Ripe pickens

She rides with the rural horsey set in Rancho Santa Fe, but the heart of Madeleine Pickens, ex-wife of billionaire Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, appears to be in the big city of San Diego. Her political pocketbook is there anyway, rooting for Republican mayoral candidate Kevin Faulconer. According to a campaign disclosure report filed last week, Pickens, known for her love of wild horses and other living things, gave $1000 to Faulconer’s campaign on October 13. In 2008, she kicked in $12,500 to a state ballot measure to ban allegedly cruel confinement of chickens and other animals on California farms. And back in 2005, the tall blonde chartered a Continental jet to fly 120 dogs and cats out of hurricane-ravaged New Orleans. Aside from good canine and feline deeds, Pickens also set a record in 2005 for pricey local mansion buys when she paid $35 million for a Del Mar beach house. Her next-door neighbors there are Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs; he’s a son of billionaire Qualcomm founder and Barack Obama backer Irwin Jacobs, who has mobilized his corporate and family assets in a big-money battle to elect newly minted Democrat Nathan Fletcher mayor. The younger Jacobses anted up a paltry total of $29 million for their own beachfront spread.