Byzantine path marks Lincoln Club’s political money

It may be the dog days of summer, but San Diego's pro-Republican Lincoln Club is casting a wide net for cash with which to knock off an effort by Tiffany Boyd-Hodgson to unseat Fifth District GOP County Supervisor Jim Desmond.

A cascade of filings this month by a campaign committee calling itself the North County Leadership Council Opposed to Boyd-Hodgson for Supervisor 2022, sponsored by the Lincoln Club of San Diego County has revealed a some of the Republican’s monied base behind the effort, virtually sure to guarantee an avalanche of political hit pieces from the rough-and-tumble club.

The committee’s creation was filed with the county Registrar of Voters August 12.

Notable donors include GOP ex-Assemblyman Martin Garrick of Rancho Santa Fe, listed on an August 18 disclosure as an investor in Admiral Property Company, with $25,000 on August 17.

Garrick became known statewide when he was busted by the California Highway Patrol for driving under the influence on July 15, 2011

The inebriated Assembly member "was spotted by California Highway Patrol bicycle patrol officers at 9:36 p.m. Wednesday as he was heading north on 11th Street in Sacramento in his state-issued Toyota Camry, driving 45 mph in the 25-mph zone," wrote SFGate.com

"He ran a stop sign at O Street and did not slow when the officers tried to stop him, driving into the Capitol parking garage."

"The CHP report says Garrick was released to the custody of Derek Radey of the Assembly Special Services Unit by 11:30 p.m., ninety minutes after his arrest," per an account of the incident cited by Sacramento TV station KCRA on July 22, 2011

Another August 18 contribution to the anti-Boyd-Hodgson cause was $25,000 from San Diego Mission Valley developer Tom Sudberry.

$15,000 arrived on August 15 from a political committee registered as the Community Leadership Coalition sponsored by The Lincoln Club of San Diego County.

Earlier this year, that committee took a $20,000 contribution from a firm run by Ventura car racing magnate Gene Haas.

The money was ultimately intended for an “Independent Expenditure Committee supporting Jeff Gorell for Ventura County Supervisor in District 2," according to a Haas major donor filing with the California Secretary of State.

According to the so-called leadership coalition’s first half disclosure filed with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, $29,750 went to Gorell's committee on May 26.

Gorell, an ex-GOP Assemblyman, achieved a barely second place finish in the race and is headed for a November runoff against Democratic front-runner Claudia Bill-de la Peña.