The bare necessities

A decade after the Cheetahs strip-club bribery scandal rocked San Diego’s city hall, resulting in the indictment of three city-council members (one, Ralph Inzunza, ended up doing hard time in a Central Valley federal lockup), the local adult-entertainment industry is trying for a comeback. And, lo and behold, an old Inzunza political friend is leading the charge. According to his latest lobbyist disclosure filing, dated November 1, Marco Polo Cortes and Cortes Communications, LLC, was paid an impressive $15,000 by the San Diego Hospitality & Entertainment Coalition during the third quarter of this year. The topic of influence is listed as “fair and reasonable regulation” regarding “any matter related to the adult/nude entertainment industry.” Cortes, who in 2002 was a member of Inzunza’s regular lunch and golf bunch, hanging out at posh local eateries and around the links of the National City golf course, met with three San Diego cops, the filing shows: assistant chief Cesar Solis, lieutenant Dan Plein, and Jericho Salvador, the department’s public records liaison. In that role, Salvador recently responded to a request for records concerning the department’s use of aerial robots for surveillance by saying, “The San Diego Police Department does not have any ‘drones’ or unmanned aerial systems.”