Breaking Stories: On the Run

San Diego — San Diego district attorney Bonnie Dumanis has been spending public money lobbying the legislature up in Sacramento. According to official filings with the secretary of state, her office spent a total of $35,680 during the second quarter of this year; most of the cash, $31,341, went to pay part of the salary of Dumanis's "Special Assistant, Legislation and Social Media," Gail J. Stewart-Brockman, a former reporter for KFMB-TV who used to be the office's public relations person. The rest of the money was used for travel on Southwest Airlines back and forth to Sacramento and five stays at the Hyatt Sacramento across from the capitol, at an average cost of $270. (No food or drink was claimed.) Among the issues being promoted by Stewart-Brockman, the filing says, were a bill to "increase Funding Support for Gang Abatement & Prevention Act of 2007" and Assembly Bill 1200, known as "Angie's Law," a bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña to raise criminal penalties for chronic hit-and-run drivers. A spokesman for Saldaña said that Angie's Law died in committee due to prison-overcrowding and consequent budget concerns.

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