Here's something you might be interested in.
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
Cowed
San Diego — Computer magnate Ted Waitt has had his share of bad luck lately. First a huge plunge in sales at his Gateway computer company, then an embarrassing story in Fortune magazine, describing the problem-filled move of the company from humble roots in South Dakota to the platinum hills of La Jolla. Now the latest blow: earlier this month Waitt was fined $2000 by the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to properly report $103,500 in campaign contributions. Waitt admitted that he hadn't filed a "major donor statement," required of all contributors who give more than $10,000 a year. The penalty covered the first half of last year, during which the ponytailed Waitt failed to report he had given $100,000 to Rob Reiner's anti-tobacco "Save Proposition 10" committee; $2500 to Democratic assembly candidate Christine Kehoe; and $1000 to liberal Republican Jayne Murphy Shapiro, who was running for an assembly seat in the west San Fernando Valley. Reiner beat back big tobacco's effort to slash state cigarette taxes, and Kehoe claimed her seat in the legislature, but Shapiro, who opposed George W. Bush's pro-life stance and outspokenly favors gay rights, lost badly to Democrat Fran Pavley, the former mayor of Agoura Hills. In the second half of the year, Waitt chipped in $100,000 for Prop 39, the measure that successfully lowered the two-thirds majority requirement for school bonds. He also gave $1000 each to Republican assembly candidate Jay Lasuer (who won), Democratic state senator Steve Peace, and Democratic assemblyman Howard Wayne ... Another county resident, Melissa Seifer of Rancho Santa Fe, paid a $400 fine for failing to report $10,000 worth of contributions.
Next level San Diego assistant city manager and chief information officer Dianah L. Neff has departed for the greener pastures of Philadelphia. Last week Neff took over as Philly mayor John Street's chief information officer, a newly created position in the mayor's cabinet that pays $190,000 a year, $60,000 more than Street himself makes, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer. As recently as last month, Neff was writing op-ed pieces for the Union-Tribune extolling the virtues of the city's "e-government" program, saying it "places an emphasis on a customer-friendly approach and adopts the elements of private-sector business practices to improve delivery of services." Neff, 52, told the Enquirer, "One of the drawing points for me was the mayor's vision. He believes in e-government, and he wants to take Philadelphia to that next level -- to be a player." ... As Neff departs, Patrick Graham, the 53-year-old chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, is pulling up stakes and moving to San Diego, where he will continue to operate as a transportation lobbyist...
Further review An internal audit has cleared a UCSD professor who collaborated with a Rancho Bernardo biotech firm founded by a convicted felon. But the audit also called for a review of how the University of California screens potential conflicts of interest, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Dr. Gary S. Firestein had been under review for accepting $236,000 in research money from the company; questions also arose about the way in which he disclosed the support. According to the Mercury-News, the university found that it had no rules against accepting funding from firms started by convicted felons, but that in the future, such arrangements should be better screened by UCSD higher-ups. The ex-felon in question, Michael L. Gruenberg, was still on parole after four years in prison for federal security-fraud charges when his company, MedCell Biologics, provided research support and stock to Firestein ... The American Association of Political Consultants is staging its 2002 public affairs "Pollie Awards" and annual conference in San Diego next March, featuring "the most respected journalists, speakers, and consultants from around the nation," reports Campaigns & Elections. In off-years, the awards show is devoted to "public-affairs campaigns and programs of the previous two years." ... Close observers have noted cracks developing of late in the solid front of support the Union-Tribune has lent San Diego schools Superintendent Alan Bersin. Then, in a Tuesday editorial, the paper called him "Jim Bersin."
Contributor: Matt Potter
Here's something you might be interested in.
Cowed
Cowed
San Diego — Computer magnate Ted Waitt has had his share of bad luck lately. First a huge plunge in sales at his Gateway computer company, then an embarrassing story in Fortune magazine, describing the problem-filled move of the company from humble roots in South Dakota to the platinum hills of La Jolla. Now the latest blow: earlier this month Waitt was fined $2000 by the state's Fair Political Practices Commission for failing to properly report $103,500 in campaign contributions. Waitt admitted that he hadn't filed a "major donor statement," required of all contributors who give more than $10,000 a year. The penalty covered the first half of last year, during which the ponytailed Waitt failed to report he had given $100,000 to Rob Reiner's anti-tobacco "Save Proposition 10" committee; $2500 to Democratic assembly candidate Christine Kehoe; and $1000 to liberal Republican Jayne Murphy Shapiro, who was running for an assembly seat in the west San Fernando Valley. Reiner beat back big tobacco's effort to slash state cigarette taxes, and Kehoe claimed her seat in the legislature, but Shapiro, who opposed George W. Bush's pro-life stance and outspokenly favors gay rights, lost badly to Democrat Fran Pavley, the former mayor of Agoura Hills. In the second half of the year, Waitt chipped in $100,000 for Prop 39, the measure that successfully lowered the two-thirds majority requirement for school bonds. He also gave $1000 each to Republican assembly candidate Jay Lasuer (who won), Democratic state senator Steve Peace, and Democratic assemblyman Howard Wayne ... Another county resident, Melissa Seifer of Rancho Santa Fe, paid a $400 fine for failing to report $10,000 worth of contributions.
Next level San Diego assistant city manager and chief information officer Dianah L. Neff has departed for the greener pastures of Philadelphia. Last week Neff took over as Philly mayor John Street's chief information officer, a newly created position in the mayor's cabinet that pays $190,000 a year, $60,000 more than Street himself makes, according to the Philadelphia Enquirer. As recently as last month, Neff was writing op-ed pieces for the Union-Tribune extolling the virtues of the city's "e-government" program, saying it "places an emphasis on a customer-friendly approach and adopts the elements of private-sector business practices to improve delivery of services." Neff, 52, told the Enquirer, "One of the drawing points for me was the mayor's vision. He believes in e-government, and he wants to take Philadelphia to that next level -- to be a player." ... As Neff departs, Patrick Graham, the 53-year-old chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, is pulling up stakes and moving to San Diego, where he will continue to operate as a transportation lobbyist...
Further review An internal audit has cleared a UCSD professor who collaborated with a Rancho Bernardo biotech firm founded by a convicted felon. But the audit also called for a review of how the University of California screens potential conflicts of interest, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Dr. Gary S. Firestein had been under review for accepting $236,000 in research money from the company; questions also arose about the way in which he disclosed the support. According to the Mercury-News, the university found that it had no rules against accepting funding from firms started by convicted felons, but that in the future, such arrangements should be better screened by UCSD higher-ups. The ex-felon in question, Michael L. Gruenberg, was still on parole after four years in prison for federal security-fraud charges when his company, MedCell Biologics, provided research support and stock to Firestein ... The American Association of Political Consultants is staging its 2002 public affairs "Pollie Awards" and annual conference in San Diego next March, featuring "the most respected journalists, speakers, and consultants from around the nation," reports Campaigns & Elections. In off-years, the awards show is devoted to "public-affairs campaigns and programs of the previous two years." ... Close observers have noted cracks developing of late in the solid front of support the Union-Tribune has lent San Diego schools Superintendent Alan Bersin. Then, in a Tuesday editorial, the paper called him "Jim Bersin."
Contributor: Matt Potter
Comments