Day of the Political Dead

South Bay Democratic assemblyman Marty Block, ramping up for a run for state senate this year, has shut down his old assembly campaign committee but not before making a final payment of $5000 to legendary Sacramento campaign consultant Richie Ross. (In his memoir, My Letters to Dead People, published last year, Ross tells all about a raft of former clients, including former San Diego state senator Lucy Killea and her late husband Jack: “You and Lucy were two of the first three people hired to work for the CIA. You both were assigned to the American Embassy in Mexico City when Che [Guevara] was killed,” Ross writes. “When Lucy was running the first time, you tried to give us a lot of information you had about her opponents. You gave us credit card receipts, phone bills, cancelled checks.” The consultant says he told Killea, “Jesus Christ, Jack, we can’t use this stuff. We aren’t supposed to have it. It’s illegal. We could never explain how we got it.… Your network of retired military spooks in San Diego must have been something. I probably met some of them at your funeral. But they weren’t going to introduce themselves to me as old spies.”)

According to a January 4 campaign filing, Block raised $6900 in 2011 from donors including La Jolla media maven Barbara Bry; Rancho Santa Fe’s Pauline Foster; ex–Democratic congresswoman and state bullet train boardmember Lynn Schenk; San Diego State University academic Rochelle Treger; and former city councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer.

Foster, mother-in-law of newly named Homeland Security assistant secretary Alan Bersin, is a longtime backer of Democratic causes. Besides Block, her latest contributions: $1000 to Susan Davis on September 26, bringing her total for Davis in 2011 to $2000. Foster also gave Democratic congressman Bob Filner, currently running for mayor, $500 in March. Block gave himself a head start on 2012 by transferring $642.08 from his assembly campaign to his senate account. Meanwhile, downtown arts patron Danah Fayman anted up a total of $5000 for Barack Obama on September 27.