La Jolla investor, philanthropist, and charter school advocate R.B. “Buzz” Woolley came up with a disappointing loss last week when his chosen candidate for state superintendent of public instruction, Democratic state senator Gloria Romero, placed …
The Navy is preparing to resume live fire near the sands of Coronado after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers signed off last month on a plan to establish a “naval danger zone” in the …
La Jolla financier and public affairs philanthropist R.B. “Buzz” Woolley has teamed up with Netflix founder Reed Hastings in a high-dollar independent campaign on behalf of South Gate city clerk and ex-teacher Carmen Avalos, who …
Lobbyist and lawyer Paul Robinson has been appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the governing board of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, replacing another lawyer and lobbyist, John Davies, who quietly quit in …
State attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown dispatched a news release last week touting a $549,000 grant his office had made to the California Arts Council, using some of the money paid by …
Balboa Park’s Old Globe Theatre escaped the great financial meltdown of 2008 relatively unscathed, at least according to its IRS return covering the 12-month period ending in December 2008 and filed last November 18. The …
The California State University system has been beset by scandals, ranging from a defaulted $1.25 million loan made by Sonoma State University’s academic foundation to Clem Carinalli, a former board member and developer who is …
For years, KPBS-FM and TV, the public broadcasting arms of San Diego State University, have been extremely deferential in handling interviews with city officials; the university is dependent on the City’s goodwill for getting an …
Quarterly lobbying reports are in, and they reveal the usual lineup by state legislators and their staffs for gifts parceled out by a variety of special interests. During the quarter, Sempra Energy spent a total …
San Diego city councilman Carl DeMaio’s campaign to qualify his controversial city contracting measure — the so-called Competition and Transparency in City Contracting Initiative — for the city ballot isn’t hurting for money, thanks to …
Donovan’s Steak and Chop House, the San Diego–based chain of meat eateries, is prepared to admit that it failed to disclose its political contributions by not filing a so-called major donor report as required by …
Maybe it was because of the recession or questions raised by crusading websites. In any case, San Diego county supervisors appear to have accepted far fewer gifts in 2009 than during the years of the …
Some wealthy and influential San Diegans are putting sizable money behind Democrat Gloria Romero’s bid to become state superintendent of public instruction. Romero, a state senator representing East L.A., also has the backing of EdVoice, …
Politics can be fun and profitable at the same time. Just ask GOP congressman Duncan Hunter. On March 29, his reelection campaign offered special seats at a Bon Jovi concert held at Verizon Center in …
Hopes were high for California’s Citizens Redistricting Commission last December, when nearly 30,000 applications poured in from all over the state for a seat on the 14-member board that is to draw up new boundaries …
The campaign of ex–Safeco Insurance lobbyist and former assemblyman Juan Vargas, now running for state senate, got $1500 on April 5 from ex–city schools superintendent Alan Bersin. The Point Loma resident was recently named head …
There may be no free lunches in this world, but free dinners are another matter, at least when the City’s bond underwriters are picking up the tab and the diner is Jay M. Goldstone, top …
This March 26, as in years past, San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders filed an annual Statement of Economic Interests, required under state law, listing something called Maxxum Equity Fund, which the statement identifies as a …
This year’s prize for most unusual source of income reported by a member of the San Diego City Council has to go to the Seventh District’s Marti Emerald, who reports selling her “personal gun collection” …
Two weeks ago the South Bay Expressway, run by a subsidiary of Australia’s Macquarie Infrastructure Group, filed for bankruptcy, a victim of high gas prices and generally recessionary times. But before it went officially broke, …
As the June primary approaches, special-interest bucks are rolling into California legislative races. At the top of the corporate money heap here is ex–Democratic assemblyman Juan Vargas, running for a seat in the state senate …
Local political consultant Larry Remer, who back in May 2006 pled guilty to a single misdemeanor charge of violating campaign-spending laws after a federal jury deadlocked 10–2 for conviction on a raft of more serious …
San Diego County Taxpayers Association president Lani Lutar, a big advocate of outsourcing City services, has given $99 to the reelection bid of city councilman Kevin Faulconer. Other Faulconer money includes $300 from Marco Li …
Big cutbacks in state funding have left UCSD students fuming and campus administrators slashing staff, but the same financial constraints apparently don’t apply to the university’s medical center. Approval of a planned “East Campus bed …
Three county tax liens have been lodged against Katherine Stuart, wife of GOP San Diego city councilman Kevin Faulconer, who is currently running for reelection and said to be eager to succeed Mayor Jerry Sanders …
Some powerful San Diego law firms lined up last week to contribute to Democratic state attorney general Jerry Brown’s bid for governor. Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek, one of the city’s best-connected legal and lobbying outfits, …
The City of San Diego has cooked up a plan to build an elaborate video spying operation around Mission Bay and Ocean Beach. According to a request for proposal issued March 5, the City wants …
Democratic congressman Bob Filner spent a week in Israel last month courtesy of a tax-exempt group run by J Street, an advocacy organization that casts itself as a liberal alternative to the American Israel Public …
Three ex-U.S. Customs chiefs are getting antsy about the long delay in confirming onetime San Diego city schools chief Alan Bersin as the nation’s next commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. “It is hard to …
Who is putting up the money for the latest volley of direct mail from ex-Democratic state senator Steve Peace’s California Independent Voter Project? Because the group is a nonprofit 501(c)4 corporation, it doesn’t have to …
Chargers lobbyist Mark Fabiani, still trying to get a public subsidy out of San Diego taxpayers for the football team, has found enough extra time to write a few campaign checks. He gave $700 on …
Contributions to the coming campaign to make San Diego’s so-called strong mayor form of government permanent have been streaming in from big business. Foes of the measure, now set for the June ballot, raised nothing …
Twitter has taken the local political world by storm, even San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who has been tweeting about topics important to him such as the city’s “high number of unwanted kittens” and remembering …
A top-secret plan by KPBS, the taxpayer-funded public broadcasting arm of San Diego State University, to buy an additional FM radio station here and devote its current FM frequency to a lucrative classical music format …
San Diego city councilmembers are awash in special-interest cash. During the last quarter, 16 Sempra Energy employees lined up to give a total of $2100 to the reelection bid of Second District councilman Kevin Faulconer. …
Controversial La Jolla lawyer Jim Waring, who once represented the daughter of the late mafioso Moe Dalitz and was later forced out as Mayor Jerry Sanders’s land-use honcho during Sunroad Enterprises’ over-height office-tower fiasco back …
As a plan by San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders to privatize trash collection at City facilities makes its way through the city council, the contractor green-lighted by the Sanders administration to do the job has …
Ex-assemblyman Juan Vargas, running in the Democratic primary for state senate, raised a total of $146,700 through the end of last year, recent filings show. Controversial for favoring the insurance industry during his time in …
Virtually unknown to the public here, Bill Cavala, a onetime UC Berkeley professor and top aide to Speaker Willie Brown Jr., was for most of two decades the Democratic operative most indispensable to the party’s …
San Diego city councilman Ben Hueso, running in the Democratic primaries for an assembly seat this year, has been busy handing out free tickets from the City’s big stash. The latest: two passes to the …
The Obama administration’s nominee to run the Transportation Security Administration dropped out of consideration two weeks ago, shortly after Senate Republicans began asking questions about his San Diego divorce. Erroll Southers, a former FBI agent, …
On Wednesday of this week, the State Race Track Leasing Commission was scheduled to approve a new request for proposals for a new lease of the Del Mar track. The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, the …
Ex–San Diego schools chief and border business investor Alan Bersin, still awaiting senate confirmation of his appointment by President Barack Obama to become head of Customs and Border Protection, has hit the lecture circuit. On …
For decades, Chargers owner Alex Spanos has been a financial mainstay of Republicans far and wide, giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to a vast array of GOP candidates and officeholders, from city councilmembers and …
The 22nd District Agricultural Association, which runs the Del Mar Fair, has been kind to local politicians, giving them free passes to various events, according to state disclosure forms. Del Mar city councilman Mark Filanc …
La Jolla’s Helen K. and James S. Copley Foundation still has $3 million left to pay on its $6 million 2008 pledge to the UCLA Foundation, endowing the David C. Copley Chair for the Study …
A tough economy, along with program budget cutbacks, has hit KPBS, the public broadcast operation run by San Diego State University, particularly hard over the past year, raising questions about the long-term viability of its …
President Barack Obama’s choice to head the Transportation Security Administration, currently stalled by GOP senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, may face even tougher sledding if sensational steroid-use allegations made by the nominee’s ex-wife in …
Assembly speaker–elect John Perez rolls into town on Saturday, January 23, to raise money at the Mission Bay Hyatt Regency for termed-out Democratic Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña’s bid for county supervisor against incumbent Ron Roberts…The U.S. …
A combination of well-connected charities and business groups have been given tickets to Chargers games, thanks to San Diego–elected officials. Recipients of the city’s stash of free tickets, the giveaway of which now has to …