter Project? Because the group is a nonprofit 501(c)4 corporation, it doesn’t have to disclose ...

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Bersin’s bash

Bersin’s bash

Three ex-U.S. Customs chiefs are getting antsy about the long delay in confirming onetime San Diego city schools chief Alan Bersin as the nation’s next commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. “It is hard to imagine ...

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Tweet this

Tweet this

Twitter has taken the local political world by storm, even San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who has been tweeting about topics important to him such as the city’s “high number of unwanted kittens” and remembering “to ...

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Big boss bucks

Big boss bucks

Contributions to the coming campaign to make San Diego’s so-called strong mayor form of government permanent have been streaming in from big business. Foes of ... More Post a comment

Bottles up

Bottles up

Chargers lobbyist Mark Fabiani, still trying to get a public subsidy out of San Diego taxpayers for the football team, has found enough extra time ... More Post a comment

It's all about the money

It's all about the money

A top-secret plan by KPBS, the taxpayer-funded public broadcasting arm of San Diego State University, to buy an additional FM radio station here and devote ... More Comments (2)

Council's convention center cash

Council's convention center cash

San Diego city councilmembers are awash in special-interest cash. During the last quarter, 16 Sempra Energy employees lined up to give a total of $2100 ... More Comments (2)

Wash and Waring

Wash and Waring

Controversial La Jolla lawyer Jim Waring, who once represented the daughter of the late mafioso Moe Dalitz and was later forced out as Mayor Jerry ... More Post a comment

The Big Payoff

The Big Payoff

As a plan by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to privatize trash collection at City facilities makes its way through the city council, the contractor ... More Comments (2)

Well Insured

Well Insured

Ex-assemblyman Juan Vargas, running in the Democratic primary for state senate, raised a total of $146,700 through the end of last year, recent filings show. ... More Comments (2)

Cashless ducats

Cashless ducats

San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso, running in the Democratic primaries for an assembly seat this year, has been busy handing out free tickets from ... More Comments (2)

Flagged

Flagged

The Obama administration’s nominee to run the Transportation Security Administration dropped out of consideration two weeks ago, shortly after Senate Republicans began asking questions about ... More Post a comment

Last hurrah

Last hurrah

Virtually unknown to the public here, Bill Cavala, a onetime UC Berkeley professor and top aide to Speaker Willie Brown Jr., was for most of ... More Comment (1)

Cash and ethics

Cash and ethics

For decades, Chargers owner Alex Spanos has been a financial mainstay of Republicans far and wide, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to a vast ... More Comment (1)

Self-interested

Self-interested

Ex–San Diego schools chief and border business investor Alan Bersin, still awaiting senate confirmation of his appointment by President Barack Obama to become head of ... More Comment (1)

Odds-on favorite

Odds-on favorite

On Wednesday of this week, the State Race Track Leasing Commission was scheduled to approve a new request for proposals for a new lease of ... More Post a comment

Downward spiral

Downward spiral

A tough economy, along with program budget cutbacks, has hit KPBS, the public broadcast operation run by San Diego State University, particularly hard over the ... More Post a comment

Incredible shrinking foundation

Incredible shrinking foundation

La Jolla’s Helen K. and James S. Copley Foundation still has $3 million left to pay on its $6 million 2008 pledge to the UCLA ... More Comments (2)

Free and easy

Free and easy

The 22nd District Agricultural Association, which runs the Del Mar Fair, has been kind to local politicians, giving them free passes to various events, according ... More Post a comment

Divorce on steroids

Divorce on steroids

President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Transportation Security Administration, currently stalled by GOP senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, may face even tougher sledding ... More Comment (1)

Passing game

Passing game

A combination of well-connected charities and business groups have been given tickets to Chargers games, thanks to San Diego–elected officials. Recipients of the city’s stash ... More Post a comment

Cash and carry

Cash and carry

Assembly speaker–elect John Perez rolls into town on Saturday, January 23, to raise money at the Mission Bay Hyatt Regency for termed-out Democratic Assemblywoman Lori ... More Post a comment

Scandals of 2009

Scandals of 2009

Government officials say they’re hard up for funds, but most can’t seem to resist spending for lobbying activities. A recently filed disclosure report covering the ... More Post a comment

Culture vulture

Culture vulture

He’s the son of Alex Spanos and the president of the Chargers, currently seeking a multimillion-dollar handout from taxpayers as a condition for building a ... More Comment (1)

Cash up front

Cash up front

San Diego politicos spent the last month of 2009 raising money for the 2010 election season. Contributors included the California Medical Association, which gave $7800 ... More Post a comment

Lobby leavings

Lobby leavings

Ex–Democratic assemblyman turned insurance industry lobbyist Juan Vargas quietly kicked off his bid to replace termed-out incumbent state senator Denise Ducheny last week by personally ... More Comment (1)

Dinner with Bibi

Dinner with Bibi

With the holidays approaching, what better way to get into the spirit of the season than with a free trip to Tel Aviv? Democratic congresswoman ... More Post a comment

Retired fat

Retired fat

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s got the biggest California state pension of them all? In San Diego County, apparently it’s El Cajon’s William Garrett, ... More Comments (4)

Booze, beasts, and juice

Booze, beasts, and juice

Last week, Anheuser-Busch, the onetime icon of American beer that was snapped up a year ago by the Brazilian-Belgian international brewing combine InBev, finally unloaded ... More Post a comment

Steak and politics

Steak and politics

Hard times will soon shutter Rainwater’s on Kettner Boulevard, the fabled red-meat eatery. Over the years, politicos of all stripes dined gratis at the bistro, ... More Comment (1)

Gamblers

Gamblers

The Barona Band of Mission Indians hosted a high-powered group of state GOP legislators at the tribe’s Barona Resort and Casino on July 9, according ... More Post a comment

One for the books

One for the books

For a little while, it sounded like great news. San Diego’s county library system was named to a national list of “Star Libraries,” compiled by ... More Post a comment

Meg’s Blue green money

Meg’s Blue green money

Former eBay executive Meg Whitman, currently running first in at least one poll of voter sentiment in her race for the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination, gave ... More Post a comment

Deeper and deeper

Deeper and deeper

San Diego City Council president Ben Hueso has been feathering more than just his assembly campaign’s nest of late. A recently filed disclosure statement shows ... More Comments (2)

Operation hat giveaway

Operation hat giveaway

“Our Border” (ourborder.ning.com), an online social networking website set up by Obama administration border czar Alan Bersin, is having a contest to recruit new members: ... More Comment (1)

Booze and bull

Booze and bull

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 ... More Post a comment

Parties and politics

Parties and politics

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 ... More Post a comment

Watching the hound dog

Watching the hound dog

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 ... More Comment (1)

Lobby lucre

Lobby lucre

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)

Investigating the investigator

Investigating the investigator

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 Comments (2)

Hueso’s gold

Hueso’s gold

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)

A shirt off Bonnie’s back

A shirt off Bonnie’s back

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

Small favors

Small favors

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)

Mixed bedfellows

Mixed bedfellows

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)

Coming clean

Coming clean

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

Exploring

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

Paycheck politics

Paycheck politics

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)

Death of PR

Death of PR

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)

Cash prizes

Cash prizes

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)

Price of influence

Price of influence

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

Top cash givers

Top cash givers

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

Mega-bucks

Mega-bucks

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

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