Unbinding commitments

San Diego — San Diegan John Moores, who stepped down last month as chairman of the board of Peregrine Systems, the Del Mar Heights-based software outfit he controls, will soon be departing many of the other corporate boards on which he now sits, according to a news release last week from Houston's BindView Corporation. "Although I regretfully will no longer have an official role on BindView's board of directors, I will remain available to the Company to advise on future endeavors," the release quotes Moores as saying. It adds that Moores, who has a major stake in BindView, "is rotating off a number of public company boards in order to focus on community philanthropic endeavors, as well as his role as owner and Chairman of the Board of the San Diego Padres." San Diego observers speculate that the ongoing federal grand jury probe into city councilwoman Valerie Stallings' purchase of stock in Neon Systems, another Houston software outfit controlled by Moores, may also be requiring more of the Padres owner's attention ... Yes, that was a casually dressed ex-city manager and Padres honcho Jack McGrorydeplaning from a private jet at Lindbergh Field late last Saturday afternoon with a briefcase-toting party of six ... Insiders at San Diego's city hall see easy passage next week of an obscure measure designed to allow several councilmembers to collect retirement benefits as soon as they leave office.

Just the facts

The subpoena delivered to the San Diego City Council by FBI agents in the Stallings case requires the city to produce a long list of records, including "All records and items, including but not limited to, correspondence, memorandums, notes, tape recordings, referencing Valerie Stallings and relating to: a.) The San Diego Padres, b.) The San Diego Ballpark and/or Redevelopment Project, c.) John Moores, d.) JMI Services, Inc., JMI Equity Fund and all other JMI business entities and their employees, e.) Neon Systems, Inc., f.) Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, g.) BT Alex Brown"; and "All City of San Diego records relating to the authorization and payment of money on behalf of Valerie Stallings for attorneys fees." The subpoena also seeks production of "all toll billings and/or monthly statements" for a cellular phone number, presumably that of a phone used by Stallings.

Playing with Fire Island

While state senator Steve Peace has his hands full this summer with the uproar over electric rates, an old sidekick is causing a different sort of commotion on the East Coast. Constantine Dillon, who grew up in San Diego County and collaborated with Peace in making the infamous "Killer Tomatoes" movies, is now superintendent of New York's Fire Island National Seashore. And that's where the trouble begins. Seems the 22-year National Park Service employee, who once worked as state assembly speaker Willie Brown's San Diego representative and wrote comedy bits for spurned North County millionaire Rick Rockwell, has been accused of being biased against gays, many of whom make Fire Island their summer retreat. The charge comes from John Lund, who along with some other property owners thinks Dillon is too overprotective of the park's environment at the expense of neighboring homeowners, reports New York's Newsday. Lund seized on a bit of dialogue in the first "Killer Tomatoes" movie in which a Japanese scientist tells an army scientist, "Technically, sir, tomatoes are fags," and the army's man replies, "He means fruits." Dillon quickly leapt to his own defense. "It's not my line," Dillon told the paper. It was written by the film's two other scriptwriters, he said. "And anyway, the line is a play on words. It's not an anti-gay remark." Lund also picked up on Dillon's criticism of "inappropriate" behavior in certain spots in the park, code words for "summertime sex in the bushes -- for which men are occasionally cited." No gay groups joined Lund's crusade, the paper reports. Concludes Dillon: "The thing I guess I was never prepared for about Fire Island is how personal the attacks can be when I am just trying to do my job. I'm a good park service manager. I'm a funny guy. I have a cute little daughter. It's so strange. I've never seen anything like it."

Contributor: Matt Potter