Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Inside dope

— Nationally syndicated columnist Bob Novak is out with what he says is the inside story behind the long delay in picking a new United States Attorney for San Diego. According to Novak, staffers at the White House and in the office of Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah have been blocking the appointment of Charles LaBella, an ex-deputy U.S. Attorney and one-time Clinton antagonist who has been recommended for the post by Gerald Parsky, the L.A. venture capitalist and Rancho Santa Fe denizen designated by President George W. Bush to come up with a candidate for the job. "The anti-LaBella cabal threatens plans for President Bush to win approval of California federal judges in the Democratic-controlled Senate," claims Novak, who goes on to say that White House staffers, including legal aide Brad Berenson, are holding out for Jeff Taylor, a justice department lawyer who has been working in Hatch's office. "Kyle Sampson, a former Hatch aide who now works in the White House, along with Berenson has kept the LaBella nomination from getting to the president's desk." Novak says Hatch "has told others that Justice Department professional staffers report that LaBella is not a team player. Hatch has also suggested in private that a solution might be making LaBella the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, perhaps on the theory that team players are less needed there." Concludes Novak: "LaBella's supporters in California fear another name is moving through the secret bureaucratic process and soon will be unveiled as a fait accompli. Imagine Senator Diane Feinstein's vexation. Having accepted LaBella and sold him to Senator Barbara Boxer, how would she react to a White House veto? Gerry Parsky's carefully wrought plan to win Senate confirmation of a batch of new lifetime district judges, conservative but acceptable to California's Democratic senators, would be a shambles."

Sponsored
Sponsored

School news Ex-admiral Veronica "Ronnie" Froman, the new head of the San Diego Unified School District's business and facilities office, was listed last week as a speaker at a $100-a-head "campaign skills" training session in Mission Valley held by the Women's Leadership Forum of the Democratic National Committee and the National Women's Political Caucus. Meanwhile, school district public affairs officer David Smollar, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times whose late father was once Union-Tribune columnist Neil Morgan's personal physician, has quit his job and headed off for a three-week European vacation ... It's not quite David Letterman's Top Ten, but Lawyers Weekly USA, a magazine for the nation's attorneys, is out with its top ten American jury verdicts list for 2001. Coming in tenth is the City of San Diego's infamous inverse condemnation loss to Otay Mesa property owner Roque de la Fuente, currently under appeal, which could cost city taxpayers $100 million or more. Number one on the list: $3 billion in punitive damages, later reduced to $100 million, against Philip Morris in a cancer case.

Federal largesse A new report by the General Accounting Office says that a "significant breakdown in internal controls" over credit cards at San Diego's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has cost taxpayers over $68 million in fraudulent purchases. "Neither SPAWAR nor the Navy Public Works Center had effective policies for issuance of purchase cards, establishing credit limits and minimizing the federal government's financial exposure," the GAO says. "Any employee having supervisory approval could get a card. These units did not perform credit checks on prospective cardholders." Five separate investigations into suspects in the fraud are underway ... Who are the biggest beneficiaries of federal agricultural subsidies for San Diego County farms? Phil and Heather Rheingans, whose base is in Winchester, just north of the county line. They took in over $150,000, according to a new website set up by Washington's Environmental Working Group. Peter J. Verboom, Sr., of Pala bagged $67,156.13. Others who took federal money to run their farms included Ramona's Valley View Dairy ($50,172.96); S & C Vander Woude Dairy, San Marcos ($34,511.73); and Mesa Chiquita Ranch, Santa Ysabel ($28,565.70), the site says.

Contributor: Matt Potter

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Haunted Trail of Balboa Park, ZZ Top, Gem Diego Show

Events October 31-November 2, 2024

— Nationally syndicated columnist Bob Novak is out with what he says is the inside story behind the long delay in picking a new United States Attorney for San Diego. According to Novak, staffers at the White House and in the office of Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah have been blocking the appointment of Charles LaBella, an ex-deputy U.S. Attorney and one-time Clinton antagonist who has been recommended for the post by Gerald Parsky, the L.A. venture capitalist and Rancho Santa Fe denizen designated by President George W. Bush to come up with a candidate for the job. "The anti-LaBella cabal threatens plans for President Bush to win approval of California federal judges in the Democratic-controlled Senate," claims Novak, who goes on to say that White House staffers, including legal aide Brad Berenson, are holding out for Jeff Taylor, a justice department lawyer who has been working in Hatch's office. "Kyle Sampson, a former Hatch aide who now works in the White House, along with Berenson has kept the LaBella nomination from getting to the president's desk." Novak says Hatch "has told others that Justice Department professional staffers report that LaBella is not a team player. Hatch has also suggested in private that a solution might be making LaBella the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, perhaps on the theory that team players are less needed there." Concludes Novak: "LaBella's supporters in California fear another name is moving through the secret bureaucratic process and soon will be unveiled as a fait accompli. Imagine Senator Diane Feinstein's vexation. Having accepted LaBella and sold him to Senator Barbara Boxer, how would she react to a White House veto? Gerry Parsky's carefully wrought plan to win Senate confirmation of a batch of new lifetime district judges, conservative but acceptable to California's Democratic senators, would be a shambles."

Sponsored
Sponsored

School news Ex-admiral Veronica "Ronnie" Froman, the new head of the San Diego Unified School District's business and facilities office, was listed last week as a speaker at a $100-a-head "campaign skills" training session in Mission Valley held by the Women's Leadership Forum of the Democratic National Committee and the National Women's Political Caucus. Meanwhile, school district public affairs officer David Smollar, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Times whose late father was once Union-Tribune columnist Neil Morgan's personal physician, has quit his job and headed off for a three-week European vacation ... It's not quite David Letterman's Top Ten, but Lawyers Weekly USA, a magazine for the nation's attorneys, is out with its top ten American jury verdicts list for 2001. Coming in tenth is the City of San Diego's infamous inverse condemnation loss to Otay Mesa property owner Roque de la Fuente, currently under appeal, which could cost city taxpayers $100 million or more. Number one on the list: $3 billion in punitive damages, later reduced to $100 million, against Philip Morris in a cancer case.

Federal largesse A new report by the General Accounting Office says that a "significant breakdown in internal controls" over credit cards at San Diego's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has cost taxpayers over $68 million in fraudulent purchases. "Neither SPAWAR nor the Navy Public Works Center had effective policies for issuance of purchase cards, establishing credit limits and minimizing the federal government's financial exposure," the GAO says. "Any employee having supervisory approval could get a card. These units did not perform credit checks on prospective cardholders." Five separate investigations into suspects in the fraud are underway ... Who are the biggest beneficiaries of federal agricultural subsidies for San Diego County farms? Phil and Heather Rheingans, whose base is in Winchester, just north of the county line. They took in over $150,000, according to a new website set up by Washington's Environmental Working Group. Peter J. Verboom, Sr., of Pala bagged $67,156.13. Others who took federal money to run their farms included Ramona's Valley View Dairy ($50,172.96); S & C Vander Woude Dairy, San Marcos ($34,511.73); and Mesa Chiquita Ranch, Santa Ysabel ($28,565.70), the site says.

Contributor: Matt Potter

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?
Next Article

Wild Wild Wets, Todo Mundo, Creepy Creeps, Laura Cantrell, Graham Nancarrow

Rock, Latin reggae, and country music in Little Italy, Oceanside, Carlsbad, Harbor Island
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader