Sempra, parent of San Diego Gas & Electric, “contributed more than a quarter of a million dollars to candidates, including half of all sitting California lawmakers, in the first two quarters of 2023,” says a Sacramento Bee report, based on a recent study by the non-profit California Climate Accountability Project.

Toni’s Sempra connection

The biggest donor to California state legislators during the first half of this year was none other than San Diego-based utility giant Sempra Energy. So reports the Sacramento Bee in a September 28 analysis. Sempra, parent of San Diego Gas & Electric, “contributed more than a quarter of a million dollars to candidates, including half of all sitting California lawmakers, in the first two quarters of 2023,” says the Bee report, based on a recent study by the non-profit California Climate Accountability Project. “Climate experts connect Sempra’s campaign spending to a legislative push to support expensive technologies that would help its subsidiaries stay in business and prolong dependence on fossil fuels, particularly hydrogen and carbon capture and storage,” says the Bee. Per the paper’s account, “In the final days of this year’s legislative session, Sempra asked lawmakers to introduce a bill that would allow gas companies to charge ratepayers for company investments in those technologies. 

Climate law lawyer Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, smiling through it

“The company also helped propose legislation to speed up the approval process for hydrogen production and transportation. Neither of the bills gained traction. That’s after a final push for more state funding toward hydrogen car fueling stations ended with middling success.” Sempra isn’t the only big energy outfit to open its pocketbook to legislators. Termed out San Diego state Senate Democrat Toni Atkins, collecting cash to run for Lieutenant Governor in 2026, raked in $5000 from Sempra Energy on October 24. She got the same amount the same day from Houston-based Calpine Corp., another big power generator in the state. Calpine’s carbon capture scheme for the Sutter Energy Center, a natural gas-fired generating plant it owns in Yuba City, has stirred fierce controversy. “It takes so much energy to compress the gas and move it through the pipeline to inject it in a storage facility, which is fueled by an onsite power plant, so it just contributes to the same problem,” Victoria Bogdan Tejeda, a climate law attorney, was quoted as saying by the Sacramento News & Review in an August 23 dispatch.

Boozy U

UCSD’s Department of Theatre and Dance, known for partying and being financially underwater, has now drawn scrutiny by the school’s internal auditors. “Our review included an event (Wagner New Play Festival Closing) with the most attendees and expenses that was held on May 14, 2022,” per a recently released June audit. “It featured beverage service by an outside contractor and food by UCSD catering. However, we noted that the business purpose was not documented. Though no state funds paid for the event, compliance with UC policy on documenting the business purpose is still required.” A raft of other events fared no better at the hands of auditors. “Five of the nine events we reviewed were missing attendee lists,” says the document, going on to warn that boozing was too loosely tracked. “Alcohol was not separated in one instance, though the event was not charged to state funds. On another event, only the total charges are documented, so it is not possible to determine if alcohol was involved, which is a consideration as the event was paid from state funds. University policy prohibits using state funds to pay for alcohol.”

John McCann, great at fostering public-private cooperation.

By way of background, the report says, “Unlike most academic departments, Theatre & Dance does not have a faculty chair. The Dean’s office has funded the costs of an Executive Advisor who has been in place as of October 26, 2020. Also, since the last internal audit, there has been turnover in the administrative office, including of the Chief Administrative Officer and the support staff.” Money woes have been chronic. “Theatre and Dance has faced a substantial deficit throughout FY 2021-22.” However, “the Department’s Chief Administrative Officer has been collaborating with the Arts & Humanities Dean’s Office to address the deficit. For FY 2021-22, the Department had approximately $11.5 million in expenditures, of which approximately $10.9 million (95%) went to compensation, and $0.55 million went to non-compensation expenditures.” As a result of the audit’s findings “Theatre and Dance will include the required documentation and seek approval for the Wagner New Play Festival Closing event as per University policy and guidelines.”

Seven miles of money

Chula Vista mayor John McCann, noted for tapping his business benefactors to pay for city events in which he has a role, has most recently gotten into the pockets of Seven Mile Casino, the gambling emporium run by San Diego-based Elevation Entertainment. At McCann’s behest, the casino gave $5000 to the City of Chula Vista on September 21 to sponsor McCann’s 2023 State of the City speech, according to an October 3 disclosure filing. Also at McCann’s behest, Seven Mile kicked in $3000 on September 21 for the 2023 Celebration of El Grito Mexican Independence Day, and $1000 on August 9 for the 2023 Boards and Commissions Recognition Event, per another October 3 disclosure. Then on September 21, Seven Mile gave $20,000 to the city’s 2023 Starlight Parade and Festival, says an October 5 behest filing by McCann. In addition, developer HomeFed Corp. came up with $5000 on September 15 for the same event, as revealed in a separate October 5 McCann filing. This past summer, according to a June 17 Union-Tribune account, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed special legislation exempting Chula Vista from the state’s Surplus Land Act, which mandates public land sales must first be offered for so-called affordable housing. “With state approval, city officials said they can now focus on resuming negotiations with HomeFed Corp., the master developer Chula Vista wants to implement its university and innovation district. The corporation also owns property adjacent to the university land,” per the U-T story. In a statement cited by the paper, McCann declared: “After decades of planning and work to secure 383 acres, we are now able to continue negotiations that will advance the University-Innovation District.” 

— Matt Potter  (@sdmattpotter) 

The Reader offers $25 for news tips published in this column. Call our voice mail at 619-235-3000, ext. 440, or sandiegoreader.com/staff/matt-potter/contact/.