Booze and electricity

When Saint Louis–based brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, owner of SeaWorld, gets taken over by a Belgium-based beer maker, will state politicians be left out in the cold? The most recent lobbying disclosure form filed by Anheuser-Busch shows that on February 3 it gave admission tickets valued at $390 to GOP assemblyman George Plescia for a game at the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona. And last October it handed out free SeaWorld admission tickets valued at $228 to Democratic assemblyman Charles Calderon. … San Diego–based Sempra Energy isn’t the kind of company most people feel all that warm and cuddly about. Besides struggles over its San Onofre nuclear plant, allegations of price fixing during electricity shortages, and questions about how much of its power should be generated from renewable resources, Sempra is also pushing hard to build a controversial power line through the middle of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. But Sempra is a big donor to political campaigns, which may explain why the San Diego City Council unanimously voted to declare Tuesday, July 8, “Sempra Energy Day.”