Kristin Gaspar may get Remer-ed, Sheriff Gore's van is rockin'

Liberal Terra firma

Political hopefuls continue to pile into next year’s San Diego races for city council and county supervisor, portending a costly scramble for votes as term limits continue to take their toll on previously entrenched incumbents. But one high-profile liberal already has filed to raise cash to knock-off Third District supervisor Kristin Gaspar in 2020. The narrowly-elected first-term Republican’s bid to take California’s 49th District House seat, formerly occupied by the GOP’s Darrell Issa, faltered after she huddled with Donald Trump at a White House anti-sanctuary parley. Now Terra Lawson-Remer, daughter of attorney Shari Lawson-Remer and her husband political consultant Larry Remer, has emerged to contest Gaspar’s reelection.

The younger Lawson-Remer is most noted among politicos for rappelling down the front of the Plaza Hotel with a banner protesting the 2004 Republican Convention that re-nominated George W. Bush for the presidency. Then 26 and a newly-minted Yale alum, she was a grad student at New York University studying for a law degree and a doctorate in law and society. “This has nothing to do with First Amendment rights,’’ New York’s then-mayor Michael Bloomberg stormed to reporters following word that Lawson-Remer and three young accomplices had been held for 25 hours in Manhattan’s municipal lock-up before arraignment on felony and misdemeanor assault charges, per the New York Times. “You can express yourself, but you don’t have a right to put other people’s lives at risk.’’

More recently, Lawson-Remer has been a fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, looking into “the determinants and consequences of sustainable development, socio-economic exclusion, poverty and inequality, and human rights fulfillment within and across generations,” per the school’s website. A one-time Obama administration aide, she’s also associated with UCSD’s Center on Global Transformation and claims credit for working to get Democrat Mike Levin elected to his 49th District House Seat last year.

Her father Larry Remer, whose clients have included San Diego politicos from fallen Republican mayor Roger Hedgecock to House Democrat Juan Vargas, along with Southern California Edison, is widely expected to play a low-key but significant role.

Among Remer’s many other clients over the years was Peter Navarro, the Trump trade honcho who once ran for mayor of San Diego, among other offices. “My campaign consultant was a guy named Larry Remer. I would not want to go through life with that last name. But given his approach to politics, the name is appropriate because Larry usually reams the crap out of the opposition,” wrote Navarro in "San Diego Confidential," his 1998 campaign memoir.

Next year’s contest could see a nasty high-dollar campaign by both left and right, including the take-no-prisoners GOP Lincoln Club, famous for its last-minute hit-pieces.

Vegetarian’s Kosher lock-down

San Diego’s county jail has gotten a bad rap from some for its number of inmate suicides and mishandling of those confined there, but the institution offers choices of cuisine. “The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department requires a one-year Blanket Purchase Agreement with Four Optional years for the purchase of Vegetarian Kosher approved meals for San Diego Sheriff’s Food Services. Menu changes may occur annually,” says a request for bids due February 15. The frozen meals “must be prepared in a Kosher kitchen with a Rabbi on site during meal production,” and “have a shelf life of three months minimum.”

But no discussions, religious or otherwise, with prisoners. “The Vendor or the Vendor’s employees shall keep communication with inmate workers to a strict minimum. No personal conversations are to take place between the Vendor or the Vendor’s employees and the inmates. A violation of this procedure may result in the ‘termination’ of the existing contract”

This van’s rockin’

Besides food, Sheriff Bill Gore has also been out shopping for a new Ford “armored tactical van,” boasting “undercover Police light package with siren,” a “rear undercover curtain,” and “covert surveillance equipment.” Says a notice for bids, “The covert exterior surveillance system shall have a 360-degree camera system consisting of at least four cameras installed to show the exterior view from the front, back and sides of the van.”

Delivery was set for March 29, 2019, but since the January announcement, bidding has been cancelled, at least for now. The rig was to have been used by the sheriff’s Special Enforcement Detail aka SWAT, which furnishes “tactical support, high-risk warrant service, directed patrol investigative support, chemical agent support, crowd control, specialized training, crowd control, dignitary protection, detentions support, court services support, and special events,” says the section’s webpage.