Wealthy out-of-town contractors doing business with the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG for short) continued right up until the end to give big money to the agency’s ultimately failed sales-tax-raising Measure A, which fell …
If all the ex–San Diegans on president-elect Donald Trump's reputed short list for administration posts get their gigs, the city could be one of the best represented in Washington's new era. Billionaire University of San …
They appeared to be some of the darkest days of Doug Manchester’s life back in the summer of 2014, as the San Diego developer and Republican kingpin struggled to find enough cash to finance a …
Speculation regarding which San Diegans are in and which are out in the dawning age of Donald Trump's Washington is well underway, with strong opinions by Forbes contributor Tim Worstall about the accelerated status of …
Two big San Diego losers in this week's election are looking for a big-money, tax-funded consolation prize in the form of a hurry-up city-council power-play that could ultimately forever emblazon the name of Qualcomm and …
Assemblyman Ben Hueso sat down to talk with representatives of San Diego–based Sempra Energy at Chula Vista’s Country Waffles on September 8, according to the company’s recent third quarter lobbying report. His tab was $13.89. …
Word from city hall has it that Democratic billionaire Irwin Jacobs’s deal to bulldoze a new road through Balboa Park to a big automated parking garage he favors is exceeding cost estimates, requiring taxpayers to …
As votes are counted for this year's San Diego general election, Wall Street analysts are likely to have their eyes on an experiment that could have a crucial effect on the ultimate survival of the …
A San Diego State University-affiliated website has weighed into the big-money controversy over North County's proposed Lilac Hills Ranch housing development, going after what it says are undisclosed campaign contributions from an alleged "dark money" …
San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer — whose ambitions for higher office are said by critics to have motivated his behind-the-scenes deal with the wealthy Republican Spanos clan to back a new tax-subsidized stadium and meeting …
Presidential politics is about the imperial exercise of power, but this year, agents from a much older empire have seemingly penetrated the deepest realms of America’s ruling establishment, scattering secrets both profound and embarrassing across …
An old Bill Clinton White House hand has shown up in the WikiLeaks dump of Hillary Clinton campaign honcho John Podesta’s emails, singing the free-trade praises of La Jolla Democratic House member Scott Peters. “I …
San Diego Republican mayor Kevin Faulconer, a veteran of the high-dollar public relations world via the firm of NCG Porter Novelli, has tapped a Democratic practitioner of the art of spin to run his flagging …
With the election little more than a week away, questions continue to bedevil San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer regarding the motives behind his deal with the Chargers to endorse the team's tax-subsidized downtown stadium and …
It may be curtains for media giant Gannett's multibillion-dollar deal for tronc, the Chicago-based newspaper chain that owns San Diego's Union-Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, leaving employees of the troubled print-based business in more …
The Union-Tribune’s Successful Aging Expo last month featured booths for Carefree Vacations and Eyeglass World. But one sponsor raised eyebrows among some: the Hemlock Society, with tips on how to best use the state’s new …
A bid by the San Diego Association of Governments, otherwise known as SANDAG, the tax-financed public agency in charge of funding everything from freeway routes to trolleys and buses here, has run into some resistance …
The ghosts of two of San Diego's most controversial real estate moguls live on among the ranks of September San Diego donors to the Clinton and Trump presidential campaigns. Son of a San Diego bootlegger …
The old downtown public library was notorious for hosting legions of homeless inebriates haunting the stacks. Now the city is looking for a vendor who can purvey the hard stuff to higher-dollar crowds. “From a …
San Diego Republicans are facing off against liberal billionaire George Soros in an improbable big-money brawl about whether the city should change its election laws. The way it is now, candidates for city office who …
As questions continue about why San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer has endorsed a hike in the city’s hotel tax to pay for a new $1.8 billion Chargers downtown stadium and meeting venue, the controversy has …
The man most responsible for the expansion of Qualcomm stadium for the Chargers in 1997, ultimately handing the team a taxpayer-funded venue and a controversial ticket guarantee — along with an out-of-town exit pass — …
As the cost of running campaigns in San Diego has grown, so has the influx of major corporate and union contributions. An example is the big money rolling into the San Diego Chamber of Commerce’s …
Ever since his slate of members for election to the homeowners’ association board that runs Rancho Santa Fe was defeated in a controversy-filled election this past summer, mega-millionaire ex–Padres owner John Moores has gone to …
With this week's death of Chargers minority owner George Pernicano at 98, his heirs may be looking at a $60 million payout from his 3 percent interest in the team, according to a back-of-the-envelope calculation …
Before she became a PBS news star, Margaret Garrard Warner was a reporter in the 1970s at the San Diego Union, the newspaper owned by wealthy Republican Helen Copley and run by editor Jerry Warren, …
The Infrastructure PAC of the Associated General Contractors has been giving heavily to back some controversial school bond measures around San Diego County appearing on November’s ballot — with one glaring exception. On September 15, …
Democratic congresswoman Susan Davis of San Diego’s Kensington neighborhood was once one of the House of Representatives’ most-traveled members, thanks to a bevy of nonprofit, corporation-supported foundations eager to provide her with free trips abroad, …
The National Football League, known for its cast of loyal political bedfellows, has just picked up yet another apprentice, said by insiders to be enticed by the enormous pile of cash the league's mega-billionaire owners …
The money-stuffed fists of San Diego Gas & Electric, subsidiary of utility giant Sempra, have once against demonstrated the company's formidable political punch by injecting a sizable dose of corporate cash into an event accruing …
How rich are members of the Spanos family, the NFL owners asking San Diego city voters to hike the tax on hotel visits and hand it over to subsidize a $1.8 billion professional football and …
San Diego State University may be more noted for sports than the humanities, but school higher-ups are currently looking to hire what they call a Digital Humanist. Not a robot, but “a humanities scholar who …
Yet another turn of the San Diego City Council staff’s rapidly revolving high-dollar door has landed former Chris Cate aide Julianna Chick in the offices of California Strategies, the influential lobbying and government affairs outfit …
San Diego congressman Duncan Hunter, who took sustained political fire earlier this year for personal use of campaign funds and since hired a lawyer to deal with the legal and regulatory fallout, took advantage of …
Democrat Hillary Clinton bumped up her San Diego county fundraising game last month, collecting a total of $520,590 from county residents, compared to a July take of $435,595, according to a computer analysis of the …
As closed-door talks continue over a possible takeover of Chicago-based tronc, owner of the Union-Tribune, by giant newspaper chain Gannett Co., some are hoping for yet another fresh start for the San Diego daily, hobbled …
Some county gun owners are said to be irate about a recent local political endorsement by the Washington DC–based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, but whether they will be loosening their campaign purse strings …
UCSD’s big-budget public relations department, charged with playing up good news at the taxpayer-financed school, doesn’t always do as well relaying the solemn aspects of university life and death. Such was the case last month …
Don't call them building-industry special interests — they'd rather be known as "a coalition of construction professionals to repair San Diego's roads," according to campaign disclosure filings. But by any name, Yes on A forces, …
San Diego's big shark in a small pond, otherwise known as Sempra Energy — long noted for having a hand in behind-the-scenes major money doings of local politicos and media outlets — is currently flexing …
San Diego cops are having trouble keeping track of their weapons stash, based on an inventory of lost or missing firearms recently released by the city after a request under the California public records act. …
A group of Muslim students from high schools around the county have set up a campaign committee to gather cash for political causes, according to an August 12 filing with the county registrar of voters. …
San Diego City Council Democrat David Alvarez, who collected a sizable war chest to back his June bid and those of his allies to obtain spots on the party’s central committee, is deploying the leftovers …
In an effort to brand the new downtown library as a high-dollar private event venue, the city is searching for a bevy of exclusive gourmet caterers. “Since its opening in September 2013, the Library has …
San Diego's big-money campaign money-raising merry-go-round has shifted into high gear, with cash from both big business and big labor pouring in for local political causes. Among the heaviest hitters so far is the International …
Republican Ray Ellis has bowed out of his runoff race against Democrat Barbara Bry, who bested him by a sizable margin in the June primary to succeed La Jolla city councilwoman Sherri Lightner. Now a …
Mayor Kevin Faulconer has pledged not to seek higher office during his current term, but his best backers can always hope. Last October, email recovered from San Diego’s ethics commission shows, the mayor took off …
With the November election swiftly approaching, the campaigns of the two major party contenders are going about the business of raising California cash, including a La Jolla appearance by Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence. Set …
While San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer continues to dally about whether he will support or oppose a new tax-subsidized stadium for the Chargers, the team is upping the ante for the politically ambitious Republican by …
San Diegans could be eating more locally caught fresh fish, snails, squid, and lobsters, says a new study by academics from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and USD, but globalization and a lack of reliable …