Bob_Hudson

Comments by Bob_Hudson

San Diego city council surrenders in costly Catholic school case

Sad - there is so much ignorance and bigotry in the comments against this school. What they are doing is legal according to the always progressive city council, except for Gloria and Lightner who stuck by their convictions. Our always shining Emerald city council member apparently forgot about throwing down the gauntlet in 2011, "We shouldn't sit here and waive permanent rules of council because somebody wants to bully us in court. Bring it on."
— February 18, 2013 6:27 a.m.

"Mayor Mo" stole $2 million from late husband's foundation

I was Executive Director and sole staff for the Coalition For Local Control, the group that brought together labor, the Sierra Club, the Chamber of Commerce and other strange bedfellows to challenge the takeover of SDG&E by Edison. I can tell you beyond saying she opposed the merger, Mayor Mo and her office did nothing to make the campaign successful and in fact were a bit of an obstacle with her insistence that we should spend precious resources on an advisory ballot measure that would not have affected the PUC decision one bit. We just had to ignore her on that one. Otherwise, she stayed aloof from the fray and was not really a player in that successful campaign. It's sad to see how life has transpired, but it didn't surprise me that she had become a recluse.
— February 14, 2013 9:37 p.m.

So is Manchester negotiating to buy LA Times?

"...he could get his head handed to him taking over something like the Tribune Co." By whom? If you own the LA Times you automatically become a big fish. He certainly could not do any worse that Sam Zell did when he bankrupted the finances and culture of the Tribune Company.
— February 12, 2013 10:22 a.m.

Call to overturn Supreme Court

This city council vote sounds like a solution in search of a problem: Obama beat Romney, Peters beat Bilbray, Filner beat DeMaio, etc., etc. Let's face the truth Don: Citizens United has about as much impact on elections as does Doug Manchester. The public employee unions now control California politics at all levels and any business caught supporting conservative causes will face a lynch mob. But Emerald's disingenuous crocodile tears make for a fun read.
— December 4, 2012 8:02 p.m.

Copley foundation's steep fall from grace

It's "Copley" money and a Copley gave it away as he saw fit - gee what a shock! Maybe the READER publisher's foundation can pick up the slack..... :) Seriously Matt, articles like this come across as petty-minded class warfare inspired by jealously that someone you don't like was able to make contributions to the community.
— November 25, 2012 8:45 a.m.

More Chula Vistans Gather to Fight Lake Pointe Project

"An environmentalist is someone who already owns a home with a view." Lee Taylor, County Supervisotr 1976
— October 25, 2012 7:42 p.m.

UCAN: Misspelled Accounts Add Up

This whole scandal and potential fraud makes me wonder if the ratepayers really got a good deal from Shames' representation to the PUC or was his goal merely to get enough concessions to guarantee him a good payday from intervenor fees? And you have to wonder did SDG&E know what Michael's breakpoint was and pad it's rate increase requests by the amount he'd seek to have them reduced? Were we effectively represented by UCAN or was it just a charade? When I see those misspelled accounts (and Shames posing as a member of the bar) it certainly suggests our intervenor was not guided by integrity and principle.
— October 18, 2012 9:11 p.m.

We Opened the Bar

"Mojo has retired from hollerin' a few times before..." I listen to him several times a week on Sirius/XM satellite radio's Outlaw Country Channel, and he never stops hollerin', and even there exceeds his three MF quote on a regular basis.
— September 6, 2012 8:38 a.m.

More San Diego Convention Center Lies

"The culture here, which I think has been largely influenced by the military presence and the mentality that exists within it, produces an atmosphere where palms are greased and mum's the word and taxpayer money is there for the taking." This is a city where labor unions and developers control city hall: the military has nothing to do with it. Heck, Chicago's been the master of palm-greasing and I think their military presence could hardly fill a recruiting office. Your thesis is so far off-base as to be laughable, were it not so sad. The golden rule applies in all communities and cultures: them that has the gold makes the rules.
— September 5, 2012 1:24 p.m.

An Old Truth Made New Again

At the time of that campaign I worked for the late Victor Diaz, owner of the Califormula Radio Group which had radio broadcast operations in Tijuana and Chula Vista. Victor loved to talk about politics and because of my past experience in US politics (including US-Mexico policy issues), the topic came up often, and he gave me some interesting insights into Mexican politics. One he we talked about the man he jokingly called "Don Donaldo," and said, "He will never be elected." That surprised me since being the PRI candidate was tantamount to being President-elect. The morning I heard Colosio had been killed I called Victor and reminded him of that statement. His voice became quite shrill and shaky as he almost shouted his response, "I never said that, I never said that and don't ever repeat that!" 1994 was also the year when the the secretary-general of the PRI was assassinated. A newspaper account noted, "The attorney general's office...released a report naming nearly 30 suspects. Some are "intellectual authors," some are "operational members," some are "incidental actors." Prosecutors even devised a flow chart that looks like a family tree." The facts of these assassinations were not exactly a secret: there were lots of people involved and thanks to some of them, word traveled fast after the deed was done. Victor had once told me how his personal chief of security (a former Mexican cop) had provided details on the killing of one public figure. I got that feeling that in Mexico sharing such details was a way to show that you were in the loop, such as it was. Between the stories and some of things i witnessed myself, I learned that the PRI was not going to go down without a fight, even if it involved live ammo. The man who replaced Colosio as the 1994 presidential candidate was the last PRI president elected and the end of his term marked the end of a 71 year virtual dictatorship by the PRI (the "perfect dictatorship," was the term applied to that reign by 2010 Nobel Prize recipient Mario Vargas Llosa). Last month the PRI retrieved the presidency it had lost 12 years ago. It could be said that Mexico experimented with democracy in the interim and it will be interesting to see if that experiment ends and heavy-handed authoritarianism returns. ¡Qué viva México!
— August 8, 2012 8:46 p.m.