Stories | News Under the Radar
Peace’s pieces
Published March 10, 2010
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 ...
Bersin’s bash
Published March 10, 2010
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 ...
Tweet this
Published March 3, 2010
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 ...
Big boss bucks
Published March 3, 2010
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
Published March 3, 2010
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
Published Feb. 17, 2010
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
Published Feb. 17, 2010
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
Published Feb. 10, 2010
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
Published Feb. 10, 2010
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
Published Feb. 10, 2010
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
Published Feb. 3, 2010
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
Published Feb. 3, 2010
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
Published Feb. 3, 2010
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
Published Jan. 27, 2010
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
Published Jan. 27, 2010
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
Published Jan. 27, 2010
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
Published Jan. 20, 2010
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
Published Jan. 20, 2010
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
Published Jan. 20, 2010
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
Published Jan. 13, 2010
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
Published Jan. 13, 2010
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
Published Jan. 13, 2010
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
Published Jan. 6, 2010
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
Published Jan. 6, 2010
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
Published Jan. 6, 2010
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
Published Dec. 16, 2009
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
Published Dec. 16, 2009
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
Published Dec. 16, 2009
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
Published Dec. 9, 2009
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
Published Dec. 9, 2009
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
Published Dec. 2, 2009
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
Published Dec. 2, 2009
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
Published Nov. 24, 2009
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
Published Nov. 24, 2009
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
Published Nov. 24, 2009
“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
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 ... More Post a comment
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 ... More Post a comment
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 ... More Comment (1)
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)
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 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)
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
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)
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)
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
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)
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)
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)
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
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
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
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