On with Their Heads

La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs has contributed $10,000 to Taxpayers for Public Safety, a group that wants to abolish the death penalty, replacing it with life in prison without the possibility of parole. The politically active Qualcomm founder, who’s become enmeshed in a nasty public relations fight over his road plan for Balboa Park, made his donation on April 20; last week the anti–death penalty proposal qualified for the November ballot. Other local donors have included the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, which gave a total of $21,770. Among other proponents of the measure are ex–Los Angeles district attorney Gil Garcetti and former San Quentin warden Jeanne Woodford. Opponents include former Sacramento U.S. attorney McGregor Scott…Poseidon Resources — the desalination outfit with close ties to GOP San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders and his political mentor Tom Shepard, now working for newly independent mayoral candidate and assemblyman Nathan Fletcher — has given $10,000 to Democratic governor Jerry Brown’s ballot measure to raise California taxes. Another big donor to the cause on the same day, April 21: Tony Podesta, an influential Washington lobbyist with close ties to the Obama administration, who also anted up $10,000.