Dumanis aide sings the blues

As the U-T San Diego’s mini-tempest over Bonnie Dumanis’s endorsement letter on behalf of the son of political money-laundering defendant José Susumo Azano quickly fades to black, the GOP district attorney has continued to spend money on Sacramento lobbying with nary a mention. According to her office’s latest filing with the California secretary of state, dated July 22, Dumanis laid out $32,466 during the second quarter of this year to pay the lobbying portion of special assistant Gail Stewart-Brockman’s salary. An additional $4260 of the taxpayers’ money went to cover Southwest Airlines tickets and two $343 tabs at the Hyatt Regency hotel across the street from the capitol building.

Before she was “legislative director” for Dumanis, Stewart-Brockman was a campaign consultant, and earlier a TV reporter at KFMB. “When I am not climbing mountains and running trails, I am singing the blues and playing harmonica!!!” says her LinkedIn page. “Life is good.” The website of her current band, “Give Me Back My Wig,” adds, “The group’s distinctive and powerful blues sound” features “the fabulous soulful charm of Gail Stewart (‘Lil G’).” Stewart-Brockman’s Reverbnation.com profile might cause some to wonder at her busy non-Dumanis schedule: “She also fronts a family R & B band in SF called the J Stewart Blues Band. They play private/corporate parties. Both bands gig! Still, she has another intention — She writes indie folk songs and would love to find the right person/group to help her incorporate them in a creative new acoustic project with an eye on upscale, small venues. Are you game?”