Pit bully

Jan Combative GOP San Diego city attorney Jan Goldsmith has long been a fan of the corporate and real-estate lobbying group that calls itself the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. Last year he dressed up as a chorus boy to prance behind someone in a pit bull costume for the group’s tongue-in-cheek musical banquet video.

But there was no big turn by Goldsmith at this year’s lobbyists’ fun-and-funding fest. The termed-out official wound up paying full fare for his $225 meal, using cash from his leftover campaign stash. Besides that expenditure, Goldsmith tapped into his committee to donate $2500 to the local Republican Party and pay his campaign treasurer April Boling $750. He still had $4549 left in the bank as of June 30. Word on the street is Goldsmith won’t be looking to run for any office again, preferring to claim a high-paid position at one of downtown’s pricey legal and lobbying shops.

A likely landing pad, some suspect, is Sheppard Mullin, onetime home to Superior Court judge Tim Taylor, and current professional residence of so-called First Amendment lawyer GuyLyn Cummins. She represented a group of media outlets in a successful attempt to pry loose the infamous Edward Susumo Azano endorsement letter from recently reelected Republican district attorney Bonnie Dumanis. Goldsmith’s connections could eventually earn him as much as $750,000 annually as a lobbyist, says one legal expert.