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

Harmony Ron

— What do a Santa Monica developer, a ritzy new subdivision proposed for North County's formerly sleepy Harmony Grove, and the San Diego mayor's race have in common? The answer is county supervisor Ron Roberts, who's running against Mayor Dick Murphy and needs all the campaign cash he can scrape together for his longshot drive to unseat his well-funded incumbent. The developer in question is an outfit called New Urban West, which wants to build "Harmony Grove Village," described in company literature as "a totally unique community with an authentic rural village, an integrated trail system, and single-family detached homes that reflect the rural character of the community" on 468 acres in the unincorporated area north of the intersection of Harmony Grove Road and Country Club Drive. Seven hundred forty-two mini-mansions and a dolled-up shopping center would go up on land currently occupied by the Harmony and Ward Egg Ranches, the DeRaadt Dairy, and other once-rustic real estate. Trouble is, neighbors and environmentalists including the Escondido Creek Conservancy have been putting up a sizable fuss, especially about Urban West's various plans to build its own sewage-treatment plant as part of the project. All of that flak has required intensive lobbying and the spreading around of plenty of money, as described by the company in a dispatch on its website: "New Urban West has donated to over 30 organizations, giving a total of nearly $35,000 in the last 4 years." The developer "was also proud to contribute $1000 to the Elfin Forest Garden Festival for 2004. NUWI was contacted by Patti Newton on behalf of the American Cancer Society and gave $150. NUWI also contributed to the Charity Fair Horse Show for the last two years." New Urban West also notes that it has been "actively meeting with each member of the Board of Supervisors and their staff," which is perhaps how five of their top executives -- all residents of L.A. County -- came to contribute the maximum $250 each to Roberts's mayoral campaign fund during the first six months of this year, the very time that the Harmony Grove project -- which still needs its environmental impact report and other county processing -- was facing intense scrutiny. It's legal for individuals to give to city campaigns, but they can't be reimbursed by their corporate employers; in 1996, a San Bernardino law firm and San Diego's Gatlin Development paid a record $420,000 fine to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for laundering a total of $11,750 in contributions to the San Diego City Council, including Roberts. He denied he was aware of the scheme.

Mucho moolah Another cluster of contributors to the Ron Roberts campaign consisted of people associated with the sports radio station known as the Mighty 1090 AM. John Lynch, along with five other station executives and sales and production personnel, kicked in maximum contributions. According to state records, the station is owned by a limited liability company whose "Members, Managers, Partners" consist of Lynch, Dick Gibbons, and Doug Manchester, the bucks-up developer and downtown-hotel magnate who has been adamantly opposed to Mayor Murphy's repeated attempts to raise the city's tax on hotel guests. (Gibbons works for Manchester.) Other local sports figures on the Roberts campaign list included Dan Shea, the Donovan's steakhouse proprietor who has been leading the drive to get taxpayers to finance a new Chargers stadium, and Miller beer distributor and Chargers booster Ron Fowler. Two local media figures also reportedly contributed $250 each on the same day, May 24: Graham Ledger of Rancho Santa Fe, and KFMB president Ed Trimble, whose station fired Ledger in February, telling the Union-Tribune that Ledger "failed to return from leave without excuse. Under company policy, he abandoned his position." Ledger was quoted by the paper as saying he was "mystified."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Nowhere man It seemed like true love in February 2003 when megabucks Rancho Santa Fe investment tycoon Ralph Whitworth paid ex-Beatle Paul McCartney a cool $1 million to sing at a surprise 50th birthday party for his wife Wendy at Delicias restaurant. Wendy was then busy producing the Larry King show from a remote studio in the Whitworths' sprawling mansion, and party guests included King and Wendy's close chum, NBC Today star Katie Couric. But that was then. Less than a year later, on January 6 of this year, Wendy sued Ralph for divorce in North County Superior Court. McCartney later told a Spanish newspaper about the split, saying, "An American with money asked me to play one night for his wife, for $1 million. You see the things people ask you to do? The thing is, I recently found out that the couple had split up." According to an account this June in London's Sunday Telegraph, Ralph went ballistic over McCartney's revelation. (The singer said he'd already given the $1 million to charity.)

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Aaron Bleiweiss: has guitar, has traveled

Seattle native takes Twists and Turns to assemble local all-stars

— What do a Santa Monica developer, a ritzy new subdivision proposed for North County's formerly sleepy Harmony Grove, and the San Diego mayor's race have in common? The answer is county supervisor Ron Roberts, who's running against Mayor Dick Murphy and needs all the campaign cash he can scrape together for his longshot drive to unseat his well-funded incumbent. The developer in question is an outfit called New Urban West, which wants to build "Harmony Grove Village," described in company literature as "a totally unique community with an authentic rural village, an integrated trail system, and single-family detached homes that reflect the rural character of the community" on 468 acres in the unincorporated area north of the intersection of Harmony Grove Road and Country Club Drive. Seven hundred forty-two mini-mansions and a dolled-up shopping center would go up on land currently occupied by the Harmony and Ward Egg Ranches, the DeRaadt Dairy, and other once-rustic real estate. Trouble is, neighbors and environmentalists including the Escondido Creek Conservancy have been putting up a sizable fuss, especially about Urban West's various plans to build its own sewage-treatment plant as part of the project. All of that flak has required intensive lobbying and the spreading around of plenty of money, as described by the company in a dispatch on its website: "New Urban West has donated to over 30 organizations, giving a total of nearly $35,000 in the last 4 years." The developer "was also proud to contribute $1000 to the Elfin Forest Garden Festival for 2004. NUWI was contacted by Patti Newton on behalf of the American Cancer Society and gave $150. NUWI also contributed to the Charity Fair Horse Show for the last two years." New Urban West also notes that it has been "actively meeting with each member of the Board of Supervisors and their staff," which is perhaps how five of their top executives -- all residents of L.A. County -- came to contribute the maximum $250 each to Roberts's mayoral campaign fund during the first six months of this year, the very time that the Harmony Grove project -- which still needs its environmental impact report and other county processing -- was facing intense scrutiny. It's legal for individuals to give to city campaigns, but they can't be reimbursed by their corporate employers; in 1996, a San Bernardino law firm and San Diego's Gatlin Development paid a record $420,000 fine to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for laundering a total of $11,750 in contributions to the San Diego City Council, including Roberts. He denied he was aware of the scheme.

Mucho moolah Another cluster of contributors to the Ron Roberts campaign consisted of people associated with the sports radio station known as the Mighty 1090 AM. John Lynch, along with five other station executives and sales and production personnel, kicked in maximum contributions. According to state records, the station is owned by a limited liability company whose "Members, Managers, Partners" consist of Lynch, Dick Gibbons, and Doug Manchester, the bucks-up developer and downtown-hotel magnate who has been adamantly opposed to Mayor Murphy's repeated attempts to raise the city's tax on hotel guests. (Gibbons works for Manchester.) Other local sports figures on the Roberts campaign list included Dan Shea, the Donovan's steakhouse proprietor who has been leading the drive to get taxpayers to finance a new Chargers stadium, and Miller beer distributor and Chargers booster Ron Fowler. Two local media figures also reportedly contributed $250 each on the same day, May 24: Graham Ledger of Rancho Santa Fe, and KFMB president Ed Trimble, whose station fired Ledger in February, telling the Union-Tribune that Ledger "failed to return from leave without excuse. Under company policy, he abandoned his position." Ledger was quoted by the paper as saying he was "mystified."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Nowhere man It seemed like true love in February 2003 when megabucks Rancho Santa Fe investment tycoon Ralph Whitworth paid ex-Beatle Paul McCartney a cool $1 million to sing at a surprise 50th birthday party for his wife Wendy at Delicias restaurant. Wendy was then busy producing the Larry King show from a remote studio in the Whitworths' sprawling mansion, and party guests included King and Wendy's close chum, NBC Today star Katie Couric. But that was then. Less than a year later, on January 6 of this year, Wendy sued Ralph for divorce in North County Superior Court. McCartney later told a Spanish newspaper about the split, saying, "An American with money asked me to play one night for his wife, for $1 million. You see the things people ask you to do? The thing is, I recently found out that the couple had split up." According to an account this June in London's Sunday Telegraph, Ralph went ballistic over McCartney's revelation. (The singer said he'd already given the $1 million to charity.)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

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

Live Five: Greyboy Allstars, Acoustic Revolt, Scary Pierre, Thee Sacred Souls, Glass Spells

Anniversaries, record releases, and fundraisers in Solana Beach, Ocean Beach, Little Italy, and Midway District
Next Article

Mang Tomas, banana ketchup barred in San Diego

What will happen to Filipino Christmas here?
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