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

Lobbyist in the house

— The election of Republican Darrell Issa to North County's 48th District congressional seat is setting off rapture among car-alarm lobbyists. Until recently, Issa was president of Vista's Directed Electronics, maker of the famous "Viper" anti-theft system. He's also head of the national Consumer Electronics Association, a big industry lobbying group. "It is exciting and an incredible precedent to have a sitting chairman of our association elected to Congress," Gary Shapiro, CEA president, told Electronic Engineering Times. "His expertise will be extremely helpful as Congress continues to debate key public policy issues related to technology." Issa's election, he added, "gives our industry another friend in the Congress." ... La Jolla's own holistic health guru-in-residence, Deepak Chopra, has lost a round in his battle against the local judicial bench, and one judge in particular. Last week, the Fourth District Court of Appeal said it found "implausible" Chopra's contention that Superior Court judge Judith McConnell was biased against Chopra's Boston lawyers and tilted unfairly to the old line San Diego firm of Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich when she ordered sanctions against the guru's defense team. Chopra was sued by two women alleging sexual harassment against the La Jolla?based Chopra Center for Well Being and wound up on the losing end of the case. At one point last spring, Chopra wrote Governor Gray Davis, who was reportedly considering naming McConnell an appellate judge, claiming, "I feel impotent and paralyzed because of the cronyism and corruption in the San Diego judicial system."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Free checking Does anyone really care where the soon-to-be ex-mayor of San Diego does her banking? Apparently the 1st Pacific Bank of California, with newly opened branches in University Towne Centre and Oceanside, thinks so. Last week the bank put out a news release announcing that it was "now taking deposits and opening accounts, a service San Diego Mayor Susan Golding was the first to take advantage of."... Joe Piscitell, the man behind the stalled Brown Field cargo airport privatization effort, and his Diversified Asset Management Group are picking up gobs of negative ink in the latest issue of Forbes magazine, which notes, "At some point he's going to run out of time and money. Diversified Asset will bring in only $5 million in revenues this year from a couple of handling and fueling companies." Adds Forbes, "Piscitell is shifting his efforts to Europe -- to Italy in particular, which is in the midst of privatizing the airport in Rome. Says he: 'The glamour of privatized airports ain't happening here.'"

Hype-zapping The United States Olympic Committee's training center in Chula Vista, the object of much attention by local TV-sports guy Jim Laslavic during September's summer Olympics coverage, figures large in a Sunday New York Times report on the USOC's mounting scandals and falling medal counts. According to the Times, the USOC has spent $57 million over the last four years on its regional training centers in Chula Vista, Colorado Springs, and Lake Placid, New York, with little effect. "These centers serve as symbols for corporate largess but produce few gold medals. The majority of American medalists do the bulk of their training and competing elsewhere, with professional club teams, on European circuits, on their own, or in small groups." As a result, the USOC is reportedly "examining how money for training could be spent more efficiently."... San Diego City College is one of 14 out of the state's 107 two-year colleges to get bad news from the University of California. The local school is said to have one of the worst records for transferring students to the state university system. Other junior colleges low on the UC transfer list include Los Angeles Harbor College and Imperial Valley College ... KPBS-FM, the public radio station owned and operated by San Diego State University, collected $330,000 from 2324 donors during a 13-day pledge drive last month, according to Public Broadcasting Report ...The Sacramento Bee reports that mega-lawyer Bill Lerach is set to collect far more than the original $18 million in legal fees he won in his smog-fee case against the state of California.

Contributor: Matt Potter

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon

— The election of Republican Darrell Issa to North County's 48th District congressional seat is setting off rapture among car-alarm lobbyists. Until recently, Issa was president of Vista's Directed Electronics, maker of the famous "Viper" anti-theft system. He's also head of the national Consumer Electronics Association, a big industry lobbying group. "It is exciting and an incredible precedent to have a sitting chairman of our association elected to Congress," Gary Shapiro, CEA president, told Electronic Engineering Times. "His expertise will be extremely helpful as Congress continues to debate key public policy issues related to technology." Issa's election, he added, "gives our industry another friend in the Congress." ... La Jolla's own holistic health guru-in-residence, Deepak Chopra, has lost a round in his battle against the local judicial bench, and one judge in particular. Last week, the Fourth District Court of Appeal said it found "implausible" Chopra's contention that Superior Court judge Judith McConnell was biased against Chopra's Boston lawyers and tilted unfairly to the old line San Diego firm of Gray, Cary, Ware & Freidenrich when she ordered sanctions against the guru's defense team. Chopra was sued by two women alleging sexual harassment against the La Jolla?based Chopra Center for Well Being and wound up on the losing end of the case. At one point last spring, Chopra wrote Governor Gray Davis, who was reportedly considering naming McConnell an appellate judge, claiming, "I feel impotent and paralyzed because of the cronyism and corruption in the San Diego judicial system."

Sponsored
Sponsored

Free checking Does anyone really care where the soon-to-be ex-mayor of San Diego does her banking? Apparently the 1st Pacific Bank of California, with newly opened branches in University Towne Centre and Oceanside, thinks so. Last week the bank put out a news release announcing that it was "now taking deposits and opening accounts, a service San Diego Mayor Susan Golding was the first to take advantage of."... Joe Piscitell, the man behind the stalled Brown Field cargo airport privatization effort, and his Diversified Asset Management Group are picking up gobs of negative ink in the latest issue of Forbes magazine, which notes, "At some point he's going to run out of time and money. Diversified Asset will bring in only $5 million in revenues this year from a couple of handling and fueling companies." Adds Forbes, "Piscitell is shifting his efforts to Europe -- to Italy in particular, which is in the midst of privatizing the airport in Rome. Says he: 'The glamour of privatized airports ain't happening here.'"

Hype-zapping The United States Olympic Committee's training center in Chula Vista, the object of much attention by local TV-sports guy Jim Laslavic during September's summer Olympics coverage, figures large in a Sunday New York Times report on the USOC's mounting scandals and falling medal counts. According to the Times, the USOC has spent $57 million over the last four years on its regional training centers in Chula Vista, Colorado Springs, and Lake Placid, New York, with little effect. "These centers serve as symbols for corporate largess but produce few gold medals. The majority of American medalists do the bulk of their training and competing elsewhere, with professional club teams, on European circuits, on their own, or in small groups." As a result, the USOC is reportedly "examining how money for training could be spent more efficiently."... San Diego City College is one of 14 out of the state's 107 two-year colleges to get bad news from the University of California. The local school is said to have one of the worst records for transferring students to the state university system. Other junior colleges low on the UC transfer list include Los Angeles Harbor College and Imperial Valley College ... KPBS-FM, the public radio station owned and operated by San Diego State University, collected $330,000 from 2324 donors during a 13-day pledge drive last month, according to Public Broadcasting Report ...The Sacramento Bee reports that mega-lawyer Bill Lerach is set to collect far more than the original $18 million in legal fees he won in his smog-fee case against the state of California.

Contributor: Matt Potter

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

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

Drinking Sudden Death on All Saint’s Day in Quixote’s church-themed interior

Seeking solace, spiritual and otherwise
Next Article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
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