David Alvarez

It's the first week of April, time for San Diego's politicos to fess up about the outside income they received and the gifts and trips they accepted in 2014.

Katherine Stuart

As usual, mayor Kevin Faulconer did well in the money-making department, thanks to his wife Katherine Stuart and her convention consulting business known as Restaurant Events, Inc.

The fair market value of that enterprise was pegged between $100,000 and $1 million on Faulconer's latest financial disclosure report, covering last year and filed with the city clerk's office on April 1. Gross income was reported to have been greater than $100,000.

Unlike in years past, the business had no single source of revenue of $10,000 or more, the disclosure said.

As noted here last year, Stuart’s specialty is arranging for the closing of city streets for giant corporate bashes, including one for 3100 attendees at the Washington DC–based Biotechnology Industry Association.

In June 2014, the association arranged with Stuart to have the city shut down several blocks in the lower Gaslamp Quarter for a private evening of rock music and drinking.

Workers at the event said no photography was allowed, and two San Diego police officers subsequently emerged from behind the fenced-off expanse to question a reporter positioned outside the party.

Following the encounter, one of the cops discussed the matter with a private security official. "He can waste his time," said the officer of the reporter. "Obviously he has nothing better to do than film. He can’t come through here, he knows that, I’m sure.”

Of late, Stuart has also been playing a high-profile role in her husband's One San Diego, the mayor's image-burnishing nonprofit corporation that enjoys heavy financial backing from San Diego Gas & Electric, Pardee, the San Diego Padres, Sunroad and a host of other special interests with business at city hall.

In addition to Restaurant Events, Faulconer's disclosure lists stock valued at between $2000 to $10,000 in Rancho Bernardo–based ImageWear Systems, Inc., "a leading provider of identity management solutions driven by multi-modal biometrics," according to the company website.

On the travel front, the filing shows that the mayor's May trip to promote himself at the Republican National Committee's spring meeting in Memphis was paid for by the national GOP, which kicked in $440 for "airfare/hotel.”

"Tonight we’re all enjoying a welcome reception with San Diego Mayor Faulconer, who will talk about the help the CAGOP and RNC gave to ground game and data and tech efforts, and Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant as we get started on a very successful and productive Spring Meeting!" wrote Toni Anne Dashiell, a national committeewoman from Texas, on Facebook.

Jason Roe

Chimed in Jason Roe, Faulconer's top political aide: “Democrats need hate, for lack of a better word, to get the base to turn out. Kevin is not a hateful guy. Even if you’re a Democrat, you don’t hate the guy.”

In addition to his Southern swing, Faulconer, said to aspire to higher office, also headlined the Santa Clara County Republican Party's annual Trunk & Tusk Reception on October 5, for which the group came up with $415 to cover the mayor's airfare, according to the disclosure.

The mayor was not the only recipient of politically oriented free travel, with two city-council Democrats also accepting sizable gratuities.

Todd Gloria

Former council president Todd Gloria went to a four-day conference in January of last year worth $1910, courtesy of the Washington DC–based Aspen Institute's Rodel fellowship program.

"The Rodel Fellowship program is open by invitation only to men and women who are in publicly elected office and who are ideally between the ages of 25 and 50," according to Aspen's website.

"Selected on an annual basis, each class consists of 24 Fellows, identified by the program's leadership as America's emerging political leaders with reputations for intellect, thoughtfulness, and a commitment to civil dialogue. The 24-month fellowship program consists of three weekend-long seminars, generally held in Aspen, Colorado."

As reported here previously, Aspen Institute has long been a major sponsor of travel for Democratic Congresswoman Susan Davis, Gloria's political mentor.

Gloria's fellow Democrat David Alvarez, who fell to Faulconer in the 2014 mayor's race, spent considerable freebie time on the road, the disclosures show.

In March of last year, the Center for Popular Democracy came up with $946 for a two-day trip. The group also paid $1250 for a two-day June excursion, and $864 for a two-day December outing.

Backed by labor unions including the American Federation of Teachers and the public worker Service Employees International Union, the Brooklyn, New York–based organization "works to create equity, opportunity and a dynamic democracy in partnership with high-impact base-building organizations, organizing alliances, and progressive unions," according to its website.

Alvarez's March trip was to Seattle, where he appeared on a panel of "elected leaders from eight of the nation’s largest cities" to "strategize about how their cities can revive the national economy and combat income inequality by raising the minimum wage," a news release said.

In addition, his disclosure filing shows, Alvarez traveled from September 7 through 10 courtesy of $1599 from the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored a lobbying trip to the nation's capital during that period led by the mayor.

And from September 25 through 28, Alvarez was on the road again thanks to $1136 from the California Endowment. According to its website, the endowment sponsored a "participatory budget" conference in San Francisco during that time.