Georgette Gomez pulling in gay and labor money

Dem-on-Dem race gets expensive

Serious special interest money continues to pour into the Democrat-on-Democrat 80th District special election race to replace resigned Assembly Democrat Lorena Gonzalez on April 5. Georgette Gomez, an ex-member of the San Diego city council, picked up $3000 from the Barona Band of Mission Indians on March 21. Other donors included Equality California PAC ($4900, March 21), the LGBT Caucus Leadership Fund ($4900, March 18), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569 PAC ($4900, March 19), and the Local Societies of the California Optometric Assoc PAC $4900, March 14).

A separate pro-Gomez fund, calling itself “Nurses and Educators for Georgette Gomez for Assembly 2022 sponsored by labor organizations,” took in even bigger chunks of money, including $20,000 from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Caucus Leadership Fund on March 18 and $100,000 from Million More Voters Sponsored by the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO on March 10.

(The cash behind the gay leadership committee, a January 26 filing shows, includes $25,000 from the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California PAC, received September 14 of last year, and $8000 from cellphone giant Verizon the same day.) The California State Council of Service Employees Political Committee gave $85,000 to the pro-Gomez committee on March 9, and the PACE of California School Employees Association gave $50,000, also on March 9. The committee’s spending has included $77,500 for a “TV ad” on March 17, $22,608.58 for a mailer the day before, and $15,000 for polling on March 15.

Meanwhile, Gomez’s opponent David Alvarez, another ex-member of the San Diego city council, got $3500 from the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation on March 21, along with $1500 from the Caterpillar, Inc. Federal PAC. The day before, Ben Badiee of Badiee Development, Inc. came up with $4900. The La Jolla-based developer has of late been hustling new industrial space in the state capital Sacramento, that city’s Business Journal reported on January 28 of this year.

“I just see that Sacramento was not on the map for institutional investors,” Badiee told the publication regarding the $250 million on projects he seeks to launch there. “Badiee Development has already started work on its first project, called Metro Air Park Logistics Center I,” per the account. “That project consists of two industrial buildings of 183,000 and 125,000 square feet and should be complete by August.” On March 17, Alvarez got money from the Barona Band of Mission Indians ($3000), the California Credit Union League PAC ($2500), DoorDash, Inc. ($4900), and the California Permanente Medical Groups PAC ($2000).

Money marks Marks spot

An independent campaign fund favoring Jordan Marks, a top aide to San Diego Assessor Ernest Dronenberg, is getting big money from traditional Republican funding sources. Attorney Marks is ramping up for battle with ex-San Diego city council Democrat Barbara Bry to replace the departing Dronenberg.

Atop the list of pro-Marks givers is financier David Malcolm, whose La Playa LLC kicked in $5000 on March 16 to San Diegans for Tax Fairness Supporting Jordan Marks for Assessor 2022. In April 2003, Malcolm copped a plea to a felony conflict of interest charge regarding his acceptance of a $20,000 monthly fee from San Diego Unified Port District tenant Duke Energy while dealing with the firm as a port commissioner. Anteing up more than a quarter-million dollars of fines and costs, Malcolm did 80 days of a 120-day sentence to a work furlough program. He later got a judge to reduce the felony charge to a misdemeanor and then dismiss the case entirely, restoring his voting privilege. Malcolm was a longtime giver to the charities run by the late Father Joe Carroll, who, in a February 24, 2010, Union-Tribune dispatch praised his benefactor’s sharp operating style. “You don’t get anywhere if you don’t push the envelope... He’s very opportunistic. That’s in his nature. He looks for great deals.”

Another inside giver to the pro-Marks cause is lawyer Brian Seltzer of the downtown law and real estate lobbying firm Seltzer, Caplan, who came up with $5000 on March 4. Marks has also been picking up cash for his personally controlled campaign committee, with donors including Gabriel Matthews of Lakeside’s Christian Brothers Emergency Building Services ($1800, March 22), real estate magnate Sumeet Parekh of HP Investors ($1000, March 21), ex-La Mesa planning commissioner Robert Duggan ($1000, March 18), developer John C. Raymond of the Raymond Companies, ($1800, March 17), lawyer Kenneth Lounsbery of Lounsbery Ferguson ($1800, March 17), Phillip Teyssier of Atomic Investments ($1300, March 16), and developer Michael Furby of Marathon Construction Corp. ($1000, March 13). No 2022 fundraising disclosures for Bry have been posted online by the county. According to a January 25 filing covering 2021, her election committee raised $156,610 and had cash of $113,631 in the bank on December 31. Donors included lawyer Cory Briggs ($250, December 21), Daniel Bradbury of Equilibrium, Inc. ($900, November 24), Geoffrey Berg of Inland Industries Group ($900, November 5), John Kratzer of JMI Realty ($1800, December 31), and Gregorio Gallicot of controversial troop phone provider BBG Communications ($1800, October 11).

— Matt Potter

(@sdmattpotter)

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