Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Expansion of Chargers stadium pitfall for Golding senate campaign

The file of 7000 donors

— How does Susan Golding hope to become a U.S. senator? By raising millions from San Diego's biotech fat cats. That's part of a plan revealed by Golding handler and ex-boyfriend George Gorton in an interview with Roll Call magazine. "According to Gorton," the magazine wrote last week, "Golding has a file of about 7000 donors from her bids for local office, and will make further inroads among the Westside Los Angeles Jewish community, the entertainment industry, and San Diego's flourishing biotechnology firms." Golding's strategy of hitting up San Diego business interests for campaign cash "worked just fine for Pete Wilson," Gorton added. But Stockton multimillionaire and Chargers owner Alex Spanos, expected to play a big part in Golding's fundraising, is taking a low public profile. "One potential pitfall for Golding," Roll Call notes, "is the controversy swirling around her handling of a contract to expand the stadium where the Chargers play, a dispute that has made local headlines for months." In addition to Gorton, the magazine says, look for pollster Dick Dresner and media guru Don Sipple to climb aboard the Golding truck soon. "The Golding campaign will emphasize crime and education," said Gorton, pointing specifically to a drop in San Diego's juvenile crime rate during her tenure. A troubling unknown for Golding, says Roll Call, is Vista's Darrel Issa. The car alarm magnate is said to be 99 percent sure of running for the seat, and he's worth $250 million.

Sponsored
Sponsored

It's that kind of town

The big downtown public relations firm of Stoorza, Ziegaus & Metzger couldn't resist doing a little horn-blowing for itself in the pages of this month's P.R. News, a trade magazine for the profession. Problem is, the write-up about Stoorza's work promoting January's grand opening of Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant in Mission Valley Center took a few shots at the locals. In a story headlined "Dishing Out the Goodies Lure Media to Restaurant Launch" the magazine wrote: "SZM's objectives were to build awareness of the cafe in San Diego [and] attract customers to the restaurant, despite its location in an older, unexciting shopping center." First, free food was used to lure TV types and disk jockeys: "A selection of menu items were hand-delivered to all major broadcast media, radio and TV... SZM tried to get the media to feel like they'd be missing out if they didn't come. 'Then, once they're there, they feel bonded to doing a story on it,' " Stoorza V.P. Sara Muller was quoted as saying. She added that "even though San Diego is the sixth-largest city in the U.S., it operates like a small town. We needed to get elected officials, presidents of chambers, CEOs, and top management of major companies to know about Wolfgang Puck.... When Puck asked why there were no celebrities at the launch, we said, 'These are the celebrities of San Diego.' "

Affirmative action

A congressman from Pennsylvania fears that San Diego's supercomputer center is in a battle to the death with its Pittsburgh counterpart, and he's doing what it takes to make sure the homeboys win. Rep. Mike Doyle, Democrat from Swissvale, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week that the National Science Foundation, which divvies up grants for the centers, isn't playing fair with its plans to consolidate the nation's four supercomputer operations into just two. In addition to San Diego, the current centers are at Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and Ithaca, N.Y., as well as Pittsburgh. Doyle told a house committee he thinks San Diego might have an unfair advantage since it's out west. "This better not just be, 'Well, we want one east of the Mississippi and one west of the Mississippi,' " Doyle said. "There better be some sound scientific criteria for picking San Diego over Pittsburgh if that is what actually happens.''

Arena joust

Look for flames a week from next Wednesday when ex-mayor and Chargers contract foe Maureen O'Connor and U-T columnist Don Bauder join forces to tangle with car dealer and chamber of commerce honcho Steve Cushman and Ky Snyder, executive director of the San Diego International Sports Council. Headlined, "Does San Diego WANT what it takes to be 'America's Finest City?' " the luncheon event is set for the University of San Diego.

Contributor: Matt Potter

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Holiday Experiences

As soon as Halloween is over, it's Christmas time in my mind

— How does Susan Golding hope to become a U.S. senator? By raising millions from San Diego's biotech fat cats. That's part of a plan revealed by Golding handler and ex-boyfriend George Gorton in an interview with Roll Call magazine. "According to Gorton," the magazine wrote last week, "Golding has a file of about 7000 donors from her bids for local office, and will make further inroads among the Westside Los Angeles Jewish community, the entertainment industry, and San Diego's flourishing biotechnology firms." Golding's strategy of hitting up San Diego business interests for campaign cash "worked just fine for Pete Wilson," Gorton added. But Stockton multimillionaire and Chargers owner Alex Spanos, expected to play a big part in Golding's fundraising, is taking a low public profile. "One potential pitfall for Golding," Roll Call notes, "is the controversy swirling around her handling of a contract to expand the stadium where the Chargers play, a dispute that has made local headlines for months." In addition to Gorton, the magazine says, look for pollster Dick Dresner and media guru Don Sipple to climb aboard the Golding truck soon. "The Golding campaign will emphasize crime and education," said Gorton, pointing specifically to a drop in San Diego's juvenile crime rate during her tenure. A troubling unknown for Golding, says Roll Call, is Vista's Darrel Issa. The car alarm magnate is said to be 99 percent sure of running for the seat, and he's worth $250 million.

Sponsored
Sponsored

It's that kind of town

The big downtown public relations firm of Stoorza, Ziegaus & Metzger couldn't resist doing a little horn-blowing for itself in the pages of this month's P.R. News, a trade magazine for the profession. Problem is, the write-up about Stoorza's work promoting January's grand opening of Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant in Mission Valley Center took a few shots at the locals. In a story headlined "Dishing Out the Goodies Lure Media to Restaurant Launch" the magazine wrote: "SZM's objectives were to build awareness of the cafe in San Diego [and] attract customers to the restaurant, despite its location in an older, unexciting shopping center." First, free food was used to lure TV types and disk jockeys: "A selection of menu items were hand-delivered to all major broadcast media, radio and TV... SZM tried to get the media to feel like they'd be missing out if they didn't come. 'Then, once they're there, they feel bonded to doing a story on it,' " Stoorza V.P. Sara Muller was quoted as saying. She added that "even though San Diego is the sixth-largest city in the U.S., it operates like a small town. We needed to get elected officials, presidents of chambers, CEOs, and top management of major companies to know about Wolfgang Puck.... When Puck asked why there were no celebrities at the launch, we said, 'These are the celebrities of San Diego.' "

Affirmative action

A congressman from Pennsylvania fears that San Diego's supercomputer center is in a battle to the death with its Pittsburgh counterpart, and he's doing what it takes to make sure the homeboys win. Rep. Mike Doyle, Democrat from Swissvale, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week that the National Science Foundation, which divvies up grants for the centers, isn't playing fair with its plans to consolidate the nation's four supercomputer operations into just two. In addition to San Diego, the current centers are at Champaign-Urbana, Ill., and Ithaca, N.Y., as well as Pittsburgh. Doyle told a house committee he thinks San Diego might have an unfair advantage since it's out west. "This better not just be, 'Well, we want one east of the Mississippi and one west of the Mississippi,' " Doyle said. "There better be some sound scientific criteria for picking San Diego over Pittsburgh if that is what actually happens.''

Arena joust

Look for flames a week from next Wednesday when ex-mayor and Chargers contract foe Maureen O'Connor and U-T columnist Don Bauder join forces to tangle with car dealer and chamber of commerce honcho Steve Cushman and Ky Snyder, executive director of the San Diego International Sports Council. Headlined, "Does San Diego WANT what it takes to be 'America's Finest City?' " the luncheon event is set for the University of San Diego.

Contributor: Matt Potter

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Holiday Experiences

As soon as Halloween is over, it's Christmas time in my mind
Next Article

Pedicab drivers in downtown San Diego miss the music

New rules have led to 50% drop in business
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader