Get out of jail free fare

Democratic Assembly speaker Toni Atkins has been getting plenty of special-interest love from local car dealers of late. The New Car Dealers of San Diego kicked in $4100 to her reelection campaign on September 23. Kearny Pearson Ford and Kia’s John McCallan gave $1761.90, and Mossy Corporation came up with $1000. Sacramento auto dealers were also enthusiastic that day, with the New Car Dealers PAC there giving $4100. Hitchcock Automotive of the City of Industry contributed $1000. …

Jailbirds who legally fly the coop at San Diego County lockups are about to get a new free ride. That’s the word from the sheriff’s office, which is advertising for a taxicab company to provide “one-way transportation services from [the] George Bailey Detention Facility and East Mesa Re-Entry Facility in Otay Mesa to the Iris Avenue Trolley Station” for just-released inmates. According to the county’s request for bids, “the average number of trips per day is expected to be twelve on weekdays, and five on holidays and weekends” at Bailey, and “four every day of the week” for East Mesa. Pick-ups are between 7 a.m. and 1 o’clock in the morning. County taxi medallions in good standing are required. And don’t be late: “Response to calls shall average less than 45 minutes.” The cost to taxpayers remains so far unrevealed. ...

San Diego county’s deputy district attorneys, who helped reelect their boss, Republican D.A. Bonnie Dumanis earlier this year over the inept effort of sometime criminal defense attorney Bob Brewer, are back for some more political combat. This time, according to a September 29 disclosure filing, the deputies’ political action committee, known as San Diegans Against Crime, is backing Brad Weinreb for a seat on the Superior Court bench. “Rapists. Child Molesters. Violent Gang Members. Murderers. Sexual Predators,” says Weinreb’s website. “Brad has been a State Prosecutor in San Diego for almost 25 years dedicated to making sure these criminals remain off our streets.” In addition to the $1000 the deputies gave Weinreb, they came up with the same for the committee to defeat Proposition 47, the “Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative” backed by retired San Diego police chief William Lansdowne.