Red-Light District

San Diego — Just exactly who is bankrolling this fall's ballot crusade by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to privatize city services and limit pension options for city workers? First on the list in a campaign financial disclosure statement filed this summer by the group backing the Sanders measures is ACS State and Local Solutions, formerly known as Lockheed Martin IMS Corp., a Washington, D.C., outfit that makes those controversial red-light cameras that have had a lot of motorists fuming. ACS, which kicked in $2000 to San Diegans for City Hall Reform back on June 28, has made a good living by collecting a percentage of the fines that result from its automatic photos.

Another donor to the cause, Anheuser-Busch, which gave $2500, is the proprietor of SeaWorld, a city lessee that relies heavily on the city's goodwill to fend off critics of its environmental policies and lease terms.

Then there is OMFoster, LCC, which gave $10,000. Records reveal the entity to be a downtown real estate partnership between developer OliverMcMillan and the wealthy landowning family led by Pauline Foster of Rancho Santa Fe, former board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and mother-in-law of state education chief Alan Bersin.

A $5000 donor is Rural/Metro Corporation, the Phoenix-based company that has a contract to run the city's ambulances.

For some reason, the Sycuan Indian band, proprietor of a large gambling casino in East County, is also so concerned about the state of outsourcing in San Diego that it has ponied up a total of $20,000 for the campaign.

The Builders, Associates, Contractors PAC gave $35,000. And the San Diego Lodging Industry Association PAC contributed $25,000. Former city council candidate and pro-Soledad Cross maven Phil Thalheimer, who runs a flight school and is said to harbor future political ambitions, gave $10,000.