La Jolla Flash

What a difference a year can make. Last August, La Jolla–based GOP political consultant Bob Schuman had a big winner on his hands in the form of a freshly minted presidential super PAC, Americans for Rick Perry. With $193,000 received in just six months — $100,000 of it from toxic-waste mogul Harold Simmons of Dallas — it looked as if Schuman’s independent bid to aid the conservative Texas governor was bound for glory. In all, $433,256 poured in. Then Perry’s bid tanked, and in January Schuman changed the name of the PAC to the Restoring Prosperity Fund. Without Perry’s name, though, no more cash has been collected, and this June the PAC took another step toward zeroing out its account by paying the Schuman Group $9500. In May, the committee had paid AccessPoint Media Group of Mission Hills $2668. That brought the fund’s cash balance as of the end of June down to $9764… Speaking of La Jolla politics, environmental super-lawyer Jan Chatten-Brown came up with $2500 for Barack Obama’s campaign on July 22. “She was the winner of the first ‘Rivey’ award by Friends of the Los Angeles River for her leadership in making the dream of a park at the Chinatown Cornfield and Taylor Yard come true,” says her website bio. Her law firm has of late been involved in battling the controversial Navy-Broadway project proposed by Union-Tribune owner Doug Manchester’s Manchester Investment Group.