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Pro-football pushing San Diego closer to bankruptcy
Term limits would be useful on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors aka "incompetence in action" or inaction if you prefer. County had same kind of pension problems as the City. County issued long term bonds to put off the "ticking time bomb" same thing Arnold tried to do with the State budget deficit last year. County's chickens will come home to roost too. It was Classic when Senator Feinstein dressed down Supervisor Roberts for San Diego County being the largest County in the country without a unified County fire service. Senator Feinstein was pissed that County had done nothing before or after the Cedar Fire on fire prevention and then watched as almost half the County burned again 3-4 years later. If this is what lack of term limits has to offer then I would prefer to "term out" some of these do nothing County Supervisors— December 25, 2008 12:35 a.m.
Melvyn Weiss, Once Co-Managing Partner of Notorious New York/San Diego Law Firm, Allegedly a Victim of Ponzi Schemer Madoff
What? Lerach is not practicing law from Modoc? Such injustice!— December 13, 2008 4:48 p.m.
Gardner Gets 8 Years for Peregrine Scam; His Lawyer Says Criminal Activity Going on Before Gardner Got There
It seems to me that Moores, who spread generous campaign contributions like manure around San Diego, Sacramento,and Washington to Democrats and Republicans alike, was "the elephant in the room" that no one, even former US Attorney Carol Lam, wanted to cross. If this had been New York or another City Moores would have "gone down" on major felonies. It seems Moores alleged wrongdoings were more serious than convicted felons George Steinbrenner(illegal campaign contributions) and Martha Stewart(insider trading). Would a "change of venue out of San Diego" have helped bring Moores actions to light? I have always wondered about the timing of the Larry Lucchino/Moores "fallout". It seems to have happened soon after the Peregrine "pump and dump" fiasco was coming to light. Lucchino, a Lawyer, may have wanted to dissociate himself from Moores for obvious reasons. Will the Moores divorce proceedings be "public record" or will some local sympathetic Judge seal the case and the answers to some of San Diego's pressing questions with it?— December 13, 2008 4:44 p.m.
DeMaio Brings Rochambeau-Style Reforms to City Council
Response to Fred Williams: Give DeMaio a chance. He may end up a lightning rod for the insiders, taking misdirected blame for their own misdeeds. So he deserves our support. The more the UT opposes him, the better he's doing... By Fred_Williams 2:23 p.m., Dec 12, 2008 > Report it Did you see what the Union Tribune and Downtown Establishment just did to the last "lightening rod" in City government(aka Michael Aguirre)? I certainly support reform in government, but it must be done in a manner where the reformers can actually accomplish concrete objectives and not just "talk a good game". Any reformer must build a coalition and get the support of others or he or she is just one dissenting voice without the power to fundamentally change the status quo. Donna Frye tried, but was rebuffed by the last majority council on many issues of reform.— December 13, 2008 4:01 p.m.
DeMaio Brings Rochambeau-Style Reforms to City Council
Memo to Frank Montigan My post is very straight forward and written in plain simple english and points out well known and documented facts for those who read a lot and keep informed on the issues 1)Fact Carl De Maio made millions on "no bid" govenment contracts or "crony deals" based on his inside connections to the Republican Party and the Bush Administration (not exactly considered a "reform or change administration"). 2)Fact De Maio's "reports" or glorified term papers" recycled many ideas that were already known and already in the "public domain" 3)Fact "Outsourcing" government services has been done and tried for decades with mixed results. Some cities report a dramatic drop in the quality of services rendered (Example: Police and Fire services) In some areas of services, such as legal and consulting services, outsourcing is much more expensive that doing the work in house or in government. County of San Diego has tried "competitive bidding" with existing County Departments competing with the private sector(It is called "managed competition"). The Result? County Departments ended up "winning managed competition on the majority of the bids". Why? Because there is "no profit" to justify private companies doing these services according to mandated Federal, State and local laws. But, Mr. De Maio and others will "discover this" when they get into the bidding process. Have fun!— December 13, 2008 3:51 p.m.
DeMaio Brings Rochambeau-Style Reforms to City Council
Memo To AbortionSurvivor 5 Ad hominem (latin for attacking the person and not the arguments) Personal attacks do nothing but reflect poorly on yourself. Facts and intelligent discussion are not "rambling and nonsensical" as you state in your post. If you can intelligently rebut my facts with any counter facts and footnotes then please do so. If not, then please refrain from personal attacks. The reason San Diego government is such a mess is that nobody (except Donna Frye) and now perhaps Carl De Maio(jury is still out). 1)looks at the facts 2)reads the reports 3)asks the probing questions 4)demands accountability on all pertinent issues, but instead "blindly trusts" Mayor, Council, Staff or anyone with a title when manytimes those persons should answer the hard questions on all issues of public interest. In the Case of Carl De Maio, it is reasonable and legitimate to "vet" him since he is a public official and accountable to the public. It goes with the territory— December 13, 2008 3:35 p.m.
DeMaio Brings Rochambeau-Style Reforms to City Council
Memo to EsaiRodrigues I do not know nor have I ever met Marti Emerald. I share many of the posters' frustrations with the local government the Council. "Common Sense" and "informed governance" has gone out the window. Just read last week that "Cal Fire" has cut millions of dollars for fire protection services in San Diego County. Another dumb move. Stay safe and Try To Stay Positive!— December 13, 2008 3:23 p.m.
DeMaio Brings Rochambeau-Style Reforms to City Council
Reforms and "Shakeup" of government surely is needed. But, "Reform" is not a "hidden agenda" disguised as reform. In politics, they call "parachuting in" "carpetbagging". De Maio seems to be aligned with the "downtown establishment" and that is not reform. If Carl De Maio can prove me wrong by his actions against "all special interests in San Diego", including: the powerful downtown establishment, the business community, developers, the Union-Tribune, that have secretly run this town behind the scenes since it was founded, then he will have my wholehearted support. (In the case of C. Arnold Smith it was not so secret rule of San Diego). Reform does not embrace the same way San Diego has been mismanaged for decades and the reason San Diego is in a fiscal mess---too many backroom deals to wealthy business, builders and downtown establishment and "Pay To Play " deals: Millions subsidizing wealthy golfers in Rancho Sante Fe at City owned golf course, Millions subsidizing Petco Park and give away of 12 blocks of Prime Real Estate downtown, (former City Manager who "negotiated Petco and downtown redevelopment deal are now Padres executives), 18 Million dollar naming rights "insider deal" for Qualcomm Stadium (that was worth 200m-400m former Mayor is now a VP at Qualcomm. Millions payed to subsidize the Republican Convention And too many more "shady backroom deals" to list here (many probably have not even been discovered yet). "Creative Accounting" to defer all the costs of these deals to some "future day of reckoning" which is NOW. (It is like a NFL team that creatively "uses the salary cap" to win now and then forfeits future competitiveness for a decade(s) by pushing all the "real costs into the future" (See San Francisco 49ers). If Carl De Maio and others put "everything on the table" and not just attack the local scapegoat and bogeyman (labor and employees) then he may have more credibility. Otherwise, he sounds like he is getting talking points from certain partisan special interest groups.— December 13, 2008 3:16 p.m.
Union-Tribune's December House Organ Doesn't Report Circulation Figures
Don, would you buy the UT if you had the $$$$ to burn?— December 11, 2008 1:28 p.m.
Hedge Fund in Which SDCERA Has Money Puts up Barriers to Redemptions
Contract should be reopened since #1 it was negotiated and approved under questionable circumstances(stock and pump/dump scheme with a local Council person who voted on the project(Valerie Stallings?) If that was a lawsuit, it would have been an automatic mistrial. Moores should be paying the full note on Petco. If he cannot afford it, then sell the team to some local group that can. #2 No development and/or substantial change in the development plan after approval by the voters, deal is void unless resubmitted to voters, in my opinion— December 11, 2008 1:21 p.m.