Passport to spending

Democratic senator Patrick Leahy has announced that San Diego, along with Leahy’s home state of Vermont, as well as the cities of Buffalo, New York; El Paso, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia, will be getting a brand-new Passport Agency office, thanks to $15 million from the Obama administration’s stimulus package passed earlier this year. Why build and maintain an expensive new office just for getting passports when most locals seem to have had no problem obtaining one at the County Administration Building? “As passports become more of a necessity, passport services need to become more convenient, and this is a big step in that direction,” says Leahy’s news release. “This will be helpful to Vermont’s tourism, commerce and exports, as well as to our connections with our Canadian neighbors to the north.” … The campaign of GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner has picked up $12,950 from La Jolla’s Peter Farrell, executive chairman of Res Med, Inc. Robert Shillman of Cognex Corp. gave $10,000. Rancho Santa Fe’s Jonathan W. Bullen, president of the Eagle Gate College Group, gave $25,900 to Poizner’s rival Meg Whitman. Eagle Gate operates a private career college in Utah featuring degrees in business, law enforcement, and physical education.