Rise of a corporate princeling
From high-stakes California politics to corporate prince
A Reader News Ticker piece via Storify, a social media storytelling tool. A soon-to-be former California legislator assumes his positon in the halls of corporate California, but not before a few words on Twitter regarding the San Diego daily newspaper …
Last word
Last minute billionaire contributions tardily revealed in post-election campaign finance filings
Based on late campaign filings posted online this week by the county Registrar of Voters, La Jolla billionaire Irwin Jacobs had the last and winning word in this year's record-breaking San Diego campaign finance derby. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/nov/16/35548/ The secretive Qualcomm founder …
Would you buy an electric car from this ex-legislator?
Termed-out Democratic State Senator Christine Kehoe gets lucrative electric car promotion gig
Ex-GOP Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher - who turned independent after failing to get the county Republican party's endorsement during his failed mayoral primary bid this spring - isn't the only departing local legislator to walk straight into the arms of corporate …
Mortgage disinterest
Does U-T San Diego's new $27.5 million mortgage mean publisher "Papa" Doug Manchester is losing interest?
An outfit related to U-T San Diego publisher Doug Manchester has recently mortgaged the newspaper's Mission Valley headquarters to the tune of $27.5 million, raising questions among some over the staying power of the controversial real estate and hotel mogul …
UCSD to abruptly shutter its troubled Nevada Cancer Institute
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that UCSD is closing down its Nevada Cancer Institute by December 31, leaving an unknown number of employees out of work for the holidays and raising a host of unanswered questions about the university's …
Lame duck mayor advertising for city arts czar to be paid up to $125,000
A few weeks ago, San Diego mayor Jerry Sanders, who will turn the reins of city government over to mayor-elect Bob Filner on December 2, backed away from his plan to expand the city's red light traffic enforcement camera operation. …
Filner transition team to be headed by lobbyist for big developer with storied history of campaign finance violations
Democratic congressman Bob Filner announced at his first news conference as San Diego's mayor-elect yesterday that Allen Jones, longtime lobbyist for real estate and development company H.G. Fenton, would oversee his transition team. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/nov/08/35158/ Jones is a Fenton vice president, …
Late GOP money includes $5,000 from San Diego TV station owner
It turns out that La Jolla hotel mogul and U-T San Diego owner Doug Manchester wasn't the only local media owner to back what turned out to be the largely forlorn cause of San Diego county Republicans this year. According …
What will San Diego's "First Significant Other" do?
Regardless who is elected mayor tonight, San Diego will confront a virtually unprecedented situation. No need to go into details here. Suffice it to say GOP councilman Carl DeMaio and Democratic congressman Bob Filner, vying for the job, are both …
Firm connected with Duty Free empire gives Filner last minute $10,000
It wouldn't be an election in San Diego, it seems, without a sizable last minute campaign contribution to the cause of Democratic congressman Bob Filner from Meuchadim of California, LP., based in Hollywood, Florida. State records show the outfit is …
Wired Magazine editor-in-chief quits job, enters San Diego and Tijuana drone wars
Long-time Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson has quit his job and is heading to San Diego to become CEO of 3D Robotics, a bi-national outfit billed as do-it-yourself drone builder. Anderson has partnered with 26-year-old Jordi Muñoz, who was born in …
California charter school lobby pouring big cash into Ponder school board bid
San Diego's Proposition Z, a measure to raise property taxes for school bonds, is billed by its backers as a way of enabling the "San Diego Unified School District to maintain safe and productive learning environments for students during the …
Reader publisher makes in-kind advertising contribution to medical marijuana campaign
Jim Holman, owner and publisher of the San Diego Reader, has contributed advertising valued at $2,831 to Citizens for Patient Rights, sponsored by the "Patient Care Association, an association of medicinal cannabis patients and patient organizations," according to the group's …
Chargers give $12,000 to San Diego GOP; L.A. stadium builder AEG kicks in with $13,000 for Democrats
Football fans and political junkies alike can puzzle over the latest "Where will the Chargers move next?" tea leaves provided by a pair of campaign reports made public late yesterday. The San Diego Chargers Football Company, LLC, run by the …
Shadowy San Diego PAC backs both GOP's Plescia and Democrat Brown's tax hike measure
There is the Independent Voter Project and then there is the Independent Voter PAC. The Independent Voter Project is a high profile, non-profit corporation created by ex-Democratic state Sen. Steve Peace to promote his agenda of demoting the role of …
"Papa Doug Trust" kicks in with $130,000 to Karl Rove's GOP super PAC
American Crossroads, the pro-Republican super PAC run by former Bush White House political operative Karl Rove, has picked up $130,000 from a donor by the name of the "Papa Doug Trust," with an address at 5300 Grand del Mar Court …
One-time Democrat and ex-Padres owner Moores gives $20,000 to anti union political withholding measure
Rancho Santa Fe mega-millionaire John Moores is one of the most infamous switch-hitters of San Diego politics. When he arrived in San Diego from Texas after buying the Padres in 1994, Moores was a Democrat, and so friendly with President …
Deputy District Attorneys walking: campaign cash for death penalty, GOP's Danon, and Amador
The San Diego county Deputy District Attorney's Association has been piling up some major cash for its push against Proposition 34, the anti-death penalty measure on November's ballot, as well as in favor of Republican Steve Danon, the Brian Bilbray …
Chicago-based Realtors give $20,000 to kill San Diego's Prop Z school bond measure
Real estate agents usually tout the quality of neighborhood schools in their come-ons to would-be homebuyers, but this year at least, the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors is sending another message. According to a Friday filing posted online by the …
Casino-owning tribe and builders give big to fund backing La Jolla GOP city council hopeful
The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation has given $17,000 to a group backing Ray Ellis, the La Jolla Republican city council candidate who is hoping to unseat first district Democratic incumbent Sherri Lightner. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/oct/27/34441/ According to an October 25 …