The Chargers play horrible football, but their administrative brain trust plays a helluva game of chess. Of course, that brain trust is competing against a pitifully weak opponent: the San Diego city attorney's office. Last …
December 4, 2003
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Stories by Don Bauder (RIP)
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San Diego as Patsy
A Metabolife Death
On November 15 at 8:54 p.m., certified public accountant Michael Compton died of a gunshot wound to the head. The county medical examiner's office ruled it a suicide. Compton, who lived in Spring Valley, was …
November 26, 2003
Widespread Wink and Nod
In 1999, a vice president of San Diego's Peregrine Systems, holding out an envelope containing between $25,000 and $50,000 in cash, approached the president of a small reseller of Peregrine software. The loot would go …
November 20, 2003
Smoke Blowers
As politicians, real estate developers, and other sharks know, voters will fall for con jobs about creation of jobs. That's why, as the post-fire rhetoric heats up, we must discern who is blowing hot air, …
November 13, 2003
The Looting Was Done Long Before the Fire
The fire next time is likely to be more devastating than this time. Politically, culturally, and journalistically, San Diego appears incapable of rectifying the scandalous inadequacies that contributed so heavily to the recent inferno. Where …
November 6, 2003
Crapshoot Park
If you're looking for a quiet spot to contemplate the great mysteries of the day -- such as why the current stock market is so speculative -- you might take a seat at San Diego's …
October 30, 2003
Liars
In Gilbert and Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard, the strolling jester, Jack Point, convinces the head jailer and assistant tormentor, Wilfred Shadbolt, to tell a fat fib about an escaped prisoner. Together, Jack and Wilfred …
October 23, 2003
Who Ran Zandria?
On December 6, 1998, attorney B. Roland Frasier III, who resides in Rancho Santa Fe, was touting his book, Asset Protection for Everyone: Secrets to Legally Safeguarding Your Hard-Earned Money, Home & Business. "I never …
October 16, 2003
Burger Rebirth
San Diego's fabled Jack in the Box is a curious company. When it dreams big, it flops. When it dreams small, it succeeds -- often brilliantly. Fortunately, it appears that recent bad corporate news will …
October 9, 2003
Faith Scams
Pursuing the almighty dollar? Forget business school. Enroll in divinity school. San Diego criminal court records suggest that increasingly, some of the most successful -- er, uh -- entrepreneurs have the loquacity and stamina to …
October 2, 2003
City Pension Funds in Red
Drop dead. That's what City of San Diego employees, their retirement board -- and the mayor and city council -- are saying to taxpayers, as well as to current retired city workers. DROP is an …
September 25, 2003
SureBeam's Numbers Spook Investors
San Diego's SureBeam Corp. is cocksure about its technology. But investors are understandably unsure about the company's prospects. For SureBeam and its onetime parent, San Diego's Titan Corp., which Tuesday agreed to be purchased, it's …
September 18, 2003
The Zoo May Seek Compromise
Believe it or not, the 800-pound gorilla may not sit down exactly where it pleases. In the middle of last week, there was a sudden consensus shift indicating that the gorilla -- the San Diego …
September 11, 2003
Sleaze Saga
With still another scandal rocking city government, have you ever wondered how San Diego got the chauvinistic sobriquet "America's Finest City"? It's a sordid story -- justifiably sullying San Diego, its government and establishment, as …
September 4, 2003
Rednecksville
With red ink splashing all over state and local government budgets, and services being slashed deeply, any California city that would pour a subsidy into a professional sports facility is probably doomed to becoming the …
August 28, 2003
The Tax Haven Follies
If you are going to squirrel ill-gotten money in an offshore tax haven, you need the mental acuity and swiftness of a mountain lion -- not a squirrel, or in the case of a married …
August 21, 2003
A Stalled Recall
First District city councilmember Scott Peters won't be recalled this year, but his cozy relationships with developers -- and their possible behind-the-scenes role in fighting the recall -- could provide anti-Peters fuel if he runs …
August 14, 2003
The Attraction of Etc.
For many years, those all-purpose letters, "Etc.," served Anthony W. "Tony" DeSio very well. He built Mail Boxes Etc. into a highly successful national chain that managed to compete with the post office and also …
August 7, 2003
Presto Change-O, You've Been Duped
La Jollan Alfred Louis "Bobby" Vassallo claims that he knows President Bush well, mowed Ross Perot's lawn as a lad, and was personally feted at the Monaco Grand Prix by none other than Prince Albert. …
July 31, 2003
Bury Me Near the 15th Tee
A wealthy San Diego developer wants to construct what appears to be a first in American history: a private family cemetery on a public golf course, specifically designed as the final resting place for a …
July 24, 2003
Opera Buff Hornswoggle
In late 1983, U.S. troops invaded and quickly routed the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada on fears that it would become another Cuba. Today, Grenada is known as home of the most malodorous offshore banks …
July 17, 2003
Chargers Ready Taxpayer Fleece-Fest
The city and the Chargers are in secret kiss-and-tell negotiations. True to historical precedent, the city is kissing the Chargers' rear hip pads and not telling anybody. The Chargers, meanwhile, are openly telling people their …
July 10, 2003
San Diego's Boiler Room Barons
Bouquets to Ronald Duane Brouillette Jr.: He could spend more time in the pokey than his nationally notorious mentor, Harold Bailey (B.J.) Gallison. The latter is scheduled to be sentenced early this month, and the …
July 3, 2003
Ballpark Alibis Don't Wash
The Centre City Development Corp., a city-owned, nonprofit entity promoting downtown redevelopment, has only seven board members. Two have been charged with ethics violations in complaints to the Ethics Commission, along with a former member …
June 26, 2003
Bankruptcy Fattens Pioneer Attorneys
'The law is a ass, a idiot," pointed out Mr. Bumble, a minor church functionary in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist. Bumble squeezed his hat emphatically while making the perspicacious observation. These days, his hat would …
June 19, 2003
Can Ed Miller Sanitize San Diego?
Mollycoddle the malefactors and revile the reformers. It's the San Diego mentality of long standing. And it's painfully evident these days. David Malcolm, the Artful Dodger in the Padres' pocket, got off with barely a …
June 12, 2003
Death Pays Off
Ben Franklin said that time is money. Fast-talking stockbrokers and other investment peddlers say it a different way: The elderly are a ticket to quick riches. If an old person suffers an unjust monetary loss …
June 5, 2003
Slime Pays
'Anything Goes." Cole Porter wrote the music and lyrics. But it became San Diego's theme song. We don't yet know if any city councilmembers solicited bribes or improperly took money from strip-club operators wanting looser …
May 29, 2003
Get a Huge Bump, Make Millions
One week ago, shareholders of Poway's deeply troubled computer marketer Gateway blew an opportunity to rein in one of capitalism's ugliest abuses: cheap insiders' stock. In initial public offerings (IPOs), company founders -- executives, venture …
May 22, 2003
Spider in the Middle
Almost a decade ago, David Thatcher, chief financial officer of Peregrine Systems, was effervescing superlatives about his boss, John Moores, then considering purchase of the Padres. "He's interested in doing things top-notch," enthused Thatcher, pointing …
May 15, 2003
Council's Stinky Days Numbered?
When former port commissioner David Malcolm -- long known for mixing business with politics -- pleaded guilty to violating state conflict-of-interest laws last week, establishment members sighed with relief, "It's behind us." Sotto voce, they …
May 8, 2003
Leap Fat Cats Trouble Analysts
An "All You Can Eat" business strategy might work if you don't try to swallow too much debt in expanding rapidly. And when the losses soar, it's wise to slice top-management pay quickly, particularly when …
May 1, 2003
Robber Barons
Recently, Padres owner John Moores complained of "a huge streak of populism in San Diego" that, he claimed contemptuously, had contributed to ballpark delays. Similarly, in early 1997, when Herbert G. Klein, then top editor …
April 24, 2003
Cocktail-Party Corruption
San Diego's ballpark misadventure is a textbook study of a public and private leadership structure that is utterly incapable of challenging a fatuously unworkable and wholly unethical idea. Those in the establishment who knew the …
April 17, 2003
Nerds Fleece Public
The meek have not yet inherited the earth, but the nerds have taken over the world's financial system. Without meaningful reforms, the meek should refuse their inheritance, according to a superb new book, Infectious Greed: …
April 10, 2003