Allied Waste Puts Richard Ledford on Trash Detail

On September 17, Richard Ledford picked up a contract to lobby on behalf of trash hauler Allied Waste/Republic Services Inc. to help it “obtain a contract for the sale and private operation” of the City-owned Miramar Landfill. A well-known lobbyist around city hall and Mayor Susan Golding’s chief of staff between 1992 and 2000, over the years Ledford and his wife Wendy have given thousands of dollars to a variety of candidates, including Mayor Jerry Sanders; City Attorney Jan Goldsmith; and city council members Ben Hueso, Carl DeMaio, Todd Gloria, Marti Emerald, and Sherri Lightner…A controversial energy executive whose plan to build a 750-megawatt natural-gas-fired power plant on the grounds of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar drew the wrath of the Santee City Council three years ago has turned up as a big donor to the gubernatorial campaign of Democratic state attorney general Jerry Brown. Del Mar’s Richard Hertzberg of Enpex Corporation gave a total of $15,052 on October 15, according to state filings. In March 2007, Santee city officials, claiming the plant would lower property values, voted to deny access to streets through the city leading to the plant, which was never built. Currently, the City of San Diego is exploring plans to put a similar plant on the other end of Miramar. In addition to his energy investments, Hertzberg is a member of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Advisory Council.