Kansas City not excited to pay for GOP convention after San Diego experience

San Diego — A Sunday story by Union-Tribune reporter Phil LaVelle on Proposition A, the taxpayer-financed convention-center-expansion measure on June's city ballot, left out a couple of key facts. The U-T story insisted that "the plan calls for repaying the debt, plus interest, through a share of the city's hotel-motel room tax." Not quite. According to the official "impartial analysis" of the project recently prepared by city attorney Casey Gwinn, "the financing documents do not identify the specific source of revenue" to cover the $450 million in payments on the center's debt. Project proponents say that the city's hotel-room tax would be enough to pick up the tab; opponents say that the hotel tax falls way short of making up the funding gap; instead, they say, local taxpayers will be forced to make up the difference, causing cuts in services like street repairs and libraries. The Lavelle piece also missed another key Gwinn finding: "The financing documents do not address or govern the cost of the project." Insiders say cost overruns will eventually drive the project into the billion-dollar range. Supporters say the city council can be trusted to keep costs in line.

Golding's revenge

Republicans think Kansas City might be a good place to hold the party's next national convention, but after San Diego spent a record $30 million on subsidizing the '96 blowout, city officials aren't so sure. "The amount of money required to host such a convention is daunting," Pam Whiting, a spokeswoman for K.C. Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, told the Kansas City Star on Friday. "The city budget can't handle this." San Diego is still facing sanctions from the Federal Elections Commission for failing to account properly for its taxpayer subsidy of the GOP convention ... Jerry Atkin, the high-powered chairman of Utah-based SkyWest Airlines, was seriously injured in a motorcycle wreck here two weeks ago just after he picked up a fancy new bike; the company says he's recovering in an Escondido hospital ... Wealthy Mexican expatriates living in La Jolla and other upscale parts of San Diego can expect a call from sales representatives of the North American Trust Company. The big investment-banking house has discovered that "more than 10,000 families with above $1 million in assets reside in the city, 40 percent of which do not have a relationship with a financial institution," according to the Global Private Banking newsletter, which also reports that North American Trust is looking to hire a team of salespeople "who are well connected to San Diego's network of lawyers and accountants."

Gold from Silva

Jacor Broadcasting, the gargantuan national radio chain that's taken over a bunch of San Diego radio stations, including KOGO, KSDO, and KPOP, is now trying to grab a big slice of the city's lucrative concert-promotion business. Jacor, which owns 200 radio stations around the country, started its concert division last year and has been growing it rapidly ever since. The company has been playing down any notions that it will compete head-to-head with local promoters like Bill Silva, who has had a virtual lock on many San Diego venues, including those owned by city hall, for years. "Jacor owns 12 stations in San Diego," Jacor's concert honcho Jeff Krump told the trade magazine Amusement Business recently. "Bill Silva is a good friend of mine, so it's possible we could work together. But we're not out there to...go to war with any promoter. Promoters in the next couple of decades will have to be more creative. Jacor doesn't have any venues, so we don't control any real estate."

Progressive mud

The Progressive, a magazine for the ultra-left, is out with a below-the-beltway hit on Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray, who is facing a challenge from avowed lesbian Democrat Councilwoman Christine Kehoe this year. The publication places Bilbray number five on its list of "ten dumbest members of Congress" and goes on to claim that "at a 'Meet and Greet' with San Diego's gay and lesbian community, Bilbray said that women should be allowed to have two husbands because they are 'high maintenance' creatures, and talked about his many past sexual partners."

Contributor: Matt Potter