Fired U-T San Diego Columnist Hired by Influential GOP Lobbyists
Longtime Union-Tribune columnist Tom Blair, who served during the lengthy reign of late publisher Helen Copley, then later for Beverly Hills mega-investor Tom Gores, and briefly under the paper's latest owner, GOP kingpin and real estate mogul Doug Manchester, before …
Wealthy Romney Financial Backer and La Jolla Beachfront Neighbor Breaks Ground on Huge Remodel
Residents on Dunemere Drive in La Jolla's posh beachside Barber Tract have yet another high-profile residential renovation project to kick around. First it was Mitt Romney's plan to raze the 3,000-square-foot beach cottage that he and his family purchased in …
Petco Security Breach: Five Laptops with Social Security Numbers Reported Stolen
San Diego-based Petco Animal Supplies, Inc. is reporting that unknown thieves have made off with sensitive information on computers heisted from the offices of an unnamed independent accountant. "On Tuesday, July 3, 2012, the outside auditor of Petco's 401(k) plan …
Prop 34, Anti-Death Penalty Measure, Continues to Pick Up Big La Jolla and L.A. Crime TV Money
Already backed by once-imprisoned La Jolla super-lawyer Bill Lerach and San Diego's ACLU, Proposition 34, the measure on the November ballot to substitute life in prison without parole for capital punishment, has landed even more financial support here. According to …
Booze, Money, Power and Influence: Inside Politics with New Padres Owner Ron Fowler
Beer distributor Ron Fowler, who just bought himself a piece of the Padres in an $800 million deal announced yesterday, is a major league local political player who has been a big cash backer of both Republican and Democratic causes. …
State's Cop Unions, Big Labor Jointly Funded San Diego Police PAC Attack Against DeMaio
It's no secret that the San Diego Police Officers Association, the local cops' labor organization, doesn't like GOP city councilman and mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio, and neither does the San Diego and Imperial County Labor Council, the AFL-CIO affiliate that …
General Atomics Predator Drones Collide on El Mirage Runway, Investigation Continuing
The Victorville Daily Press is reporting that U.S. Army officials are investigating the collision of two General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator drones on the runway at the government's El Mirage Flight Test Facility on July 25. "There was some damage …
Connected Top Cop Union Lobbyist Signs on with Bob Filner
This spring's topsy-turvy San Diego mayoral race - featuring a conservative gay Republican councilman, an ex-GOP Assemblyman turned independent, a tough-on-crime lesbian district attorney, and an old-line liberal Democratic congressman - promised to shake the city's traditionally hide-bound politics to …
Reported Fox Sports Lobbyists Max Out to GOP's DeMaio
Executives with one of the city's biggest and most influential lobbying and public affairs outfits have thrown their financial muscle behind the San Diego mayoral candidacy of Republican city councilman Carl DeMaio, according to the firm's second-quarter lobbyist disclosure filing, …
Wealthy Non-Profit News Advocate Backs Bill Ponder and "Paycheck Protection" Measure
R. B. "Buzz" Woolley Jr., founder and financial backer of San Diego's non-profit online news operation, the Voice of San Diego, hasn't been prominent in the news of late, but the opinionated charter school advocate continues to contribute to various …
Audit of County's Emergency Services Office Turns up Multimillion-Dollar Accounting Flaws
On the heels of that $54 million "hidden assets" trust fund scandal enveloping the California state parks system comes word that San Diego county's Office of Emergency Services has been inadequately tracking its own multi-million-dollar finances. According to a report …
San Diego Supervisors Seeking Private Consultant to Change County's Land Permit "Culture"
Do San Diego county's land-use planners have sufficient culture to deal with big developrs and angry neighbors? Apparently not, judging from a "request for information" posted online July 12 by the county's department of purchasing and contracting. According to the …
La Jolla-based Super PAC Is Backed by Self-Styled Superbug Master
Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who departed the Republican party and proclaimed himself an independent during this year's San Diego mayoral race, didn't get past the June primary, but a big money La Jolla-based Super PAC that supported him is still in …
Records Show Cable TV Employees Pour Big Money into Council and Mayoral Campaigns
Whether or not San Diego's city hall has been "bought off" by cable TV interests - as charged by Democratic Congressman and mayoral candidate Bob Filner during U-T San Diego columnist Matt Hall's Sunday protest rally against the unavailability of …
On Eve of Lerach Bash, Ex-Wife and Friends Give Big to Anti-Death Penalty Drive
As the anti-death penalty party to be thrown by once-imprisoned La Jolla lawyer Bill Lerach draws near, some other well-heeled San Diego attorneys are also opening their checkbooks in support of the cause. As noted earlier, Lerach and his current …
Bob Filner Rips City Hall at U-T San Diego Protest Rally Against Padres Cable Blackout
It was billled as a U-T columnist's rally to return the Padres to cable TV, and Matthew Hall, bullhorn in hand, worked the crowd like a pro, but congressman and mayoral candidate Bob Filner was clearly the hit of the …
Fabian Núñez, David Malcolm, Labor and Corporate PACs All Gave Big to Vargas
Democrat state Sen. Juan Vargas, believed by local political observers to be more or less assured of election to the U.S. Congress in November after beating fellow Democrat and ex-state Sen. Denise Ducheny in a nasty primary fight last month, …
San Diego Chapter of American Civil Liberties Union Gives $100,000 to Anti-Death Penalty Campaign
The San Diego and Imperial Valley chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has contributed a cool $100,000 to the campaign for Proposition 34, a November ballot measure that would abolish capital punishment in California, replacing the death penalty with …
Mid-Year Reports Show Bilbray Campaign With Sizable Cash Lead over Peters
As reported yesterday, the congressional campaign of ex-San Diego city councilman Scott Peters, fresh from a bruising primary battle with fellow Democrat Lori Saldana, finished the first half of the year with $82,032 of cash in the bank. That's signifcantly …
Qualcomm CEO and Wife Give $10,000 to Beat GOP's Bilbray
Fresh from a prominent role in independent Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher's failed bid to become mayor of San Diego, Qualcomm chairman and CEO Paul E. Jacobs and wife Stacy have given a total $10,000 to the Democratic congressional campaign of ex-city …